What's that saying about the best laid plans ???? I'm so bad with sayings.
At 10:30 A.M. there was a HUGE noise and our power went out quite abruptly. We ran out to see our house damaged in the back and wires down. Rob & I took off for the school lot beside our neighbors where there is a lot of work going on as they are putting in a parking lot. What a sight we found!!!!
This dump truck lifted his bed to empty rock and drove into the electrical wires with such speed that it splintered three power poles from that lot and down. The guy working this blue equipment (whatever it is called) :) had to jump out while it was moving to avoid being electrocuted. He did take a jolt and got cut up trying to escape. The backhoe below was in the right place and saved another worker's life as it took the hit from the pole. One of the company's owners told Rob & I that if it hadn't been there that man would have been crushed by the pole.
The pole in our backyards was damaged and came down causing damage to our neighbor's house & ours. God protected our neighbors & our family as none of us were out in the yard when it happened. The neighbors had just moved the location of one of their dogs in the backyard two days ago. If they hadn't, it would probably have been killed.
It took an hour for the power to be shut off and until then that blue bulldozer-thingy (Barbara-ease) :) ran in reverse held in place by the dump truck. The dump truck driver couldn't get out because of the live wires.
There was some commotion and confusion and "issues" about who was responsible and who would fix what- school district land & project, contracted out to a paving company, subcontracted out to the dump truck company who was bringing in the gravel. But it got all sorted out. Now talk about God taking care of us- besides the obvious keeping us safe & no house fire from all this... the owner of the home next to us (Brandon) rents it out. His renters called him and he showed up to see what was going on. We didn't know it, but he is a general contractor. While the representative of the paving company was skirting around whether they were going to pay for the repairs and telling us it was our responsibility... Brandon told Rob & I that he'd take care of us and help us get the house fixed and just send the company the bill and not us. He told us not to worry he'd make sure we got power back and the house fixed. Here we are in N.C. with no family or support network, still "baby" homeowners not sure what to do, who to call, what the next step was, no clue who we would have called to come if we'd had to... and God provides us with the help we needed!!! God is awesome that way!
The power pole that broke in the neighbor's backyard right at our fence. The transformer stayed attached to the wires all tangled up in them and the wire got caught up in the roof of the neighbor's shed. This poor tree took a major hit! :(
Our house from the back of the yard
The power/service box at the back of the house was ripped off the house, leaving about a foot-long hole in our house. It was still hanging by frayed, live electrical wires. The power company guys told us if that transformer hadn't hit the ground when it did or had gotten snagged up in the trees it would have completely ripped the fuse box and everything completely out of the house and done significant structural damage (hole in the wall). God sure was looking out for us. Thank God Robert (our oldest) thought to flip the main off as soon as it happened while Rob & I were heading down the street to find out what happened.
It was QUITE hot & humid and I am not sure what happened to the photo but am wondering if it was the humidity????
It was really interesting to watch the crews take out the old damaged pole & transformer & put in new and get the wires replaced & connected. 
This is the power pole that was at the fence line in our neighbor's back yard & held the transformer that powered our two homes. It splintered into four pieces and hardware went everywhere in our two backyards.
As the first shift Duke crews were leaving, their trucks got caught in the tree up front and it tore out some limbs. So the 2nd shift crew cut the hanging limbs down before they left. Oh, and it was sunny & hot all day. Just as the work was nearing its end and the house was getting really, really hot a storm came up and cooled things down. I was grateful for the cooling rain. Rob, Barbara & I stood out on the deck in the rain and talked with the Duke guys as they worked to finish connecting us to power. It was kind of fun. :)So we are back on temporary power, needing to limit our use of the "big" stuff, waiting on some part to come in. We think the house will be fixed tomorrow and the city inspector will be back to inspect us and then, once we pass that inspection, we'll get our full, normal power back on. :)
Our day finally ended at 11:30 P.M. when the last crews for the cable company finally finished their work and pulled out their last trucks from our yard. It was quite the day! :)
I am so thankful for God's protection and provision. Reminded, again, to not take things for granted! I am blessed!
