On 3 Aug 2006 19:30:45 -0700, "
wrote:

I've had this happen. I still have the melted 'souvenier' splice the
power company replaced. Hmm. I did about 10 years ago, wonder where it
is??


I have the end of the copper 15,000 volt line that snapped after a
IDIOT tree company doing work for me got careless. The lineman was nice
and gave me the short piece.

I had just said I will go down to the street so no cars will get hit by
branches.

the line dropped where I would of been standing and left a carbon trail
in the asphalt that was there till the street was repaved 5 years later

I nearly died that day, the bit of copper a momento

Didnt know others saved stuff like this..........

When I was probably around 12 years old (many years ago), a 15,000
volt (or possibly much higher) line fell during a storm and was
dancing around on a wet concrete road. I watched it from nearby. It
sounded like an arc welder, and the ball of fire was quite something
to see. The wire would hit the road and just sort of explode, tossing
it back into the air. After the power company repaired it, I walked
over to the spot on the road, and found that section of concrete had
actually turned to glass where the wire had hit it. Many of the
pieces were blown off the surface and just laying there loose. In
other spots this "glass" was now part of the pavement. It looked just
like glass and had a greenish color. I brought home a few of these
"glass rocks", and was pretty proud of them. I dont know what ever
happened to them over the years, but they were pretty interesting. I
suspect the green color was from the copper in the wire. There were
actually deep holes in the concrete, possibly as much as 4 inches
deep. I still remember this vividly, it was quite the thing to see.
Now a days, most people dont get to see things like that, because the
authorities block off the whole area.

Speaking of saving things, I recently visited an old friend from my
childhood. I was shocked when he took me in his basement and showed
me his first car, all in pieces, and in labelled boxes. There sat the
engine, transmission, all the doors, brake drums, radio, dashboard,
hubcaps, etc etc.... He disassembled the entire car before he junked
the basic frame /body. I used to ride in that car when I was a kid in
the 60's. He told me to sit on the seat again (also in his basement).
He probably has a mint in collectors parts in that basement, the car
was from the 1950's or early 60's. When I suggested he sell the parts
on Ebay or something, he said he wont sell anything becsuse it was his
first car. ...... OK, Whatever !!!!!

Mark