...And Dropping

It started raining during the night and continued raining most of yesterday.  Loathe as I am to use the dryer, it seemed a good day to do laundry (okay, I was running out of socks and didn't have a choice), clean the kitchen, and turn on the dishwasher.  The NASCAR race in Phoenix was on a rain delay.  Clay went over there to watch it and spent the afternoon in the car trying to stay warm (with help from a bottle of JD) until the track was dry enough to start the race.  Me?  The wood stove was glowing, the Steelers beat the Cleveland Browns, the Vikings beat the Raiders, and, as it turned out, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., won the race when it was called due to more rain in Phoenix.  How good can it get?

I'd switched over to a DVR'd program when Deb called with the news that a big storm cell was headed in my direction.  There had been a weather alert on live TV that I'd missed.  At that moment in time, the rain had stopped, the wind had died down, and the sun was peeking out.  Bess took advantage to make a quick trip outside, and I couldn't see any signs that bad (make that "worse") weather was coming.  It had been in the mid-to-high 30s all day, and then the temp started dropping.

Within a half-hour of Deb's call, it was 32 degrees, the skies blackened, thunder rattled the windows, and hail began to bounce on the deck.  Almost exactly seven minutes later and it was all over and we were left with this pea-size stuff all over.  It wasn't even raining when I went out to put the kids to bed.  They'd been huddled in the play yard and coop all day and were most happy to see me, rushing into their rooms and telling me all about it.  After crunching through the hail drifts and crust and getting through the slip-and-slide in the chicken pen, I was very glad I'd bought that boot brush thingy for the porch.  Good timing, that.

A bag of split-pea soup from the freezer warmed up my innards after the cold, and a cup of hot cider with a tot of what we euphemistically call "brown sugar" warmed my frozen fingers.

Thirty degrees this morning.  Got the wood stove fired up before the coffee went on.  Light enough to see outside now and yesterday's hail still covers deck and the slopes.  I'm grateful I don't have to go anywhere this morning as I'm sure the truck door handle would be frozen shut and the windshield covered in ice.

It was a good day.