It blew in so fast........

Grandpa and I were sitting on our front porch playing Angry Birds on my Nook when some clouds started to roll in. We didn't think much of it since clouds roll in and out a lot without bringing anything with them. But this time, it was different......

We were lucky to be so close to the front door so we could get into the house fast. The winds kicked up all h*ll broke lose, but we didn't know how strong they were going to get or how much damage we would be looking at........

This is where we were sitting and managed to save the cushion and blankets that we had been sitting on. All that black stuff is the bark that flew out of here.......

the area around our bushes next to the porch. The winds just picked it up and blew it all over, landing everywhere including the front porch. When it was over, this is what was left of the bark in the spot where it belonged.

In a matter of seconds we were in the house and had headed to our deck to find this. Actually, the umbrella was still in the table when it went down. Miraculously, the table did not break. The winds actually pushed all of lawn chairs to one side of the deck and blew one of deck boxes right down the steps. The yellow and green in the middle is Lexi's little kitchen.

The other side of the deck with the pots and how they ended up. We had rushed out in the middle of it and got the umbrella out of the tipped over table and just left it lay and got back in the house. Grandpa said that while he was out there or in the front, he was almost hit by something flying but didn't know what it was.

Shelly was on her way home from work with Lexi (the older girls were at their daddy's). When I realized what was happening, I called Shelly on her cell and told her to just pull over but she said she was almost home. So I watched for her. I breathed a sigh of relief to see her turn the corner and heading towards the house. After she made the turn into the driveway, I ran out and got Lexi out of her cars eat and rushed into the house holding her close and covering her face. Shelly was right behind us. Even though she had parked right next to the tree, I was so tuned into getting the baby into the  house that I hadn't even noticed.........

That our biggest tree had gotten hit and split in half. Luckily it fell away from the truck that had been parked in the driveway close to it.

After the winds and rain died down, we were without power but went back out to search for things we were missing. Found one of the swimming pool noodles and the grill cover way across the street which Shelly retrieved.....

Grandpa and I went out and looked for the little little wire baskets he had built around our new baby trees; many of them were missing. However, all the bird feeders were still in place and we did find most of the wire baskets. But, unfortunately all of Grandpa's many 'spinners' were gone. As for his garden, all the tomato plants (along with their towers) fell and we now have it all just laying on the ground. The trellis holding up the green beans is down and laying on the tomatoes. We haven't decided what to do with all that yet. 

Well, by 9:00 p.m. with no power, we blew out all the candles and went to bed. And, I read a few chapters on my Nook which.....lights up!

I am just thankful that all my 'chicks' were safe when it blew through....that was the most important thing!