First Scary Storm

We had been told that in Minnesota we would see skies we'd not seen before and that in one hour's time the weather could go from bright, beautiful, and pleasant to dark, ominous, and scary (and that's only describing SUMMER storms - we already all know about the white stuff in the WINTER!). Yesterday I experienced this quick transformation for the first time.



It started with loud neighborhood sirens (which, in my limited storm experience, have always only meant there's a tornado watch/warning out!), at which point I flipped... TORNADO??? I just got everything where it's supposed to go in this house, we can't be blown away NOW! I immediately flipped to the weather station, which broadcasted that there were severe thunderstorm warnings out for our county among others. No tornadoes, yey.



I looked outside - GORGEOUS!!! Sunny, birds are chirping, air is warm. But when if I peeked along the horizon, I saw the monster of a storm coming. I checked to see if Lilly was going bezerk (isn't it true that animals can sense bad weather before humans can?). She was lazily lounging on the screened in porch (what's new?), without a care in the world... great watch cat she is.



The house was open, so I hurriedly closed every window and door, brought in some outdoor toys and the stroller to prevent them getting tossled around our lawn, and hunkered down with my son. I have to admit, I was a bit nervous. The way they were talking on the news, MAJOR wind damage was potential. Then, as if a huge space ship had interfered with the sun casting its light, our whole neighborhood turned creepily dark. The wind picked up and it got BAD. And after about 30 minutes of this, the hail came. The temp had dropped like 25 degrees in a matter of minutes. WAY weird. I tried to catch the sight with my camera, but below is the best I got.



Then, within the hour the storm passed and the temp rose again. ALL was beautiful again! It was quite an experience. Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore.



I'm sure this list will be ongoing, but I thought I would go ahead and start the "What's different about Minnesota" Hot List.


What's Different about Minnesota


1) Instead of "no problem" or "no sweat" - ALL Minnesotans use "You Bet." I love it! It makes me think of Mayberry...like they should say it while sticking their thumb up with the innocense and perfectness of Pleasantville. It's great


2) This town at least, and maybe all of Minnesota, omit one very important grocery list item from their stores: SOS pads. I LOVE SOS pads. And I cannot find them anywhere. Either I'm missing the aisle where they're located (in the 5 stores I've checked) or this place doesn't believe in steel wool.


3) Maybe I'm over-generalizing, but so far three people have said, "Just give me a jingle" when referring to a phone call. That's a cute little fun phrase too. (And no, they weren't actual friends I've met who want to actually have phone conversations with me... mainly they have been child care inquiries. I'm working on the friend thing. I'll save a couple stories there for my next post!).

MORE TO COME...


For now, here're a couple shots of Jackson. The first is him playing at the playground at the top of our neighborhood hill (and BOY is it a hill... pheeewwee!). Please check out the cool sneakers in this photo. Up until a couple days ago, Jackson was all Huckleberry-Fin-like, CONSTANTLY barefooted. I decided it was high time to get some shoes on this fella! Also note the OSU jersy provided by Grandma and Grandpa Arthur. The second is a common scene in our household these days: playing catch with Lilly. She's found elevation is her only secret.