Hail Storm

Friday evening was a bit rough on our house.  A really bad storm came through and ate up all the plant life.  Oh and our gutters.  Yay for being a home owner!  Actually, it is usually a great experience, but then something like this comes along and ruins my day.  It won't be an expensive repair since we have plastic gutters.  I'm more upset about the time to repair.  Travis will have to go to the store, get the materials and then take the time to cut them to fit, get the ladder out and put them up. 

Normally this wouldn't bother me very much but I'm feeling less and less productive lately.  Travis picked up the pace this weekend and really started to help me out around the house and with Mila preparations.  He is on-call at work this week and weekend, which means he won't be around very much as it is.  Meh, I guess that's life.

So, back to the storm!  I tried to leave work a little early Friday in hopes of missing the worst of the storm.  Sadly, it started raining on my walk out to the car.  It was only sprinkling, but the 60 mph winds made it feel like I was being stabbed by needles.  Walking is hard enough as it is, add head wind to that and life gets harder.  It was pouring by the time I reached Aiden's daycare.  I ran from my car to the building (killer on my lower back) and a mom was standing in the doorway with her two kids.

"Careful!" she said. 

Careful?  Because I might fall?  Or because the exercise might hurt me?  I feel horribly guilty all the time about my lack of physical activity.  I know several pregnant women who have exercised their entire pregnancy and they are just fine.  It just struck me as funny.

It was back to a sprinkle by the time I pulled off at our exit.  I had a flash back to after hurricane Ike when the trees were damaged.  There were so many green leaves strewn across the road that I couldn't tell where the road ended and yards began.  Travis got off early, so he was already home talking to our neighbor about the storm.  Aiden and I walked around the house assessing the damage.  All my large-leafed plants look like they were taken out by a shot gun.  I felt like with all the leaves and branches in our yard that there shouldn't be any left on the trees, but they actually don't look bad.  The only expense to us is replacing three gutter sections.  Though I don't think we'll be home free until we see how the roof handles the next rain.  It looks fine, but you never know.  Oh and the garage could use a fresh coat of paint.  Looks like someone went to town with a pellet gun on the siding.

Sorry in advance for the sideways/upside down photos.  I keep meaning to try loading them using another computer, but I either forget or don't have time.  So here they are if you're up for turning your head or flipping over your computer/phone.

Swiss cheese gutters

Everything was coated in green leaves

Aiden wanted to eat the hail.  I used to eat snow when I was little, but now that we live so close to a refinery, I said no.

Shot gun blasted

The culprits