CruizerBlog

Caught in the rain

Caught in the Rain

Or more like hail. Wednesday night we had a killer storm come through the area. I had just finished mowing the lawn and was in the driveway talking to my neighbor, Adrian, when the tornado sirens went off. Funny thing was, that it was clear sunny skies. So I finished the weed whacking, and went inside for dinner. You could see in the northeast sky it was getting a little dark, and you could hear thunder. So I got on weather.com and looked at the map. There was this small but intense looking storm system over Michigan City, and heading our way. We also had tornado warning and tornado watches as well.

Well I sat down to eat, and about halfway through my meal, I decided to go outside and close up the garage before the storm hit, because you could hear it getting closer, and the temperature was dropping. As soon as I walked into the garage (it's detached from the house) it started hailing, and then raining. And man did it come down! It was so loud on the garage that I couldn't even hear the person I was talking to on my phone. It hailed the entire time it was raining. The hail was probably slightly smaller than a dime, and then it turned to about the size of golf balls for about 10 seconds, then back to dime size again. This all lasted about a half hour, Most of the storm I was in the garage, but I did make a run for the house. I finished up my supper and went back outside about a half hour after the storm quit.

The yard was a mess. The hail had ripped a ton of leaves off the trees, and there were branches everywhere. The hail was still all over; you couldn't take a step without crushing it. Adrian told me he had gone across town, and there were trees down everywhere. The leaves clogged the street drains and lots of streets were flooded. You could hear sirens all over, and police and fire were cruising back and forth. It was like all hell broke loose, and then it just quit. The sky was cloud free again. 23,000 total people in two counties without power. Only about 5,500 people were still without power this (Friday) morning.

Michigan City, the town I work in, got hit the hardest, 106 MPH straight-line winds. Yesterday it was declared a disaster area. Department of Homeland Security brought in a mobile command center to run the disaster clean up from. Two trees here at work got destroyed; one broke in half, and the other fell over, roots ripped from the ground. That was a common site throughout town. Trees down everywhere. At the park by the beech, entire rows of trees down, roots in the air. Many roads were closed; the outdoor mall was completely closed and taped off. Rumor has it a roof was ripped off one of the buildings. News crews all over, and a couple news helicopters were floating around all day yesterday. The place looked like a war zone. One of the main roads into town had so many leaves on it, you couldn’t even see the road.

I took a few pictures around the house Wednesday night, during and after the storm. These are with the camera phone, so please bear with it.

This one shows the hail that was piled up around the garage door about 10 minutes after the storm started.

The leaves in the driveway, leaves on the truck, hail on the truck, again about 10 minutes after the storm started.

This is about a half hour after the storm ended. I was in the yard; I just reached down and grabbed this handful of hail.

The front of the garage, you can see the hail buildup.

The side of the garage, the hail was so thick, it looked like snow.

Audio Update

Weekend Report

This weekend my friends set me up a camping Bachelor Party weekend. We left for Terre Haute Thursday night, where a few of us stayed at Shawns brothers house, then we went to Raccoon Lake Friday afternoon. There was a great turnout, about 15 guys the first night, and 18 the second. Not everyone stayed both nights, and unfortunately not everyone invited came. We did quite a bit of fishing. Josh brought a fishing boat to use as well. Did some midnight hiking, which one guy ended up taking a dump in the woods because we got lost and could't get to the bathrooms fast enough. That was funny. We also went to the archery range and played with some bows and arrows. Then there was the usual sitting around the campfire talking until the wee hours of the morning.

Watch where you drill

Watch where you drill

Last night I was working on installing my new stereo equipment in my truck. I was drilling a hole for speaker wire when the drill broke through the metal and pierced a wire loom that I didn't know was there. Suddenly the interior lights went out and so did the radio. I spent the next hour patching up the wires, and looking for blown fuses. I gave up at 10 o'clock. So today I got to drive to work while listening to myself think. I think I'm going to drive myself insane on the way home....

Movies, Friends, Education

Movies, Friends, Education

Friday
Christina wanted to do dinner and a movie. So we ate at Joe's Crab Shack, and then went and saw Miami Vice. We got to the theater a bit late, and ended up sitting way in the front. Turns out Christina gets motion sickness from that. We went home, she went to bed, I went to a friends house to enjoy a summertime campfire.

Saturday
Went to Lafayette for a wedding from a former coworker of Christina's. It was a nice wedding, done a little non-traditionally. Instead of all the bridesmaids on one side, and the groomsmen on the other, they were arrainged in couples, surrounding the two getting married. It was neat. And they are Baptist, so the wedding was short, and there wasn't really a reception, aside from some fingerfoods and mingling. We left there and visited my friend Scott and his wife Sara. We played Minature gold, and went to eat at Texas Roadhouse. Afterwards, we went to the theater to see Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. That movie was just awsome. Again, we arrived very late in a full theater. We all ended up splitting up. Scott and I sat in the third row from the screen (so Christina wouldn't get sick again) and Christina and Sara sat a few rows behind us. After the movie, we hung out at their place for a few, and then took the hour and a half journey back home.

Sunday
We decided that we didn't want to sit around the house all day Sunday and be bored. So what better thing to do than go to Chicago and spend money that we don't have? So we did. After unsuccessfully not getting anyone to go with us first. We ended up going to the Field Museum. And let me tell you, there is not crap for directions on the highway on how to get there. We passed it twice before we fially got in the parking garage, and that wasn't without driving through MCcormick Place first! Fortunately, we managed to get tickets to the King Tut exhibition. Due to time constraints, we did not get to see everything in the museum, but we did finish off the top floor, and saw the other main areas of interest to us. Then it was time time to see the King Tut display. It was tryly amazing to see these artifacts that were originally placed in his tomb. The detail and art that went into them was incredible. Overall, it was quite an impressive display. But I was upset to find they did not have his coffinette there, which is probably the single most recognizable artifact in history.
Afterwards, Christina and I went to Naperville to bd's mongolian barbeque. Our neighbors took us there once, and we had a hankering to go back. This was our main reasion for spending the day in Chicago. The entire trip was centered around going here. And as last time, the food was incredible (well duh, I designed it) and for what you get, it's realively cheap. Afterwards we went home, arriving there about 11 last night.

So yeah, full weekend.

Scorchy Morchy

Scorchy Morchy

So this week has been hot and humid as usual. (Tired of the weather talk yet?) I think I have swam in the pool evey night so far. Tuesday night we went swimming in the dark, with the Tiki Torches lit. I love thet, except for the mosquitos. My head was eaten alive because that's all that was above water. Last night a storm came through with a cold front. We finally have a break in the heat and humidity! It's all of 80 today! Woo Hoo! Better than high 90's!