Absolutely, we are not used to humidity in California! I hope the rain helped all of the gardens here. We needed a little break for sure. It was still raining last night around 2 AM, and I planted some herbs from pots to in ground this morning, and the ground was soaked at least 6" down. Weather says 40-60% chance today too. Fingers crossed for all of us!

I recall now that the first Summer Breeze that I bought last year was put in an area with more sun than most of my hostas. I was trying out several varities to see if they could take it in any of the daylily beds. The fragrant varieties and a few others did very well. Summer Breeze got white patches, I am sure from the sun, not cold. It was planted long after the nights were cold. Some forum members advised to stick it out until the roots spread out, and said it would be fine this year. After a couple of weeks more I couldn't stand it, and moved it to my shadiest hosta bed. I bought another (glutton for punishment), and that one looked fine all summer. This year, the emerging leaves on Summer Breeze were hit with lots of hot days in a row. Even the one in the normally shady bed suffered, because the oak trees hadn't leafed out. Both had early sun damage. The hostas didn't get hit with frost this year. The lowest overnight temp was 36, and that was once. The only other cool nights were in the forties. I don't think cold is my problem. I think tender new foliage on some varieties don't like midday sun in the high eighties. I have over 200 varieties, also many duplicates of my faves. Very few seemed to mind the sun on tender leaves. Next year, if we get early heat, I'll plop some wicker baskets on the fussy ones.

I FINALLY figured it out! We have a Weather Channel indicator on the bottom bar that reports on the outside temperature. And clicking on it links to a full-sized Weather Channel window. It occured to me: Weather Channel / Thunderclap = DUH! After some searching I found a reference to a thunderclap sound-effect for the site. It wasn't clear whether it was an alert for local severe weather or severe weather anywhere else in the nation. But it did tell me how to turn it off on my profile. Thanks again for everyone's input. I now know how to alter all the sound effects on my computer. Didn't know I could :-)

It's certainly possible that an electrical surge damaged the opener. The first thing I'd do is disconnect the opener from the door by pulling on the little red rope just to rule out any coincidence. Make sure the door opens and closes freely and it should balance at roughly the mid point. Are the lights light on the obstruction sensors? After that, it's probably the control board.