Feb 16 2008
What the Hail?
Now I know why they call them hail stones.
We lay in bed at about 6:30 a.m., not long after Shannon and I got back from giving Ben cough medicine. Something banged hard against the roof, and something smacked our bathroom window. Repeat, really fast.
“Mommy!” Ben cried from his room.
“It’s okay, Ben. Come in here!” I shouted.
He did, and it resulted in what usually happens on the rare occasion that Ben climbs into bed with us. He gets between us under the covers, then won’t be still (or quiet) and none of us gets back to sleep. At 7 o’clock I got up with him and let Shannon sleep a little longer. There was nothing unusual about that, but I had been awake since 6 a.m. when Shannon’s attempts to give Ben the medicine woke me through the baby monitor.
But this is about the big hailstones.
(click pic to enlarge)
Once Ben and I were officially out of bed and ready to face the day (sort of), I stepped outside to retrieve a few of the ice chunks that had bombarded our house. I included a plate and fork just for size comparison.
It’s the biggest hail I’ve seen, and I’m glad I wasn’t caught outside in it. Ouch!
Markus…It probably isn’t quite big enough for serious roof damage, unless this picture included some “melt time,” but did you check your roof?
Did it kill your vehicle?
You don’t want to let any time pass before you make a claim on either one…if you need to.
Yowzah!
(Not very often does the situation warrant that sort of interjection, but I figured that this one did.)
We get pretty regular hail around here in the spring and summer, but I can’t recall the last time I saw any that size in person. Maybe not ever…
We had the boys come in to our bed this morning too. I didn’t get to sleep in though I was actually the first one out of bed due to a head but to the mouth from the youngest. I enjoy sleeping in. I wonder when that will happen???
Anyhoo, enough about me. Those are freakin huge chunks of hail. Good thing you have a garage for your car. It would of scared me out of bed too to hear that hitting the house. Is Ben fighting a cold or just a cough from whatever reason???
Charles - The hail lasted no longer than a couple minutes, but I know there still could have been some damage. I’ll check it out as soon as I can. Today I was taking care of a progressively sicker Ben.
Simon - I didn’t say, “Yowzah!” But it was something very close to that.
I’ve seen tiny hail plenty, and I’ve seen pictures on the newscast of softball-sized hail, but this was the biggest I’ve heard or seen.
Amy - Sleeping in. I haven’t been real big on it for a long time, but it would be nice to sleep later than 7 a.m. for once. Actually, we get the chance to do that occasionally when Ben stays over at his grammy’s. I just hope that when he reaches sleep-over age we’re not the ones always hosting them!
His temp hit about 102.7 F (on a thermometer that, you guys will be glad to know, shows Celsius until you hold the button a few seconds and then it changes over). Before that it had been at about 99 all day. Funny how it creeps up on you. I exhausted our supply of kids’s ibupe and acetomenaphin after one dose of each (yes, staggered), so I borrowed some from a neighbor.
As you can tell, Shannon’s out. She left at about 2:45 this afternoon for an overnighter with lady friends. Three of them (including Shannon) are from the tattoo group. The other two they added later.
Holy MOLY!! Those are huge!
I’m glad you’re all ok, and I hope Homer is too!
I hope Ben is doing better. That nasty flu is going around here, and we’ve had some school closings. It’s considered widespread in Arkansas, and I think I saw the same thing for Texas.
No need to rush out for a Flu shot though, because the word here is that it’s a different strain than the vaccine. So…we’re just trying to keep clean hands and hope for the best!
Keep us posted on how Ben’s doing. That’s a pretty high fever, and I bet he wasn’t feeling very well.
Poor Ben. Hope he’s doing better by the time I got around to reading this.
We’ve had way more hail this year than usual. A little this morning even. But nothing even close to that size. Just tiny little pebbles that make a lot of noise. Those things are like the Cloverfield of hail stones, man. Although I’m not sure about your instinct to eat them. Very odd.