I rose at 5:35am and immediately began exercising. My walk with Ykraps was uneventful as was the rest of my morning ritual except for the time I spent on the deck meditating, which was most beneficial in that I was able to clear my mind perhaps better than I have in the past couple of months.
Today’s weather promised low to mid 80’s with the potential for late day storms. And those late day storms were expected to usher in much cooler weather by at least twenty degrees. For this reason alone I didn’t plan on driving the BM’er.
The rest of my morning at home was pleasant, and I spent several minutes on the deck playing guitar before giving in to the need to leave for work. I would love to have stayed home and worked on yard projects. My lawn looked almost perfect since cutting it the evening prior. I felt proud as I drove away.
The work day presented nothing too unusual or worth discussing here. Although, I did have to deal with a couple HR type issues for the better part of the day. I left for my run around 1pm. And like the day or two prior, I ran without a shirt. In fact, today was almost hot! I was back in the office by 2:00pm and continued with the issues I mentioned earlier.
I talked with Mindy somewhere close to 3:30pm when she told me she was headed home to relax on the deck with a glass of wine since Jim was picking the kids up at Grandma Sharon’s for his routine Wednesday evening visit. She was looking forward to some time in the sun. I was envious.
I continued working hard right up until just after 5pm. I surprised when I looked outdoors around 445pm and saw that it had been raining albeit lightly. And when I finally left for home and tuned into the radio, I heard that we were expecting some possibly strong storms but most appeared by us already. I took that in stride as I stopped in Home Depot on my way home. I was looking for some white safety tape to mount on Bella’s new step stool. I found it in short order. Still, I took my time perusing the aisles for other project ideas.
I left H.D. at 5:40pm destined for home. The radio forecast had added a potentially strong thunderstorm moving out of Madison County and a potential tornado much further south in Ross County & Washington Courthouse moving southeast. I called Mindy she reported that a relatively heavy storm of rain just passed over, and judging by the sky it looked as if it did. To our immediate west the skies began to brighten.
When I arrived home I once again admired the beauty of my lawn and thought how fortunate I was to have the rain the day after cutting and grooming. It was simply gorgeous!
We walked Ykraps together and finished the relatively few chores. Mindy had to leave for choir practice within the next ten minutes so we spent the next few minutes chatting and deciding if I should wait until she gets home to eat my dinner. At the same time I finished mounting the safety tape I had just bought on Bella’s step stool.
Out of the blue, we heard it begin to rain and quite heavy too. Next thing we know we heard a few pings of small hail striking the house and even more prominently against the sky lights. It caught my attention, but that was just the beginning. Suddenly, the hail got bigger, louder, and more abundant. Soon our home was under attack. It wasn’t too long after that that the winds picked up to a point where there was next to zero visibility, save for a blur of objects flying by the windows.
The trees look bent almost at a 90 degree angle and debris was flying everywhere. Mindy had already dashed for the basement while I struggled with my camera. I wanted a picture but was having difficulty opening the door. The noise was loud and intense – too hard to accurately describe. Something came over me and told me to get to the basement too. I was sure we were in a tornado. I tried to persuade Ykraps to come along too but instead of following my lead, he ran upstairs (brilliant!). After a few minutes in the basement the hail stopped. We dashed upstairs and immediately looked out the windows. The views were surreal. I suppose because of the hail, the gutters were clogged causing the rain run-off to pour like a waterfall against the house. Too, the street was completely flooded for the same reason. Water could not drain fast enough into the pond. Cars were at a stand still as the hail, rain and wind picked up again. Finally, after it had all but stopped, Mindy called her ex to check on the kids while I began surveying the damage. And in what has to be considered a very rare thing, I saw another rainbow after the storm passed. That's two days in a row!
My first objective was to check the skylights for breaks, then the yard for fallen trees. There was literally 2-3 inches of hail piled on the deck, on the driveway, and in the street. The once beautiful trees and flowers had been stripped of their foliage. Our lawns were covered with hail and a thick blanket of green leaves. The scent in the air smelt like a tree farm, I suppose from the ripping and tearing of all the green growth. All of my annuals were completely naked, left with nothing but stems. A fog rose from the ground because of the thick blanket of hail into the steamy relatively warm air. Neighbors began coming out of their houses to survey the damage. My neighbor was out snapping pics of his damaged siding where baseball size holes were left behind by the hail.
