Branch Down!

This past Friday I spent most of the day outside.  It was hot.  Really hot.  The kind of hot where when you turn the air conditioning on in your car you wonder if it's actually working because it still feels so hot.  The sky was blue and the only clouds to be seen were the really high wispy ones.  I don't remember from my elementary school science classes what they're called, but I know that they don't produce rain.

So when mid-afternoon some friends and the hubs both informed me of some doom and gloom weather forecasting for a huge storm with hurricane force winds, I didn't believe them.  I mean, they hadn't been outside all day in the blistering sun with nary a cloud in sight.  Surely this storm would miss us, especially when what was supposed to be "scattered showers" a few days ago actually mean a full day of rain.  We were due for a rain free day when the weatherman said otherwise!

Well an hour or so after these warnings I noticed the sky suddenly became cloudy.  No big deal, just a few white puffy clouds.  But I still took Dash out for an extra potty break and play time.  You know, just in case.  After half an hour we came back inside.  I was doing a little work on the computer when I realized the room had suddenly gotten darker.  I glanced outside to see the sky full of very dark clouds that had previously looked pretty innocuous.  Uh oh.

Moments later the wind began to blow.  Hard.  I watched as bushes bent over sideways in the wind.  Pouring rain followed shortly.  Thomas has hoped to make it home to get his nice new car into the safety of the garage before the predicted hail would hit.  I was on the phone giving him minute by minute updates on our weather (his office isn't near any windows).  As I described the wind he asked if any trees or branches had fallen.  I told him it didn't look like any had.  And then I heard a loud cracking noise. 

I looked out the window to see an enormous branch laying across our driveway (where my car happened to be parked).  Against my better judgment I dashed outside to check the damage.  Luckily the branch had missed my car but only just barely; some of the leaves were brushing against my car.

pictures of the branches after being cleared from the middle of the driveway

The storm continued for another hour or so and then it was gone as quickly as it came.  We were even able to make it to our 6:30 volleyball game and probably should have worn sunglasses since the sun decided to make an appearance after the storm.

So we (okay, mostly Thomas, but I helped a little!) spent a few hours this afternoon cutting and bundling the branches.  Our very nice neighbors lent us a small chain saw to take care of the biggest parts of the branches.  We ended up with 6 big bundles of branches, one yard waste bag of small stuff, some kindling and a nice big pile of firewood.

Overall, it wasn't really that huge of a deal.  Especially since there are some people who still haven't had power restored (ours only flickered a few times) and a few buildings were actually struck by lightning (scary!).  So I'm definitely not complaining!  But I will brag (?) that we have one of the biggest piles of fallen stuff from the storm in our neighborhood!

our bundles of sticks

the top third of this pile of kindling is new

this entire pile of wood is new (we could have saved more but this seemed like plenty!)

Oh, and of course for all you auto enthusiasts waiting with bated breath to find out if Thomas beat the hail in his car or not, he didn't, but the car sustained no damage from the storm.  So you can rest easy knowing that his baby car is safe and sound and dent-fee.