Not Even a Shingle!

Sunday, as everyone knows, Central Illinois got hit by some seriously scary and dangerous weather.  The kids and I rushed out of church as quickly as we could, having been warned that bad weather was supposed to arrive about noon.  It was our Sunday to set up and therefore to also put things away after the service.  I asked for a little help to do that job and got a lot of help instead!  Hurrah for the helpers. 

The kids and I got home and it was not yet raining.  We had planned to put the deck items away for the winter on Sunday afternoon, so we grabbed as many things as we could before the rain started.  Actually we kept working until all the valuables and breakables could be safely stowed:  planters, the table, chairs, the grill, trellises, and such.  As soon as we finished that, J-dude grabbed Pi the Curious Cat so he would not be swept out to sea, and we all (Samarra the Salmon-Eating-Plate-Smashing Critter included) headed inside JUST as it started to hail.

I don't know much about history, don't know much trigonometry, don't know much about science books, don't know much about the French I took, but I DO know that Hail is a Bad Sign during a Tornado Watch.  Which, of course, was already a Tornado Warning but I didn't know that yet.

The Player was at a secure location in Ohio.  So the 5 of us headed to the lower level of the house.  We listened as the wind got louder and the rain got rainier.  Sisi confessed to feeling scared, though she acted very brave.  We hung out in the laundry closet, kind of waiting for something big to happen.  But it just blustered and blew and then it was over.

The sun came out, and we went outside to survey the damage.  A few branches down, nothing we couldn't haul to the curb ourselves.  We looked around a while and finally Sisi found a shingle in the yard.

I texted the roofer who had just replaced our roof earlier in the week.  He said he would come by and replace it.  Today one of his employees came by and climbed up on the roof.  Turns out we didn't lose even a shingle...it was just a piece left behind when they did the roof and the wind blew it out from wherever it had been hiding.

We are feeling blessed and lucky.  Very very lucky!