HAILSTORM JULY 29, 2010

On Thursday afternoon, July 29, 2010 at  about 3 p.m. the sky turned dark, the wind started to blow, and  at first it was just a torrential  rainstorm,  and then it turned into small hail that just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger! Marlee and I ran to the basement, Maggie had already hid somewhere, I was afraid all the windows were going to get broken out. The pounding  was relentless, and  by the time it quit, the power was out . When I opened the front door and looked outside, the ground was  covered with  broken pine tree branches, pine cones, and hail.....lots of it!!

The cover on the back deck was in shambles, the gutters were overflowing and bent from all the water, hail and debris. 

Darrell called right before the storm hit asking how it was out our way, while I was talking to him it started hailing, I told him to call back, when he did, after the storm, I asked him to come home. He said he would, and started home only to be delayed by a several accidents. He said there were between 50-75 cars along Highway 16 with their windows all broken out!

After taking a look at the size of the hail stones I wasn't surprised! The biggest hail I have ever seen or ever hope to see again!

And if all the outside damage wasn't enough, then the roof started to leak! There was water coming out of the light fixture in the kitchen and a leak in the living room ceiling . Darrell crawled up on the roof and realized all the vents were broken and the hail stones had actually gone through the shingles and plywood! He put tarps up to cover the holes and the leaks stopped! Thank Goodness! He was soaking wet when he came in and put in a call to American Family Insurance and told them what had happened.  American Family called the next morning to say an adjuster would be contacting us sometime this weekend to come out and look at the damage. They both called on Sunday (camper and house) and we made appointments for Tuesday morning. The house damage came to $15,500 and the camper was totaled, which saddened me.

                                 

The camper had been in another hail storm with us in 2000 and we fixed her up and have used her all this time, but this was too much for her and she was headed to a salvage yard, she deserved better than that!!

Darrell and I worked all weekend cleaning up the debris out of the yard and probably only got half done. I started in Monday morning on my own and do a little bit every day and I'm still not done.

The hail actually made holes in the ground where they hit! I saved some of the hail stones and have shown a few people and it's hard to believe that hail actually is that big! I'd say the bigger ones were larger than a baseball and not quite a softball.

                                

We were fortunate to have good insurance and a wonderful Insurance Company and wonderful adjusters! It will take a lot of work, but we will have everything back the way it was. 

6TH RUMMAGE SALE OF 2010

On Saturday, July 24, we, along with some of our neighbors, had the first ever Golden Hills Drive
 Neighborhood  Rummage Sale. We were up at 4:30 putting out  signs and balloons, and then home to set up tables and get the stuff displayed on the tables. At 6:45 we had shoppers, and although we weren't completely set up, we had our first sale. We had alot of people come out for the sale, and we sold alot of "stuff". It was a perfect day, the only day all week that rain showers or storms weren't predicted!!

  

It was great having it outdoors, so much more room to display all the "stuff". We got to visit with alot of folks, and were able to sell alot of  outdoor summer items.

We rented the tables from the Community Hall and were able to display the "stuff" and spread things out.The shoppers were pretty steady all day long and even after the sale closed at 2:00 we still had folks coming. It was a huge success and at least  two of the neighbors said they would be willing to do it again. The neighborhood kids had set up a lemonade stand, so we treated ourselves to brownies, cookies, and tea for lunch....delicious.

 

We were surprised when we counted the proceeds, it was the best sale ever!! We made $543.00 in 6 hours, not a bad days work!!! We were a little disappointed that Darrell's tools didn't sell better, so I'm looking into doing a little something different with the tools.

