It is been gloomy the past couple of days so when the sunshine started shining around 3 we emerged from are cave and embraced it and began puttering in the yard and garage. I brought my delicate herbs out for some sun, planted some romaine in mason jars, prepped pepper plants for planting and then started to work on replanting my aunt's holiday cactus.
Mike has always been highly attuned to weather and he pointed out the black clouds rolling our way. I quickly brought in the plants and he moved Big 4 into the garage. We have a Toyota 4 Runner and Toyota RAV4. I kept calling them both the Toyota so we named them Big 4 and Little 4, so much easier, I know!
I grabbed the tomatoes off the front porch as the power flickered on and off. He closed the garage door and the power flickered again leaving the door half opened. Got the door down and went to see the storm out the kitchen window. By the time we arrived bright flash of light immediately followed by a loud crack of thunder. The 70 mile an hour winds began and the trees swayed, Mike yelled, We are going to loss a tree", my heart stopped and we both held our breathe. The oracle spoke and true to his word the yellow pine snapped 15 feet high and crashed down in-front of the window we were starring out.
It sheared the Dogwood and crushed another. The remaining 30 foot long tree bounced, snapped again and the top launched and landed on the roof of the sun porch.
We jumped back and the hail started, no lie, quarter sized hail pounded the house, glad we got the car inside in time.
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| Just a little to the left and it would have taken the gate instead. |
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| Devastated Dogwood |
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| Right side of Dogwood is gone |
Mike grabbed some of the hail that had not melted yet.
It was quarter size when it fell but lost its size by the time we got out there. That is Mike's hand and my thumb nail for sizing.
The power went out at 5pm and so did my cell phone battery. Luckily we could cook suppah on the grill even though we ran out of propane but fortunately we had an extra tank.
We finished suppah and settled into read. Mike lit the alabaster candle holders we have from Egypt and the room took on a warm, cozy glow.
We settled down to read on our iPads which did have power and Mike said, "Now that the candles are lit the power will come back." The oracle speaks and the lights blinked. He should have been more specific and included and stay on! 5.5 hours later as we were contemplating calling my brother to get his generator the power came back. The freezer is saved. We are thrilled and went to bed!
We spent some time between the rain today to clean up some of the yard. I think this will be a big project but one that we enjoy.
Other damage is behind the fence.
The house is littered with leaves, twigs, and mud!
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| Sun-room window with leaves stuck to it. Downed pine in the back. |
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| More trees down, they broke 12 feet high. |
Living in New England we were prepared for nor'easters and blizzards. Being abroad we always had a quick getaway bag ready and knew how to handle the possible sand storms, earthquakes and typhoons. I was not prepared for this in April in Virginia!
I feel like I had no warning, no defense, and was not prepared. I know that what we went through is nothing compared to what others have suffered. I will take this new knowledge and use it to become prepared, receive timely weather warnings, and continue to be grateful for what I do know.
1 comment:
I would argue...you had no warning but tons of experience and knowledge that came to your aid, and the aid of your plants and your car. You knew what to do even though you did not know what was coming and you had you...you just rolled with the changes and organized things. So glad you are all fine,Sorry to hear about the trees. Happy you are writing again. 'Jennie
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