Rave, did you have those storms last night? We had some pretty strong thunder storms here. Last I heard they were headed east.
We had an incredible thunderstorm, complete with lightning and hail. It was fairly large ice balls, about the size of big marbles. This was yesterday evening, about sunset, maybe 7:30 or so. I went out on my porch to see it, it was so unusual, and some balls of ice scampered up onto the porch. I examined one, and it had an icy center, then an icy coating around that, like a little eye in the center of the ice ball. I worried my car would be dented, but I guess they weren't big enough for that. I watched the hail tear leaves off trees, though, and there was some rain in it, too, since the driveway became a small stream. The next-door neighbor's yard was coated with the hail till it almost looked like snow, but it was in balls, not covering every inch of the ground. It was truly amazing, and I wondered at what nature has to offer sometimes. I also worried about Penny, since I know she would rather stand outside the shelter than crowd in there with the other horses. I hoped she overcame her reluctance when the ice started pelting her. I knew it wouldn't be comfortable.
I went off to work today, and just as I turned out of a small road onto Rt. 96, a 2-lane road into Ithaca, waiting for a car to pass, then entering the road, crossing a bridge and going up the hill, when that car in front of me had to swerve into the lane of oncoming traffic (luckily, there wasn't any oncoming traffic) to avoid a tree falling in its path. If the car had gone straight, it would have been crushed. Luckily, the driver had quick reflexes, and he went around the tree as it was falling! I slowed and inched around the tree, watching for oncoming traffic, since I was in their lane, and noticed the car ahead of me pulled off to the side of the road, and the driver had gotten out to see if there was any damage to his car. I didn't see any major dents, though maybe there were some scratches of branches to the front. He was very quick-witted to avoid a major catastrophe! I heaved a sigh of relief and drove on, since I had to get to work and the driver of the other car seemed fine, as did his car.
My guess is that the hail weakened the tree, which decided to come down in the strong wind this morning, and of all the places that guy had to be, he was almost underneath it. If I had been a few minutes earlier leaving the house, It might have been me, and I don't know if my reactions would have been quick enough to avoid that tree. If he had been 5 seconds quicker leaving his house, he might have not been able to avoid that falling tree. Doesn't it make you wonder about fate and how arbitrary it is?
I'll go see Penny tomorrow morning and see how she fared in the storm. I bet she's very muddy, since there's nothing a wet horse loves to do more than roll in the mud. I'm sure if there was a big problem, the barn owner would have phoned me.
Since you mention rain in the Midwest, and it comes to us soon after, I bet this isn't the last of it.
