Hail!

Hail!

The pounding on the roof was intense

Hail became tiny missiles as it dropped into the Oake Lake

Leaves shredded from trees

A pocket of pea size and dime size hail

The dogs made it through without injury!

What a mess

Hail! When a southern accent is applied to the expletive, it sounds the same, and it was one of several uttered when I realized there was a dangerous storm on the way yesterday and I had no time to move the sled dogs to a safe location. I had 10 minutes to get myself and the house dogs to the basement before reported rotating clouds and baseball size hail were to literally hit the area.

I was beside myself as I watched the clock, hoping for a quick arrival and an even quicker departure of this storm. I remember hoping that the sled dogs would have the sense to duck into their dogs houses and I was hoping like "hail" that if there was a tornado touch down, it wasn't any where near my dogs. There was nothing that could be done but wait. I rushed upstairs to check radar and take photos of the storm's progression then swiftly returned to the basement. Each time I went up, it increased in intensity to the point I remained in the basement. Last trip up and it was indicated that there was no longer a tornado threat. Thank goodness. At least that worry is gone. Later I found out a tornado did indeed touch down about 3 miles south of the Points Unknown kennels.

The hail went from dime size to golf ball size quickly and lasted for, what seemed like an eternity. When it appeared as though the golf ball size hail subsided, I ran out to check on the sled dogs and tried not to show my intense concern as I greeted them with a light "Hey guys! How is everybody doing?". Many of them were sopping wet. Their eyes were like saucers and they were alert. They appeared to be physically fine. So I told them I would be back in a while and after a big sigh of relief, I ran back to the house. On the way, I caught a glimpse of my two year old Toyota Tacoma. It had been pummeled by hail. It's only a truck. That's what insurance is for. Sadly, the apple and pear orchard was devastated with nearly 60% of all of the fruit on the ground. The remainder is hanging on the trees bruised and broken wide open. The dogs and people are just fine which is the most important thing. Even though it stings, everything else is meaningless in the bigger scope of things.

The storm ended and I spent the next couple hours out playing with the dogs to try and assess their condition. No bumps on the head or other injuries were noted. They were indeed just fine. Can you believe that within a half an hour of the end of the storm, before anyone could have possibly absorbed the magnitude of it, someone pulled up in my driveway trying to sell me a new roof?! I remember saying, what I thought was under my breath, something about the arrival of the vultures as he handed me a brochure. Looking at his face, I'm not so certain it was under my breath and I quickly felt bad that my attitude may be adversely affecting him. I'm sorry, but this is just not the right time to try to push your business. There is something called tact and I didn't feel it was being exhibited here. And I'm sure he was wishing he would have caught me on a different day. Try again the day after the storm like the rest of the vultures did. I was in a much better mood today!

After feeding the dogs, I attempted to wind down when word of another band of storms was on the way. This time there were winds reported as high as 80mph. Geez. Not more. Thankfully, we only got some rain out of the latest storm which then gave way to a much needed decline in the humidity which had been sky high for weeks.

Today was a glorious day and the way I would like all summer days to be - mid 70s and breezy. If I wanted to live in Florida......