Green skies and ping pong balls

In Southwest PA we don't have to deal with extreme weather, save the occasional blizzard once every few years. As much as complain about the cold, I would much rather be here than somewhere else. We've all seen the wrath of Mother Nature recently in Japan. I know I definitely couldn't deal with that. At all!

However, after yesterday, I have started the rethink where we live.

The weathermen predicted warm, but rainy weather for yesterday. We all know that weather men (and women) are right maybe never 50% of the time. The abundance of sun yesterday was further proof of that. I expected an easy drive to get the husband from work. I wouldn't need my sunglasses, but I was happy to not have to drive in the rain.

Once we were on the highway, the kids and I noticed the dark clouds rolling in. We saw a little lightening and a few big, fat drops hit the windshield. With the position of the clouds it appeared that we were slightly ahead of the storm. I hoped that it would pass and we wouldn't get stuck in it on the way back home.

Oh how wrong I was!!!

Quicker than a snap of my fingers, those big fat drops turned into some of the biggest hail I have ever seen. I have never pulled off the highway due to weather. Until yesterday. I really started to freak out when everyone else on the road pulled over as well.

The kids were ooh-ing and aah-ing over the size of the hail. Me? I'm surprised I wasn't honking the horn from my heart pounding out of my chest so hard! All the while I prayed that the windshield wouldn't break.

After a few minutes that felt like forever, the hail stopped. The rest of our drive was easy and I assumed the return trip would be easy as well since the storm had passed. I really need to stop assuming.

During the last 10 minutes of our return trip we all noticed our surroundings getting darker and darker. Without completely driving like a bat out of hell, I tried to hurry and get us home. I think because of this, I ended up getting behind the slowest driver ever. Needless to say, a few blocks from our house the lightening once again started and the sky turned a scary shade of green.

As I'm turning a corner I hear it.


BOOM!!!!!!


I do believe the exact words out of my mouth were "What the fuck was that?!" (I'm such a good role model for kids, aren't I?)

The hail had once again started. It was beating the crap out of our car but being so close to home, I had no choice but to keep going. As I was sprinting into the house I noticed chunks of ice on our porch steps. Instead of standing in the now pouring rain, I walked through the house and out onto our covered back porch. That's when I noticed this...

It looks like a ping pong ball, but it is indeed a 1 inch ball of ice. I hope to never see that again!


By the way, that ball and his friends left a nice dent in the roof of our car! But I guess it's better than a broken windshield! Compared to the rest of the area, we actually got off easy with this storm.



Until next time....