storm!

a big storm came through about 12:30 a.m. wednesday. the noise of hailstones hitting my metal roof woke me. my house was really being pounded! it was as if thousands of people were dropping rocks on the roof at the same time.

then, uh oh, i heard the sound of breaking glass.

a window in my front room had 3 holes punched in the panes of the upper sash. i found the hailstones on the floor. the largest was just smaller than a golf ball. i put them in my freezer.

found a shard of glass in my front hall last night, after sweeping up. the force of a hailstone sent that piece of glass flying 18 feet from the point of impact. these hailstones did not fall--the storm hurled them as if it were david slaying goliath with a slingshot.

i had taken the screen off when i put a window AC unit in the window and forgot to replace it. i thought of screens as keeping bugs out, and since i wasn't going to be opening that window, left it off. i just didn't think of its ability to prevent hail damage.

so now repairs are in order--and replacing the screen.

back to wednesday night: i stood on the porch and watched the storm for a while. (the porch is protected on the west, which is where the storm was coming from--unusual for austin.) the two will fleming yaupon hollies straddling my walk were so bent from the strong winds that the tops were perpendicular to the ground. the rain swirled. the hail had stopped by that time, but golf-ball size hailstones were lying around.

occasionally the wind would blow from the other direction. this might indicate tornadic conditions, although i never heard the characteristic roar of a tornado. (i lived in oklahoma--tornado alley--for many years and never heard one, but heard from others who had that they sound like the roar of a freight train.)

mother nature is powerful beyond measure. respect!

my defunct miata appeared to be untouched at first glance. later i discovered three tears in the convertible roof. oh, well--that car is destined to be donated for salvage!

my neighbors' cars had hail damage too. i imagine body shops, glass shops, hardware stores, arborists, and insurance agents will be quite busy from this storm.

i drove lela and hannah to lela's nanny job in hyde park thursday morning. (hannah's school was cancelled for the day because of a power outage.) the streets were littered with leaves and branches. i mean, green streets.

today at lunch i walked around the capitol grounds. maybe 8 trees were either completely uprooted or so damaged that arborists had cut them off at the ground. pecans, redbuds, even a red oak. the live oaks fared well.

i felt sad for the trees who died and grateful that most survived well.