Earthquakes, Lightning, Storms...

We didn't have the earth quake yesterday--that happened in Indonesia--but we did have a severe thunderstorm.  We can now receive an automated phone call for severe weather (CODE RED) and we've had three of those calls in the past 4 days.  "A severe thunderstorm is located in your area with the potential for damaging hail and high winds.  Take shelter immediately."  (You can get the call on your cell phone, otherwise, if you are on the phone, aren't you already inside shelter?)  Well, the hail came.  At first it was pea-sized, with a sound on the roof slightly heavier than the down pouring rain.

Then came intermittent, louder thunks.  First came the dime-sized.  Then the size of a quarter.

And then came the sound like someone hitting the roof with a baseball bat.

Golf-ball sized balls of ice (and larger) were hitting, especially on the north side of the house. (We now have at least 7 holes in the siding.)  I was afraid windows were going to be broken, but they held.

We had to wait until the big ones had stopped falling to run out and gather some up. (I'm not taking the chance of getting hit by one of those!) They were already melting.  And incredibly fascinating. How many times had that piece of ice begun falling and then been caught in the storm's updraft and sent up high (and received another coating of ice)?

I also ran out to rescue what flowers I could.  Of course, they had just begun blooming the day before.

But there's no way to save all the magnolia buds that were pummeled to the ground.

They hadn't even had the chance to open yet.

Seeing how the ice balls had smashed stems, grinding them to mush made me glad I wasn't out in the storm!  Some flowers were left with just their heads--still, they make a nice bouquet.

And then there is the backyard river after the storm was over.

I'm really glad our car was in the garage. 

The missionaries' car wasn't so lucky, and now has dimples!