All Hail

Tuesday, after posting my Tea Tuesday post, I allowed Bleubeard to follow me outside. I wanted to introduce him to his Cat Grass. I thought the grass looked tall enough for him to enjoy, so I guided him toward the garden. Unfortunately, he headed directly for the Bermuda grass that permeates my yard and garden. Unbeknown to me at the time, this would be the last images I would get of this garden that I was so proud of this year.


At that point, Bleubeard was not cooperative, so I finally picked him up and set him beside the container of Cat Grass. Before I could get in position to take a photo, he had already started to enter the container. Just look how full and lovely all the plants and herbs were.



That image pose looks all too familiar. I've seen it too many times, and not in the grass, either!



Thankfully, he just sat in this grass and chomped on it a few minutes. It didn't take long until he was bored and wanted back in the house, though. Not exactly a glowing recommendation, especially since it is the first harvest from this year's planting season! Note also the container is NOT broken in this shot.



Fast forward to Wednesday evening.


I shot this from inside the screen door of my back porch which is not covered.


The front porch looked equally bad.


The hail continued to pound the ground.


It looked like a blizzard,


no matter which direction I faced.


Even my precious rocking horse took a beating.


The hail subsided and the rain increased. The grass between the two driveways was under water.


Leaves and tiny branches were everywhere.


The only things spared were the flowers and greenery under the tree.


I remember when I was shooting with an SLR, how hard it was to get a good image of fog. With this camera, it was nearly impossible. Actually, what you are seeing was the steam that was created when the temperature changed so quickly and drastically. About the only thing I can say for this photo is, you can see the branch hanging from my neighbor's tree is about to tumble into my yard.


I noted how the house on the corner of the next block looked like a white-out, because there were no trees in the yard.


After the first round of hail had passed, my neighbor came over and, as we talked, he picked up one of the hail stones and showed the size compared to a penny.


I was pleased to see my cosmos had not been damaged. I was just commenting on how early they had bloomed. It's normally July before I see them in the yard.


My neighbor found a bird and thought we might be able to save it.


It didn't look very healthy to me, but it eventually flew away later that night.


Fast forward again to Thursday morning. Apparently I slept through the next storm. It was the one that did all the destruction. My lovely garden is now


in shambles and my tomato plants are nearly beaten to the ground.


Most everything was destroyed, along with


some new herbs and another tomato plant.


Even my herbs outside the garden took a big hit. I'm not sure they will ever survive now. What had once been a thriving garden is now in shambles. It's a far cry from the thriving garden you see in the beginning of this post.


Fast forward to this morning, and you can see I've started the clean-up on my property. I ran out of steam as I was sweeping the sidewalk leading to the house, but at least the driveway is clean. What I wouldn't have given for a leaf blower when I was cleaning the drive.


One of the casualties is my neighbor's tree that has a huge branch broken off. Yesterday it was taking up most of the street.

Now that my electricity is back on, I'll be by to visit as many people as I can. There's a lot of damage and a lot of clean-up I still have ahead of me. I hope everyone who reads my blog is safe and secure. And thank you beyond belief for staying through to the bitter end of this tale.

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