Woo-Hoo!

The demands of laundry prevented me from taking the dogs out today until early afternoon. I had planned to take them around the block and then head over to Shop'n'Save, but the day was hot and muggy under a louring sky, and by the time we got back I was uncomfortable enough to decide to postpone the grocery run. The distant rumbling of the sky did nothing to dissuade me.

It was a good decision.

Within minutes of our return, the sky opened up. Pounding rain, hammering thunder - and hail. This was the biggest hailstorm I've ever experienced; the stones piled up in (small) drifts against the side of the garage and battered the windows and roof, scaring Gracie rather badly. Most of the stones were pea-sized, but the largest - and they weren't rare - were closer to water chestnuts. I scurried to shut down and unplug the computer; minutes later, we lost power for about 15 seconds. When power came back, the satellite reception was out (as it often is during thunderstorms), so I settled down to watch a B5 DVD. When the storm died down, I risked restarting the computer, but the boomer roared back to life almost immediately, so I shut down again.

The weather seems to have settled down, but I'm still uncertain about making that grocery trip. I'm out of several staple items....