  

BUILDING PRODUCTS INCORPORATED SUMMER SHOW

Friday, July 16 we left at 5:30 a.m. to attend the annual Building Products Incorporated  Summer Show that we have attended every year for the past 10 years. We look forward to it every year, it is a fun time. You can always count on it being hot and humid in Sioux Falls the middle of July. We arrived in Sioux Falls around one o'clock after having a lovely lunch in Mitchell, S. D. at the Corner Cafe, just sandwiches, but homemade and good, complete with my Peach Smoothie....YUM! We had a little time before checking in at the Ramkota, so we went over to Schaap's  RV and looked at RVs. They had a Big Horn, which was very nice and some Montanas to look at. Didn't care for the Montanas, but the Big Horn had a similar floor plan to the Heartland Landmark that we want. After that we went over to the Convention Center, checked in, got our goodies and hotel, and to our delight, we had the nicest room we've ever had in the 10 years we've gone. A microwave, fridge, large room, conveniently located. We went over to the show, registered for prizes, Darrell visited with some of the venders, had popcorn, ice cream, and pop, sat down and watched the crowd for awhile.
We had a little time before the dinner at 5:30, so we drove out to Spader's RV and we were able to look at a Keystone Alpine. It was very nice, but I still like the Heartland Augusta.
BPI always hires entertainment, so before dinner we were treated to a hypnotist. He had about a dozen folks from the audience come up and he hypnotised them. It was really interesting, and because we had sat like right in front of the stage, it was more enjoyable, because you could see by the looks on their faces they were in some kind of trance.

After doing some things on the stage, driving a car, singing opera, he sent the crowd out in the audience, they had to go up to everyone and say "I'm James.....James Bond, which they did. Then he told them to pick the closest person to them and dance an  Irish jig very good with that  person, the person that was the closest to him...WAS ME!!!!OMG!!

So, we danced an Irish jig very good!!! Anyway, it was fun, and then we had dinner and a few words from the owner of BPI. 

                                  

In the morning at the hotel we were treated to a wonderful breakfast! And then everyone went their separate ways, back to their lives.

                                   

We were off to the Farmer's Market at Falls Park, which we do every year, and get our first fresh tomatoes and cucumbers of the season, and it is sooooo good!!

                                  

Ever since I became a Master Gardener, I have heard about McCrory Gardens in Brookings, and have always wanted to see it, so after watching a show at the Cinedome and taking a dip in the hot tub at the hotel, we drove over to Brookings, which is about 50 miles from Sioux Falls. It was a very hot, humid day and we wondered if we would be able to stand it long enough to see the gardens. Luckily about the time we arrived, clouds started moving in and a cool breeze was blowing.

                                 

And we were practically the only ones visiting the gardens,probably due to the stormy weather predictions and the clouds that had moved in. We loved the gardens, and are so glad we took the time to drive over to see it.

                                

It was a good time to visit the gardens, the flowers were beautiful! And luckily we wandered as long as we wanted and never got rained on.

                                           

                                            

We got back to the hotel, turned on the tv and they were saying that downtown Brookings was flooding.....boy!! we were so lucky!! We drove home the next morning, picked up our girls, and life starts  again......

SILVER CITY VOLKSMARCH & PIE & ICE CREAM SOCIAL

Sunday, July 11, we walked the 10 K Volksmarch at Silver City. Maggie and Marlee walked with us.

The weather was perfect for the walk, what a beautiful walk!! Everything is so lush, thick, creek was  running full, there were  times when I was walking Marlee, she just disappeared in the weeds!  It had been a long time since we had been in Silver City, it was a place in earlier years we used to visit quite often. It was predicted to be a hot, humid day, but for the whole walk the sun stayed under the clouds.  There was a place on the walk,where you walked on the narrow path, and on either side of you, nothing but large ferns, it was beautiful! I never knew South Dakota grew so many beautiful ferns! We want to go back, and this time, I will bring my camera! The dogs never acted tired, this their second Volksmarch. The walk took a couple of hours and then afterwards.........the Pie & Ice Cream Social at the Silver City Community Center...YUM!YUM! 

Darrell had apple pie, his favorite, I had rhubarb, one of my favorites, and we shared a sloppy joe lunch, it was very good!!

Clint and Nikki visited the rest of the day, we were glad to see them, it had been a while, we've all been having busy summers! It also rained the rest of the day, so we felt fortunate we were able to do the walk in the morning!!

MAIN STREET ARTS & CRAFTS FESTIVAL-HOT SPRINGS,S.D.

