Hail, BP

While we did not have a tornado here, we had excitement. Monday night, I tried to get some plastic drop cloths but at Lowe's we were told to get in the back of the store. Nothing was happening except on the siren front. Before I left home, I had heard the tornado warnings were 20 miles to the north. I was not going into the back of the store, so I tried to leave. A woman was locking the door and told me I had to go to the back of the store.

In a loud voice I told her to let me out NOW. She did. I would have called 911 and told them I was being held captive.  There is nothing that annoys me more than being forced to do something "for my own good."

Wm had closed, too. And, it was not even Christmas.

I came home very annoyed. The only two times a tornado had damaged my house, a bit of roofing was snatched off and rain came in, so plastic drop cloths seem like a very necessary bit of tornado insurance.

Finally, about 2:30 or so, all Hell broke loose here. I was just paralyzed listening to the hail. It was as large as pingpong balls about 30 minutes later when I decided to look out the back door. The kitchen window was intact and I am not sure how it held up because the noise and number of hail strikes was alarming.

Earlier, I had parked my car where that if a limb fell, hopefully it would not hit my car or at least break a window. Now, I worried about hail damage. I rushed out to see if my car was okay. It was about 5 am and three cars passed as I was trying to see with my flashlight if the windows were damaged.

All well okay with my car, although it appears there is one dimple on the hood. No problem.

I still wanted to go to WM, so I went out. All the cars in several car lots on the way looked like the windows were icy. No, that was multiple hail strikes. One window on a car in a parking lot looked like a bowling ball had been dropped through it. Some cars had not front or rear windows, just gaping holes. This all must have happened earlier because exbf was up and I told him about the car lots.

When he came to pick me up on Tuesday morning, I had had 45 minutes sleep. We went to bank, tried to go to WM, and I went to Lowe's. WM was still closed and it was still not Christmas Day.

When I went into Lowe's, there was barely room to get into the front door. There was a table set up for people to sign up for repair work estimates. There was a huge display of brooms, mops, paper towels, gloves, hammers, and boxes of plastic. The plastic was in boxes about 12x12 inches x 4 ft, massive boxes. Back in the broom aisle, a guy was wrestling the big and wide brooms. Employees were dismantling shelves to get things to the front. AMAZING.

People were buying massive tarps and little strips of stuff that I think is called furring, maybe wrong name. She said those went on top of tarps on the roof, nailed down to keep the tarps on.

Manager of BK lost three cars to hail. No windshields. He said the dining room was destroyed even though the drive-through was open. Hail came through the roof and through the ceiling.

A strip mall near the theater had no lights on in any of the stores. Insurance adjustors were out snapping photos, measuring, and making notes while managers from the stores stood out front. Yes, we did a bit of sight-seeing and rubber-necking.

Men were on tops of most stores in town. If you could see no one on the roof, there was a 20ft+ ladder leaning against the store.

WM just opened today, Wednesday, at noon. I was told all the skylights blew out and much merchandise was ruined. They were spending Tuesday examining and removing the damaged merchandise. That was what I was told on Tuesday.

When I got out of Lowe's, I noticed flowers in the roadway. So, I told exbf I was going to look. In the greenhouse, it was a disaster. So many flowers were in the aisles in broken pots with most of the dirt spilled out. The hail took a toll. Employees were scooping up whole areas and tossing into garbage cans. No, they would not let me have anything!

All this was on the road from my house to WM. We did not branch out around town. I have never before witnessed hail damage. When I was talking with a friend from the country, miles from here, she said her daughter only had the kitchen left without damage and that is where they were living since she could see the sky from every room and all was damp. Her cousin in town had same hail damage but no room left dry and she could see the sky, too.

Talking in passing with those at church, it seems many people suffered from this. Maybe that is why there was about 1/4 as many people at the lunch.

We went to a church lunch: baked boneless, skinless, chicken breasts; green beans; piece of buttered bread; huge salad with tomatoes. A bar of items like shredded cheese, dressings, eggs, and croutons were set out. I chose carrot cake and he chose white cake with white frosting. I had ordered two to-go-boxes before we arrived.

A guy brought a wheel chair for exbf and even got his lunch for him. I parked the car and got my lunch. It was delicious. A new friend from a few months ago sat with us and we had good conversation. Someone wheeled him out.

I felt so ill and mostly exhausted that I came back home to rest after I put food in the oven. Well, I got the appointment time wrong and only lay down for 30 minutes. I had carrots, onions, potatoes in a pan and in oven. Garlic, salt, and pepper and olive oil were for taste. I turned the oven off and went to doctor awhich was a disaster, so I will tell it later...lol.

The doctor's visit was long and grueling, so I packed up the half-cooked vegetables and got his boxed lunch from the refrigerator. I gave him bread, box of cereal, 1/2 Dutch Apple Pie,  and gallon of milk and sent him on his way. He said he did not mind having the same thing for lunch and dinner. So, today, Wednesday, he still has not cooked the vegetables.

The BP report was not good at all, but I am going back to bed.