Midnight explosion in the Servetus household?
Last night I went to bed a bit after midnight. There had been a lot of noise in the neighborhood (snowmobiles, fireworks) after the Superbowl ended, enough that I’d gone outside to see what was going on. I’d been at Obscura’s fundraiser for part of the afternoon, so I was late getting to my daily cup of coffee and wasn’t especially sleepy.
I sleep downstairs, dad sleeps upstairs.
Around 1:30 a.m. dad got up and went to the bathroom. I heard the toilet flush. A little after that I heard the furnace run (this is also a “water” noise because dad installed radiant heat about ten years ago). The hot water heater usually runs its daily cycle around that time of night as well. The noises were annoying me.
I turned over a few times and then I heard this huge crashing noise!
I honestly thought dad had somehow not made it back to bed and had fallen, so without thinking I ran upstairs, yelling, “Dad, what’s going on?”
I sleep in the nude with my glasses on.
So does dad, apparently.
He was standing in the living room and said, “What’s going on?”
General embarrassment ensued.
I said, “Let me put a robe on.” So I went back downstairs and got a robe and we started looking around the house.
“You don’t think something’s wrong with the furnace, do you?” dad said.
“No idea.”
“Why don’t you get dressed and walk around the house just in case,” he suggested.
So I went downstairs again, got dressed, and walked the perimeter of the house. Nothing worrying, although I did notice that the neighbors whose windows I could see were also up. A bit odd, I thought. I attributed it to post-football game parties.
After I calmed down I fell asleep but I slept late this morning and dad was gone when I came upstairs. There’s a place where we leave each other notes, and there was a note there that said, in my dad’s characteristic big black letters:
1. It was a meteorite. Toward Milwaukee.
2. Maybe we need to get pajamas.
***
[So, if you’re curious, yes, it was a meteor of some kind. It is supposed to have decombusted over Sheboygan (about an hour east of here as the crow flies, two by car because you have to circumnavigate a lake). Lots of strange things happen in Sheboygan for some reason. It’s like an apocalyptic event magnet, that town. Anyway, there were apparently 200 calls to the police, who saw the flash but didn’t know what happened immediately either.
Here’s how it looked from the Oceanic, Space and Atmospheric Sciences building at the University of Wisconsin at Madison:]
Krass! Fast hättest du Sterne gesehen 😬
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CraMERRY said this on February 6, 2017 at 8:39 pm |
Now if Richard Armitage would combust over my house … while I was awake …
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Servetus said this on February 6, 2017 at 8:44 pm |
Er ist eher als eine Art Sternschnuppe unterwegs. 😆
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CraMERRY said this on February 6, 2017 at 8:54 pm |
aaaw 🙂
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Servetus said this on February 6, 2017 at 8:58 pm |
Hihi, das ist dir dann garnicht schnuppe, stimmt’s ? 💫
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CraMERRY said this on February 6, 2017 at 9:01 pm |
ich verbiege mich wie immer vor Deiner Begabung mit dem Wortspiel 🙂
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Servetus said this on February 6, 2017 at 10:13 pm |
Apropos verbiegen: bei Mario Vargas Llosa heißt es statt verbeugen: “Und er fiel ins Hüftschanier” (aus: Tante Julia und der Kunstschreiber). Beugen und biegen liegen halt dicht beieinander 😊
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CraMERRY said this on February 7, 2017 at 6:25 am |
oops!
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Servetus said this on February 8, 2017 at 9:29 pm |
Blimey! I have to admit the whole naked / pyjama thing made me laugh … a lot! Btw, how on earth do you sleep in your glasses? If I did that I’d: a) break them and b) end up with dents in my face!
Glad no one was hurt by the meteorite.
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kathrynruthd said this on February 6, 2017 at 8:47 pm |
I’m glad it didn’t strike the earth, too. Supposedly there are people out looking for fragments now, but the reports I’ve read suggested that it burnt up fully in the air.
re: glasses — I don’t know, but I’ve had them since I was about seven and I’ve always slept with them on when I sleep by myself. Nothing bad has happened yet.
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Servetus said this on February 6, 2017 at 8:53 pm |
Ah well. Sleeping in my glasses is reserved for the sofa 😉
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kathrynruthd said this on February 6, 2017 at 8:59 pm |
That was crazy.
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Fatima said this on February 6, 2017 at 9:01 pm |
I was just thinking that sixty years ago we’d have worried it was the Russians attacking …
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Servetus said this on February 6, 2017 at 9:36 pm |
I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that was happening.
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Fatima said this on February 7, 2017 at 12:28 am |
Glad that you didn’t suffer a heart attack from the meteor crash and from seeing your dad in the buff 😂
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Christine (MooseTurds) said this on February 6, 2017 at 9:37 pm |
It was a near thing 🙂
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Servetus said this on February 6, 2017 at 10:16 pm |
Wowzers! And that’s just an all around great story!
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jholland said this on February 6, 2017 at 9:40 pm |
It was the consolation prize for the Packers losing to Atlanta two weeks ago, lol.
