Tornadoes and hail and snow, oh my!

Not exactly what you think of when you think spring, right?!

This spring seems to be teasing us with one warm day, then a day later, there is snow on the ground. Yes, snow.

In other exciting news, we had a "Tornado Tuesday" this week. For those, like us, who are not used to such unusual weather, let me set the scene for you...

The day started out overcast, not anything that unusual. But the clouds were moving rapidly, and the wind was gathering speed. Because of all the open land out here, windy days are in plentiful supply. The first sign that something was brewing was the temperature. Temps have been content to sit in the forties, so when we saw 83 degrees on the thermostat we knew something was amiss. (If it hadn't been so windy, we would definitely have been outside enjoying it!) We secured all toys and bird feeders and anything else that might blow away. The cats got safely put into their house, and we hesitantly left the warmth to go back inside. Then, the wind stopped. Nothing more than a gentle breeze. Ever hear the saying, calm before the storm?

As the sun set and darkness began to fall, the wind picked up speed with more fervor. Then came the rain. Torrents of rain whipping around in the fierce winds. God put on quite the lightning show as the thunder shook the house. As secluded as we are, we got a 360 view of the storm. We are too far from a tornado alarm (which sounds horrifying if you haven't heard one) so the first alert we got to go to the basement was Dad calling from Texas

after seeing reports of tornadoes and 100 mph winds clocked near us. Right after we settled into the theater room (Not a bad place to wait out a storm, am I right?) the hail started. Between the thunder and wind shaking the house, and the added sound of the pellets of ice banging on the house, no one was going to bed early on Tuesday. After the worst of it subsided in what seemed like a few minutes, we left our basement retreat and continued watching the lightning spectacle.

We are very grateful to God for our protection. The only damage was the burn barrels rolled across the yard and a littering of sticks that were torn from their trees. Now we are just crossing our fingers for warm weather SOON!