Hail, yeah, that's a big piece of sidewalk cement!
hailstorm damage, 6/24/06
Originally uploaded by Antof9. Full day on Saturday. Started early but was still late to an event with my mom in Monument, near Colorado Springs. Found out later I was glad I was late, as they started the event only 2 or 3 minutes before I got there (and I was about 25 min. late!). The event ran long, and I was tired afterwards from sitting and not having had my "to-go drink" on the way.
On the way home, I listened to the 2nd CD of The Storyteller's Daughter, which I will probably be buying my own copy of, I'm liking it so much. On the way, I scattered emperor_fool wedding books everywhere.
Getting home while the sun was still out, I checked w/ wandererjen to see if she wanted to spend some time "decking" (sitting in the sun, reading, as we are wont to do).
As we were making dinner (Jen was shelling the pistachios; I was putting pesto on the chicken), the big raindrops started, and then came the hail. Did it hail! The pieces in the backyard were the size of large ping-pong balls. I was more than a little scared, and we worried that her poor unprotected car might sustain collateral damage. The hail seemed to go on and on and on, and the pieces were just HUGE!
Finally they stopped, we went back to fixing dinner, ate it and then watched Glory Road. Although I've been referring to it as Remember the Titans on the Basketball Court, I had really wanted to see it. It was worth the wait. Very, Very good. Go see it. It's a bit heavier than RtT, but so good.
Anyway, after Jen went home, I still had a handful of E-F books to release, so I told Unk I'd return the movie and ran out to release the rest before the clock officially hit midnight! (they could have turned in to pumpkins)
The post office is one of my favorite places to release -- lots of counters, no one to look at me askance. . . so I drove down there -- it was 11:52, and I still wanted to release one or two and return the movie. Into the P.O., sticker and drop the books, stop to buy stamps and run back out. But wait -- what is that car doing at the exit? They're shining their headlights on something and they are out of their car, walking all around. I figured they were chasing bunnies, as there are always rabbits around there.
Then they started backing out. Yes, backing out the exit. Basically, our P.O. is one big one-way -- you enter on one side, the parking spaces are all the same direction, and you exit from the other side. What they were doing was confusing. Turns out a huge tree had been felled during the storm (and yes, that's a huge section of the sidewalk the roots lifted up when it fell). We didn't have the wind by our house, but they definitely had it there! So Unk and I went back there today and took this picture (sorry it's not better). The P.O. is right outside the Denver Federal Center, and today we saw another huge tree had fallen down on the perimeter, knocking down part of the fence. There were security people there when we drove by.
So let's recap: sitting in the sun (enough to get color), hail, and extreme high winds. Yup, that's an average day in Colorado weather :)
Oh, and I did get all of E-F's wedding books released!