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Servetus said this on February 6, 2017 at 10:16 pm |
Have definitely slept in my glasses and yes for in the nude, but thankfully have not had a meteorite fall at the same time. Wow! talk about something to write in your blog about! You definitely take the cake!
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IrishWitch313 said this on February 6, 2017 at 10:00 pm |
I guess it’s true what they say about always having clean underwear on. What a bizarre moment!
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Servetus said this on February 6, 2017 at 10:17 pm |
Okay, I can’t stop laughing. I just can’t. What a terrific story! The meteorite footage is really, really cool!
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Babette said this on February 6, 2017 at 10:54 pm |
I wish I’d seen it — but I was in the basement and it was over by the time I was upstairs. I don’t even think dad saw it, just heard it.
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Servetus said this on February 6, 2017 at 11:38 pm |
Wow!!!
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Tree said this on February 6, 2017 at 11:06 pm |
Explosive start to the week, so to speak.
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Servetus said this on February 6, 2017 at 11:39 pm |
Not this will be any consolation to you, but you WILL get used to seeing your naked father, in stranger and stranger circumstances. Trust me.
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janesteinmiller said this on February 6, 2017 at 11:30 pm |
Yeah, it was kind of telling that my first assumption was that the noise was dad falling. Ah well, I suppose that’s why I’m here.
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Servetus said this on February 6, 2017 at 11:39 pm |
Wow, that’s exciting (can I call it exciting?) – a meteor landing nearby, not you and your dad in the flesh.
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Mermaid said this on February 6, 2017 at 11:37 pm |
If it had fallen in the yard, it could have solved our lawn care issues in one fell swoop …
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Servetus said this on February 6, 2017 at 11:40 pm |
And you too, I would imagine.
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Mermaid said this on February 7, 2017 at 12:26 am |
I wonder how homeowner’s insurance would treat that and if it’s covered …
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Servetus said this on February 8, 2017 at 9:30 pm |
Well, that’s just.. adjectives fail me 🙂 Meteorite thing quite extraordinary, thankfully it didn’t hit and nobody got hurt.. though you might be wishing you didn’t have your glasses on 😉
I can’t sleep with them, i’d be breaking loads but then again i have to wear plastic frames as the metal ones can’t carry my lenses and plastic does tend to go crack… What’s not so enjoyable is bindly going on a finders missing in strange places when i sleep in new rooms and don’t remember and can’t see where i left them before i went to bed.
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Hariclea said this on February 6, 2017 at 11:42 pm |
I sleep really deeply and so I just despise not being able to see right away. But I have to buy special space age material to get the lenses thing enough to fit in the special, space age frames — it’s really a pain.
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Servetus said this on February 7, 2017 at 4:28 am |
You sleep with your glasses on? You have got your priorities right! Better able to see than able to cover up what we all know is underneath, anyway 😉
But whoa – a meteorite. That’s scary and fascinating at the same time. I’m glad the Earth’s atmosphere works so well!
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Guylty said this on February 7, 2017 at 12:20 am |
Supposedly (an astronomer who looked at the vids says) the stone was only the size of a basketball by the time it reached here, but it’s amazing how much noise it made if that is true.
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Servetus said this on February 7, 2017 at 4:29 am |
I love you Dad’s sense of humour. Very cool about the meteorite – glad it didn’t land on you!
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sparkhouse1 said this on February 7, 2017 at 1:38 am |
He has really funny, endearing moments.
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Servetus said this on February 7, 2017 at 4:30 am |
How often do meteorites hit? You can skip #2.
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armitagebesotted said this on February 7, 2017 at 1:40 am |
I think the vast, vast majority of them degrade in the atmosphere, but I couldn’t tell you how many of them don’t. First time it’s ever happened that I remember, anyway.
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Servetus said this on February 7, 2017 at 4:31 am |
Your Dad’s note cracks me up! Don’t buy Pj’s, you’ll never wear them, they’ll just lay on the floor next to your bed and the next time you have to jump and run you’ll just trip on them. Trust me.
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carlyquinnauthor said this on February 7, 2017 at 2:53 am |
Yeah. The concrete problem here is that the house is way too warm. I’ve pointed this out to him, and he just says, “I like it this temperature.” (I actually think he’d keep it warmer if I hadn’t complained. I like to sleep in a cool room so if I can’t get that with the heater, I’ll inevitably disrobe. Even in my sleep.
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Servetus said this on February 7, 2017 at 4:33 am |
Blague! Dormir avec ses lunettes permet-il de mieux voir, percer ses propres rêves?
Une autre solution serait de dormir la fenêtre ouverte. Les alpinistes le font, en plein hiver, pour s’entraîner aux températures négatives, avant de partir escalader les hautes montagnes.
