Well today started off beautiful! The sun was out, the sky was blue, and it had warmed up to a nice 80 degrees. We walked to church this morning and ate some leftovers for lunch. Pretty normal day. This afternoon some dark clouds rolled in, and we went out on to the porch to watch the sky change and the winds pick up. Then I heard something really loud- something had hit and bounced off the car across the street. Well, that turned out to the the beginning of a long and destructive hail storm, actually this would be the second one in two weeks.
This is what it looked like from our front porch. It’s hard to tell from the picture, but the hail was really large and made quite a bit of noise when it the windows and cars.
We rushed out with towels over our heads and covered my car with the living room rug and several other towels, and we left Jimmee’s truck to fend for itself. His truck was under a low tree and in between two houses so it was somewhat sheltered. My car just has a couple of dings, but when Jimmee went for a walk he saw other cars with broken windows, usually if they weren’t under a tree.
Here is a close-up of the hail after the storm and some other photos.
The plants and our newly sprouted grass took a beating, especially the hydrangeas and peonies. I think we’re back to square one with the grass after all the TLC we gave to it for the last couple of weeks…
I tried to salvage what I could of the flowers since I didn’t want to see them go to waste in the mud! I think the buds will still open up.
We had one last little surprise from all the hail that we found after the storm had passed through. I guess one of the larger chunks got past our neighbors house, which was shielding our windows and broke one of the panes. :( We’ll add that to our list of things that needs fixing. We are lucky to just have one cracked window though since other people on our block have smashed out windows- with no glass at all.
We ordered some pizza after all of the commotion and crazy weather, and it just arrived so I’m off to enjoy it and relax for the evening!
A Date with Design 
Glad that you were able to harvest the peony blooms from the ground. I also think they’ll open; they’re shipped unopened to florists, and then open to be beautiful, so it’s good you scooped them up. The hydrangeas will probably survive too, just with a setback.
Who would think that you need a stack of rugs and towels to keep on hand for when golf ball sized hail hits? You’ll need to have them rolled up by the door for the next big, crazy storm!
It was a lucky day for the window glass replacement guys!
I hope all the plants will come back later this summer. I guess we will need to set aside some large rugs for these types of events- seems like they happen frequently here! I looked at my car this morning, and I actually have quite a few dings, despite the rug. :( The insurance adjuster is coming later today so I hope we can get things fixed quickly!
WOW! Crazy hail, Anne! I really can’t believe this Oklahoma weather. Your poor grass. Well, from my little plant knowledge that I have acquired I do know weatherizing your plants so they harden and get used to rough weather patterns is a good, yet progressive, project. I don’t think beating hail, though, just weeks after the grass’ birth, was good :( I really hope things get back to being better and the nasty weather stays away!
Yeah, it was crazy! Hopefully they’ll harden up soon after all they’ve been through. They’ve been in the garden for two and a half weeks and already had two hail storms, three complete downpours, with tornado possibilities, and 50 mph winds. That’s what you get in Oklahoma! :)
Wow, craziness! I remember that crazy Tulsa weather, and those intense hail storms that would always roll through. I remember at TU, running out to my car and driving to the nearest gas station to get my car under cover before a hail storm rolled through, lol! Hope all your plants are okay, and that really sucks about your window! :/ We haven’t had any hail yet here in Nebraska… so far… :/