Strange Weather

Texas has some of the most bizzarre weather but still, I won't complain - too much. Friday was quite the day. It dawned rather foggy and misted off and on, but the temperature was about 70 all day. Very pleasant for winter, which is what made that evening's storm so unusual.

I finished cooking around 6:30 and invited my son to come over to eat. Chili was a bribe to get him to look at my computer and help his dad move something heavy. He showed up right before 7:00 PM. The storm hit right after he arrived. He glanced down at his phone that had just signaled a message and said, "My Aggie Alert system says we're under a tornado warning." No worries. We went about our business inside the house knowing if we heard the "roaring train" sound we'd need to head for the hall closet.

Fifteen minutes after that, the rain fell in torrents, pounding the metal roof. My husband had already been next door to the rent house to make sure the gutter he'd just installed worked and the trenches he'd dug were helping to keep the one end of that house dry. So far, so good. But the thunder and lightening made us turn off computers.

Thirty minutes into the storm, the garage flooded. We rushed out to save anything that was on the floor that could be ruined. The water continued to rise. The boys braved the elements and opened the garage door from the outside about two inches and a woosh of water trailed toward the drive. Right after that, water seeped into our back room. Luckily, that room is under construction for remodelling and all we had were cement floors.

And that's when the hail hit. It hailed for a good five minutes. Hail with a diameter of nickle rained on the metal roof. We looked out the front door to check on the cars. Mine was parked on the curb under a tree limb. I was concerned the limb would break. DH laughed and said, the limb was protecting the dar from damage. My son's car was also under a tree limb. The truck, on the other hand, well -- it's just a truck so no worries, right?

Held captive in the house with no computers or TV for about 45 minutes, my son was at my disposal and I put him to work. We rearranged my office, moving around the computer stuff so it would be more efficient for writing. God, I love that boy.

But when it was over, check out the ice piles. Yeah, ice piles in 70 degree weather. Go figure.