Knitting up a Storm

Yesterday, 5/26, about 5pm, Suzie calls me from Bethesda (60 miles southeast) and asks me what the weather is doing up here in Funkstown. I report that we had some rain and it passed over, but that now it is sunny, this latter fact verified by the fact that I can see sun out the window.

Suzie is watching the weather on the computer and tells me she thinks a storm is coming my way, but maybe that's was passed over?

I can only say, "I don't know. It's sunny now." My monitoring the weather consists of looking at the high and low temps and the weather icon in the corner of the front page of the newspaper. For that day, the words under the icon indicated "possible thunderstorms" which is not unusual at all for this time of year.

So we chat a few minutes about other stuff, and I mention that it's darkening. In the next instant there's this noise like hail against the window, and I run to the window to see the ground being covered with all sizes of hail: from pea to quarters. The wind is blowing REALLY hard. I tell Suzie that I think the wind might be 40-50 mph! I give her the second-by-second weather report:

• The garden is being blown flat.
• The trees are swaying and bending to the ground.
• Water is coming under the back door.
• The windows are steaming up.
• The wind is blowing the cat door completely open and rain is coming in.
• The thunder and lightening appear to be directly overhead.
• The power is out.
  
• It's a bit scary.

Being the dear friend and citizen that she is, Suzie keeps on the phone, checking the computer for wind velocity (not found) and storm progress. She empathizes while I go get towels to mop up water. I remember at one point I couldn't figure out why the water was coming down on me in the house and looked up to see the window had blown open (it opens to the inside and I hadn't latched it).

I feel like I am in the eye of the storm.

Finally, it abates. Whew. . .

When the rain stops I go outside to assess the damage to my beloved garden. It's really sad to see sunflowers broken, tomato plants bent and twisted, etc. There's some serious harvesting of broken greens that needs to be done. Tree branches litter the yard and parking lot. I turn around to walk back to the house and OMG, the tree is on my roof, at least the part that usually gently shades the back of my house and patio.

Call Suzie back with update. She suggests pics--good idea. It's getting hot and steamy.


I change into my gardening clothes and gather up branches, making a pile in the corner of the parking lot. Neighbors are milling about, trying to figure out if power outage is widespread. Reports of trees down reach me:

• Just down the street, a big tree came down on a van. They are already working to clear some of the branches that block the main road through town.
  
• On the block behind me, another tree blocks the street. Neighbors are cutting that up.
• Somewhere else a tree has fallen on a pickup.
  
• Trees and branches are down in many yards.

A bit before 7, the knitters start arriving for social knitting. Since the power is out and it's stuffy inside, we just hang outside, surveying the storm damage. People from other areas didn't even get any rain or wind. We decide to move on the Meadows Ice Cream, assuming they have power, which they do.

We eat and knit and visit. Kim arrives about 7:50 and reports that the traffic lights in Funkstown have come on. A call to her husband, Doug, indicates power is back on. When I get home, the lights are on, a welcome sight.

This morning, I tried to get the garden back in order. I staked many plants, cleared out all the fallen, separating into edible and compost. It's early and the garden will come back, except for the broken sunflowers, broccoli and tomatoes that had to be pulled up. For those, I can plant something new in their place. The tree service will come and get the huge branch off the roof.