Anything facing west was covered in greenery. Homes, cars, and the like had leaves plastered to their western most face. The sky remained very ominous looking just to our east. You could see a deep black – almost purple block of could moving away but also leaving behind a trail of drooping black clouds. I took a couple of interesting pictures.
We continued to survey for significant damage and eventually decided to check with our neighbors, Pat and Lisa. The feeling was eerie as we walked through all the debris which was thankfully more cosmetic than anything else. My neighbor John’s house faces west. His garage door looked as if it had been sandblasted by the hail. The paint was gone down to bare metal and his coach lights we hanging only by the wiring. We knocked on Pat and Lisa’s door as we watched their neighbors gathering in the cul-de-sac.
Lisa answered and invited us in. She began telling of her own experience. AS she spoke of her fear we recalled seeing her drive by in the height of the storm. She reported almost white out conditions and worrying for her safety. She was downloading pictures that she had already taken from around the house and yard. We later found Pat out surveying his own property. It looked like only one tree snapped along the pond thankfully. Still, the carnage left behind was profound and memorable. It looked like autumn struck in a matter of minutes except for the fact that all of the fallen leaves were dark green versus the normal red, yellow, and orange. In the end, we were happy that no one was hurt and that no one seemed to have endured any major damage structural damage.
We left Pat & Lisa’s after about a fifteen minute visit. While there we saw pictures of a half million dollar home Pat just finished building for a client and saw their daughter Aleana’s brand new palette expanders.
Back at home we decided to check the back yard more thoroughly. We were further relieved that there was no major damage to our home or our trees. Just then Jim arrived with the kids. He reported several trees down along Raymond golf course and that it was much worse here than it is in Hilliard proper. Meanwhile, on the tube the debate begins on whether there was an actual tornado. They did report a funnel cloud at 270 and 70 which is essentially where we are – we’re about ¾ mile northeast.
For me, the biggest hurt is the damage to my beautiful landscape. My trees and flowers have been stripped of their heavenly bouquets weeks prematurely, and it happened in a matter of a couple minutes.
The rest of the evening was largely uneventful save for a couple of loud claps of thunder and lightening. No sooner did we get the kids ready and tucked into bed did they dash back downstairs after a couple claps of thunder. We spent the rest of the evening talking quietly in the living room and headed to bed at around 9:30pm
I rose at 5:35am and immediately began exercising. My walk with Ykraps was uneventful as was the rest of my morning ritual except for the time I spent on the deck meditating, which was most beneficial in that I was able to clear my mind perhaps better than I have in the past couple of months.
Today’s weather promised low to mid 80’s with the potential for late day storms. And those late day storms were expected to usher in much cooler weather by at least twenty degrees. For this reason alone I didn’t plan on driving the BM’er.
The rest of my morning at home was pleasant, and I spent several minutes on the deck playing guitar before giving in to the need to leave for work. I would love to have stayed home and worked on yard projects. My lawn looked almost perfect since cutting it the evening prior. I felt proud as I drove away.
The work day presented nothing too unusual or worth discussing here. Although, I did have to deal with a couple HR type issues for the better part of the day. I left for my run around 1pm. And like the day or two prior, I ran without a shirt. In fact, today was almost hot! I was back in the office by 2:00pm and continued with the issues I mentioned earlier.
I talked with Mindy somewhere close to 3:30pm when she told me she was headed home to relax on the deck with a glass of wine since Jim was picking the kids up at Grandma Sharon’s for his routine Wednesday evening visit. She was looking forward to some time in the sun. I was envious.
I continued working hard right up until just after 5pm. I surprised when I looked outdoors around 445pm and saw that it had been raining albeit lightly. And when I finally left for home and tuned into the radio, I heard that we were expecting some possibly strong storms but most appeared by us already. I took that in stride as I stopped in Home Depot on my way home. I was looking for some white safety tape to mount on Bella’s new step stool. I found it in short order. Still, I took my time perusing the aisles for other project ideas.
I left H.D. at 5:40pm destined for home. The radio forecast had added a potentially strong thunderstorm moving out of Madison County and a potential tornado much further south in Ross County & Washington Courthouse moving southeast. I called Mindy she reported that a relatively heavy storm of rain just passed over, and judging by the sky it looked as if it did. To our immediate west the skies began to brighten.
When I arrived home I once again admired the beauty of my lawn and thought how fortunate I was to have the rain the day after cutting and grooming. It was simply gorgeous!