This is a favorite festival that we try to attend every year. It was hot as usual 86 degrees, lots of vendors, live music and food!!! We sat and listened to several musicians, thankfully in the shade!

We had a pulled pork sandwich for lunch, really yummy!

Friends of the Library was having a book sale about a block from the festival, a dollar a bag for books, so Darrell and I found some great books! We always go to Pamida when we're in Hot Springs, found me a few plants to replace some in my pots. We also had ice cream at the Dairy Queen and stopped by the grocery store before heading home through Custer State Park and look what we saw!!!

THREE HUGE BUFFALO!!

FATHER'S DAY CAMPING AT #10

We left Friday, June 19 for our "traditional" Father's Day Camping Trip to Deerfield Lake, Whitetail #10, our favorite camping spot at Deerfield Lake. The lake is full of water and overflowing! What a beautiful sight to behold!! After 7 years of drought, I never thought I'd see the lake this full again!!

Driving into the campground and across from #10 a tree had uprooted the night before, thank God there were no campers in that spot! We met the new camp host Damian, and found out  the night before there was a storm with high winds and about 6 p.m. the tree had just uprooted, probably due to the wet grounds from all the rain. A young boy that had come for the weekend to camp with his family, was so upset by this, that they had to take him home, he refused to camp here!  I have to say it was a sight to see this magnificient tree had just fallen over!

We got every thing set up and went for a short hike, there were threatening clouds all around us, and felt lucky we didn't get rained on or worse! Whitetail was almost full by the time we got back, we had supper, and went to bed early, we were tired! It did rain during the night, with a little thunder, but no high winds or lightening!

After a lovely breakfast, complete with brewed coffee,  we drove over to  Dutchman Campground, just to check things out, and  it was closed,  temporarily,  due to falling trees!!! That kind of freaked us out!!  We found a trail and went hiking/ throwing the ball for Maggie, as we walked. We found all kinds of little streams and dams! And everything was so lush and green!!

                                  

Maggie and Marlee enjoy hiking and exploring,  they didn't bother crossing on the logs here, like we did, they went full steam ahead right through the water!! And Marlee proved to be the daredevil again, going to the highest point in the forest, logs, stumps...the weather was perfect for hiking, and we all got some much

needed exercise.

                                 

On the way back to the truck, I threw Maggie's ball and it ended up in a pine tree, we thought it was probably gone for good, and Maggie was having a fit!! We couldn't even see it!! After 15 minutes of trying to get it down, Darrell finally was able to get it for her......her hero!!! She was what we call a "happy

camper!"

                                 

We had a wonderful lunch of hot dogs, beans, smores, roasted marshmellows over the camp fire, and then it was rest time!!!

                                

Marlee took a much needed nap in her favorite spot in the camper! She loves napping and watching what is going on in the campground! She's so nosy!!

                                  

After napping, we went for another short hike, with threatening clouds all around us again, and felt lucky again that we weren't rained on or worse, by the looks of those clouds. We made pizza for supper and went to bed early again.

The next morning we drove around the lake and found this family of Canadian geese and enjoying watching the babies on the shore and in the water.

                               

After a much needed  break and some "down time" we had to pack up and go home, realizing that once again we had been fortunate enough to visit "God's Country" once again!

                               

NUMBER FIVE RUMMAGE SALE OF 2010

It was a cool, cloudy day for our fifth rummage sale of the year, but, we were warm and dry in our little Community Hall. A couple of other neighbors went in with us, and as you can see we still have alot of "stuff", and they did too, so we had a full community hall, we just didn't have many people. The Rapid City Journal was full of garage sales, and it was a slow day. I called one of our "good" customers, as she had asked, and she and her husband made our day!!  I sold some Black Hills Gold jewelry, Darrell sold some tools, my July 4 and Americana items did not go very well, which surprised me, but when we counted our money, it was the best sale yet! We made $452.60, which, we were very happy about!! The rain held off until we had everything back in the garage.  Already anticipating our next one, which I'm thinking will be July 24, if the hall is available, I already have a neighbor who wants to go in with us.

We had free coffee and homemade cookies (delicious) and all in all it was a fun day visiting with neighbors and customers!!