Keep Up!

We had a gamut of fast-changing weather yesterday and it was hard to keep up.  It started with a fairly clear sky and strong cold winds.  Throwing alfalfa over the fence for the girls left me liberally sprinkled with the blowback.  Forget the hula, the pines across the road were snapping back and forth.  Bessie Anne's long bangs were blown back like she was standing in the bow of the Titanic when she faced into the wind.  It calmed down later and I thought we were done with it.

Then the sky darkened, the cloud cover moved in and it started to rain...heavy rain...before it turned to hail. This was taken after the first dump that had lasted maybe ten minutes about 3 o'clock.  There was a second round a little later, and it was cold enough that it didn't melt.

Okay, so far, so good.  That was the thought before the thunder and lightning began.  Holy Toledo!  I  ran to unplug the computer, remembering the blue sparks that flew into the room when the transformer blew.  One strike was so close that the immediate clap of thunder was deafening and shook the windows.  Way too close for comfort!  There was just a brief blip in the electricity (I'd expected that it would go out), lasting just long enough to have to reset all the clocks.  Could have been worse.

Essentially the same view about 7 p.m.  Go figure.  Nature had pulled out every trick in her bag and she was done for the day.