As I was leaving the church yesterday, I saw a huge sheet of brown stretching down from the sky about five miles(?) from the church and it looked like it was moving in the general direction of the church (and my home). I drove home and got inside as the winds started to pick up.
Things started to rattle on the patio. Stuff that wasn't nailed down jittered. Things that were fairly lightweight...maybe I'll see them again some day. Fortunately, it had rained (seriously rained, complete with some hail again) earlier, so the dirt was damp. If it had been dry, it would have been uglier.
I moved my plant inside, then put my daughter's plant inside because I didn't want them to become airborne. Concern about flying debris made me close the blinds on all the windows in the new room so IF something was hurled at the window, the glass wouldn't be forced into the room. The blinds, hopefully, would catch the majority of the debris. I wasn't concerned about the windows in the front of the house because they have beat-'em-with-a-baseball-bat (literally) hurricane screens. I may need to get those for the windows in the back room. I can't have them over the door with the dog door. Not sure what they'd do about the double door.
The rattling and shaking lasted about fifteen or twenty minutes. When you looked at the sky before it actually reached us, it looked like a tornado that forgot the funnel, but was looking for a place to connect to the earth.
Of course, this was when the dog wanted to go outside to do her thing...but didn't want to be outside because there was dust followed by mean rain and she hates rain.
We got an alarm to warn us about the incoming "dust storm" as we were about to have communion at mass. People's phones started going off. I'm sure our pastor was thrilled...not really.
We survived. I didn't lose much that I'll miss. I did secure a resin cabinet better. I used a twist tie instead of the usual S-shaped piece of metal to secure the doors. The cabinet has cleaning supplies and I keep it on the patio.
Quite eventful. The patio and the room withstood it. I guess I'm getting my money's worth.
