Oh, Hail!

Today was a stormy day. Off and on. Mostly off but when it was on, it was REALLY on. The most impressive storm involved huge raindrops and penny-sized hail that pounded everything. It bounced off the patio and hit the patio door so hard I was afraid the glass would shatter and the hail on the three aluminum birdseed cans sounded like some sort of percussion section. There was a lot of thunder before the rain and hail and I just heard thunder again so maybe we're in for another round. There are leaves all over the street and the yards that the rain, wind, and hail tore off the trees. It was kind of scary.

 

In happier news, there was a Bluejay hanging around today. I took three pictures of it. The first one it was flying away and was a blur of blue and white. The second one wasn't much better. And here's the third one that finally looks like a bird instead of a smudge.

 

Two Downy Woodpeckers showed up at the same time. One claimed the suet cakes and the other one sat on the birdbath waiting its turn. That one wasn't very patient. It flew away before the other one left.

 

Before any rain came to beat them up, I went out and took pictures of Dad's roses. They really seem to be liking the weather we've been having because they're blooming like crazy.

 

I went out back to pull up the world's tallest thistle (probably not, but it was at least two feet tall), and noticed that the orange day lilies are starting to bloom. I took their picture between rain storms so they're a little bedraggled but not as bad as I'm sure they are now after the hail onslaught.

 

Next to the day lilies, the milkweed is getting ready to flower. I've got a nice patch of milkweed but have never had a Monarch Butterfly move in. *sigh*

 

 Before any of the rain, the lawn mowers came and zipped around mowing, trimming, and blowing. I'm impressed every time how quickly they get the job done and they do an acceptable job of it.

 

Today's drawing is a Frog. I know I've drawn it before but that's where the book opened and I wasn't unhappy with it so that's what I drew.

 

I was right. I finished a short story yesterday and jumped right into another story start. Some of them seem to almost write themselves and others it's like pulling teeth. Today was pretty easy. 

And it's raining again. I'm glad I live near the top of a hill, otherwise I'll bet the street is flooded down at the bottom. I am also extra-glad that OJ didn't have a soccer game tonight. They'd have been playing and would have called the game and we'd have to drive home in that hail storm. No thanks.

Is 8:47pm too early to go to bed? I feel like I just want to crawl in and fall asleep to the sound of rain on the roof. I'll stick it out until at least 9:00pm. Really I will.

--Barbara