We walked Ykraps together and finished the relatively few chores. Mindy had to leave for choir practice within the next ten minutes so we spent the next few minutes chatting and deciding if I should wait until she gets home to eat my dinner. At the same time I finished mounting the safety tape I had just bought on Bella’s step stool.
Out of the blue, we heard it begin to rain and quite heavy too. Next thing we know we heard a few pings of small hail striking the house and even more prominently against the sky lights. It caught my attention, but that was just the beginning. Suddenly, the hail got bigger, louder, and more abundant. Soon our home was under attack. It wasn’t too long after that that the winds picked up to a point where there was next to zero visibility, save for a blur of objects flying by the windows.
The trees look bent almost at a 90 degree angle and debris was flying everywhere. Mindy had already dashed for the basement while I struggled with my camera. I wanted a picture but was having difficulty opening the door. The noise was loud and intense – too hard to accurately describe. Something came over me and told me to get to the basement too. I was sure we were in a tornado. I tried to persuade Ykraps to come along too but instead of following my lead, he ran upstairs (brilliant!). After a few minutes in the basement the hail stopped. We dashed upstairs and immediately looked out the windows. The views were surreal. I suppose because of the hail, the gutters were clogged causing the rain run-off to pour like a waterfall against the house. Too, the street was completely flooded for the same reason. Water could not drain fast enough into the pond. Cars were at a stand still as the hail, rain and wind picked up again. Finally, after it had all but stopped, Mindy called her ex to check on the kids while I began surveying the damage. And in what has to be considered a very rare thing, I saw another rainbow after the storm passed. That's two days in a row!
My first objective was to check the skylights for breaks, then the yard for fallen trees. There was literally 2-3 inches of hail piled on the deck, on the driveway, and in the street. The once beautiful trees and flowers had been stripped of their foliage. Our lawns were covered with hail and a thick blanket of green leaves. The scent in the air smelt like a tree farm, I suppose from the ripping and tearing of all the green growth. All of my annuals were completely naked, left with nothing but stems. A fog rose from the ground because of the thick blanket of hail into the steamy relatively warm air. Neighbors began coming out of their houses to survey the damage. My neighbor was out snapping pics of his damaged siding where baseball size holes were left behind by the hail.
Anything facing west was covered in greenery. Homes, cars, and the like had leaves plastered to their western most face. The sky remained very ominous looking just to our east. You could see a deep black – almost purple block of could moving away but also leaving behind a trail of drooping black clouds. I took a couple of interesting pictures.
We continued to survey for significant damage and eventually decided to check with our neighbors, Pat and Lisa. The feeling was eerie as we walked through all the debris which was thankfully more cosmetic than anything else. My neighbor John’s house faces west. His garage door looked as if it had been sandblasted by the hail. The paint was gone down to bare metal and his coach lights we hanging only by the wiring. We knocked on Pat and Lisa’s door as we watched their neighbors gathering in the cul-de-sac.
Lisa answered and invited us in. She began telling of her own experience. AS she spoke of her fear we recalled seeing her drive by in the height of the storm. She reported almost white out conditions and worrying for her safety. She was downloading pictures that she had already taken from around the house and yard. We later found Pat out surveying his own property. It looked like only one tree snapped along the pond thankfully. Still, the carnage left behind was profound and memorable. It looked like autumn struck in a matter of minutes except for the fact that all of the fallen leaves were dark green versus the normal red, yellow, and orange. In the end, we were happy that no one was hurt and that no one seemed to have endured any major damage structural damage.
We left Pat & Lisa’s after about a fifteen minute visit. While there we saw pictures of a half million dollar home Pat just finished building for a client and saw their daughter Aleana’s brand new palette expanders.
Back at home we decided to check the back yard more thoroughly. We were further relieved that there was no major damage to our home or our trees. Just then Jim arrived with the kids. He reported several trees down along Raymond golf course and that it was much worse here than it is in Hilliard proper. Meanwhile, on the tube the debate begins on whether there was an actual tornado. They did report a funnel cloud at 270 and 70 which is essentially where we are – we’re about ¾ mile northeast.
For me, the biggest hurt is the damage to my beautiful landscape. My trees and flowers have been stripped of their heavenly bouquets weeks prematurely, and it happened in a matter of a couple minutes.
The rest of the evening was largely uneventful save for a couple of loud claps of thunder and lightening. No sooner did we get the kids ready and tucked into bed did they dash back downstairs after a couple claps of thunder. We spent the rest of the evening talking quietly in the living room and headed to bed at around 9:30pm
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