Mais vous vous exposeriez, à des risques plus grands: coup de froid ( rhume ), intrusion malveillante ( Dragon Rouge), exposition aux rayons lunaires ( moonburn ), de météorite (ET, Homme Vert),…
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squirrel.0072 said this on February 7, 2017 at 11:49 pm |
Unfortunately, none of the windows in the room I’m sleeping in open (basement). But I agree, that is a splendid way to sleep.
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Servetus said this on February 8, 2017 at 9:31 pm |
I sleep with the door out to the deck cracked open every night, even twenty below nights. I set the house at 68 but being on the third floor we’re always in the seventies. It’s good for the kids but I can’t sleep like that! I tried for awhile for various reasons, now the kids just have to deal.
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carlyquinnauthor said this on February 8, 2017 at 1:18 am |
The absolute max the furnace was ever set on when I was a kid was 68. When it was very cold outside. So it’s been kind of a revelation to me that it even goes higher than that.
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Servetus said this on February 8, 2017 at 9:32 pm |
lmao….it was fine to let us freeze as kids but once they hit retirement…
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carlyquinnauthor said this on February 8, 2017 at 11:53 pm |
supposedly it’s healthier to sleep in a cold room but I don’t think that was the rationale 🙂
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Servetus said this on February 8, 2017 at 11:56 pm |
Turns out it’s cheaper too. 🤑
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carlyquinnauthor said this on February 8, 2017 at 11:58 pm |
Wow!!!! I can hear the retelling of this story in ten years…”Remember the night we were bith naked when the meteorite struck????” Lol…this is definitely one that’s gonna stick around…😄
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Chazak said this on February 7, 2017 at 2:54 am |
I definitely do not think we will forget this any time soon.
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Servetus said this on February 7, 2017 at 4:14 am |
Wow a meteorite in the southern part of the state, first I have heard of it is here. You would have thought that they would have had that on the state news. Since I have always hated my glasses I can’t imagine sleeping with them.
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katie70 said this on February 7, 2017 at 4:03 am |
yeah, you’d have thought. But I sometimes think people in the SE don’t think people in the NW are really there, unfortunately.
Here’s a link:
http://wbay.com/2017/02/06/flash-and-boom-meteor-spotted-over-the-midwest/
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Servetus said this on February 7, 2017 at 4:05 am |
Thanks for the link. They talked about it on the local radio news this morning, a day late. Will have to ask my husband’s cousin who lives in Green Bay if he saw or heard it.
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katie70 said this on February 8, 2017 at 4:42 am |
Wow! What a story! I was giggling as I imagined the scene!
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SueBC said this on February 7, 2017 at 4:12 am |
Possibly replicated all over the area … lol.
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Servetus said this on February 7, 2017 at 4:34 am |
It would be Sheboygan – nexus of weirdness! I wonder if naked dads is a local thing – mine does that too.
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obscura said this on February 7, 2017 at 4:21 am |
IKR? The next thing you know, Harrison Ford is visiting.
I guess I never really thought about what people around here wear to bed.
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Servetus said this on February 7, 2017 at 4:36 am |
Or not wear to bed. Loved your story. The meteorite is almost as exciting as picturing you and your dad naked. I had to reach for my smelling salts. Mercy me!
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Kathy Jones said this on February 7, 2017 at 6:39 am |
I guess he’s pretty well fit for a 75 year old, but I try not to think about it 🙂
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Servetus said this on February 8, 2017 at 9:32 pm |
Wow! We saw it on the news. Meteorites are scary.
Great story. Still giggling.
Fathers not wearing pajamas … not a local thing. Hubby’s father does that. It was quite disconcerting when he went wandering about without his robe when he stayed here. (He suffers from Alzheimer’s, but that doesn’t negate the shock factor.)
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zan said this on February 8, 2017 at 5:28 pm |
Interesting. maybe it’s something we just all do as we get older?
I do have a nightshirt for when I’m traveling or sharing a room or whatever.
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Servetus said this on February 8, 2017 at 9:33 pm |
Wow! I heard about that meteorite yesterday.
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nettebuecherkiste said this on February 7, 2017 at 8:30 am |
Good news travels fast, lol 🙂
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Servetus said this on February 8, 2017 at 9:33 pm |
Wow, a night of revelations! I wonder which will be recalled more often – the meterorite or the time you discovered that both of you sleep in the nude and wearing your glasses. I love your dad’s note! LOL
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Snowgirl said this on February 7, 2017 at 10:00 am |
Right now it’s a tossup 🙂
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Servetus said this on February 8, 2017 at 9:57 pm |
This is laugh-out-loud funny! And the glasses are the icing on the cake.
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Taurus said this on February 7, 2017 at 11:48 am |
Exactly! 😀 the glasses are the best! 😀 BTW I think I love your father,Serv!
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Joanna said this on February 8, 2017 at 10:54 am |
He has some very endearing moments.
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Servetus said this on February 8, 2017 at 9:58 pm |
Wow! Dinge die man nie vergessen wird!
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suzy said this on February 8, 2017 at 6:07 pm |
You can say that again!
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Servetus said this on February 8, 2017 at 9:52 pm |