His eyes were as big as donuts, and there was obviously some concern that whatever was happening was not natural. (Usually, a thunderstorm is just another reason to have a nap as far as he is concerned)  Thunder rumbled constantly, and it was apparent I was not getting back to sleep.

I went downstairs, and as I was making coffee, there was another bright flash of lightning.  I warned the guard dog that there was more to come, and he immediately came to my side to protect me.

A half hour later, the storm had changed into a heavy rain that continued for the rest of the day.  It seemed like a good day for “interneting” and I grabbed a coffee and smokes and headed for the computer.

No internet access.

“Oh well,” I thought. “They’ll get it working later on today.  Lightning must have hit something.”   About six hours later, I decided to phone and see if it was going to be fixed soon.  I was told there were several areas still out, but they would be repaired as soon as possible.  I was to call if it was not working on Monday so they could send out a technician.

On Monday, I still didn’t have an internet connection, and made the call for a tech to come out.  The earliest they could come out would be Thursday.

“My God,” I panicked.  “That’s five days without internet.  How will I survive?”  I broke into a cold sweat immediately.

Somehow I managed to survive.  But I did find it amazing (perhaps disturbing) how much I depended on the internet for news, weather, email, etc. It’s been a morning ritual for years to bond with my computer for an hour each morning over my morning coffee.

Seriously, I probably would not have been too anxious normally.  It is just the internet, after all.

But, through incredibly bad timing, and my usual bad luck, my new grandson was born on Tuesday, and I had to wait to see the photos.

The internet withdrawal pains eventually subsided, but I knew the desire would always be there.  And when the connection was finally repaired on Thursday, I fell back into the old habits almost immediately.

I woder, how did the human race manage before the internet?

Fortunately for me (and I’m being sarcastic) it only hit about a five square block of town, and both of my houses got in on the bargain. The hail was so intense that you could not see across the street. The hail lasted for about 20 minutes or longer, with hailstones the size of golf balls.

My caragana hedge looks like a bunch of sticks. There’s about 4 inches of leaves and branches I haven’t got raked off my lawn yet, because unbelievable as it sounds, there were still hailstones under the leaves at noon today. And the temperature is around 25 degrees. The shingles at both houses got beat up pretty bad, and I lost a few “moon-ray” lights. The bedding out plants and flowers look like they have been through a paper shredder.

Of course, I have photos to show. Click on the thumbnails for a bigger image.

I don’t think I have ever seen this much hail. As you can see, it looks like snow banks on the street. The hail and broken branches and leaves from trees plugged up the catch basins, so the rain couldn’t get away (and it was raining hard) and there were quite a few flooded streets.

You can see the size of the hailstones that hit in these photos. My car is camouflaged now, probably to hide the new dents. And my hammock makes a great man-sized ice bucket – if you don’t mind maple leaves for garnish in your favourite beverage. By the way, my lawn isn’t that green – that’s a layer of tree leaves and broken branches covering the grass.