I'm baaaacck

Not that anyone even notices that I've gone. I experienced my first real hailstorm and tornado warning in Ohio. It was so cool! I was reading in my room (my mother's guest room, I mean) when I heard something like rocks hitting the house. So I go out and tell my mom I think we're having hail. Suddenly, these big chunks of ice--about the size of golf balls--come pouring out of the sky. Thousands of them! BOOM BOOM BOOM! The wind picks up like nuts and trees start bending. We were watching the news and a tornado alert comes for the area. We actually went down into her basement (which is finished) and watched TV there for a while. Then we went back upstairs when the sirens stopped. Except they kept starting and stopping. It was kind of annoying. My mother's grass was completely covered with hailstones and you can't see the lawn for the leaves that fell off the trees. Boy, it's times like this you're glad you're safe inside your home. I felt sorry for people driving--it was about the end of rush hour. Even more, I feel sorry for anyone who was walking. OUCH--imagine getting hit by hundreds of golf balls!I remember one small hailstorm on Long Island when I was a kid, but nothing like this. And it's my first experience with a real tornado warning. I thought it was pretty cool, but of course we also took precautions. Anyway, the next day they said a county to the south and east of where my mom lives was hit pretty hard with a lot of bad damage, including flash floods that almost buried cars in the streets. Anyway, it was an interesting experience...noisy, too!