So I've never really given hail storms much thought. Obviously I knew that they were capable of causing some damage, but I'd never had my own serious personal encounter with a hail storm. Even just a few weeks ago when we had the "bad storm", I only got dime-sized hail at my house and that's a cake walk. (Though I will say that in other areas of town there was a lot more damage from bigger sized hail.)

All that changed this afternoon... I knew there were hail storm warnings because my step-mom had just called me and I could hear it pounding all over her car. Then my dad sent a text that it was hailing at his house. I had actually just laid down for a breather after cleaning my kitchen post-flood last week. (Always an adventure!) Then I heard a couple hail pellets coming my way...

I went out to put some towels on my front and back windshields. Then I decided I'd move my car as close to my house as possible. My world has always been a world of no carports or garages. Of course my parents have garages... with their cars in them. I moved the car so close I had to climb out the passenger side. Then it really began to hail and I noticed these were quite a bit bigger than dime-sized and I went into emergency mode... Operation Save My Car! I started running around throwing anything within reach on top of my car... bag filled with garbage, the actual garbage can I had just washed out, an old towel... On the way to get more towels, I decided instead for this big thick blanket I keep on my bed. I threw that over the top of my car. Then I put three floor mats on the hood of my car. All the while my car was getting pelted with giant hail pellets and I could see some dings already. But all in all, my fast thinking saved my car from even more damage. Unfortunately, I've counted around 30 dings on my car anyway, but I'm just thankful my windshields didn't break as that's often what happens in these ridiculous battles with nature. (Frank's truck has a crack in the windshield. Bummer!)

Here are some photos for your viewing pleasure. And I'm sure any of you in this area of the world saw the same thing...