ICE IN JUNE!!!

At 10:00 tonight I was upstairs in my bedroom ironing and watching television. We have been under a severe thunderstorm watch for most of the evening, so I wasn't surprised when it began to rain very hard. As I listened, I realized that not only was it raining, I could hear hail hitting the roof and windows. I could tell from the sound of it that it wasn't the small stuff. My first thought was of my flowers! I could just imagine that they were being pelted and would be bruised and beaten down. Luckily, the hail didn't last for very long, probably less than 3 minutes. About 1/2 hour later, Tucker wanted to go outside. I walked out on the deck with him. I didn't turn the light on before I went out so I was shocked to find that I was walking on ice. It felt just like someone had poured a huge bag of ice on the deck. When I heard the hail earlier it sounded huge. I now realize that it was because there was so much of it. The ice balls were really very small, in fact they very much resembled the crushed ice you get in a drink from Frischs'.

 I went back in to turn on the light and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. People, it looked like winter!! There was ice everywhere! I had to grab my camera and take pictures.

I'm in the process of stripping the old stain off of the deck (this is the hardest task I've ever undertaken in my entire life!), if anyone has any suggestion for doing that please let me know. I've spent approximately 18 hours so far and it's not going well! Anyway, that's why the deck looks so horrible, so don't pay any attention to that!! You're only allowed to look at the ice!!

Look at how it's piled up in the chair. I didn't do that!

I took a flashlight out into the yard to look at my flowers. They aren't hurt too badly. I hope the light of day doesn't reveal a lot of damage.