Holy hailstones! Second day we were here the sky ruptured and let loose an avalanche of huge hailstones. While out for a walk, we saw thunder in some distant rain clouds so headed inside. Then, within about 15 minutes, it started raining, then thundering, then the hailstones as big as golf balls began. We found a rug on on the porch and covered the car’s skylight with it so it wouldn’t get smashed. I was out just a few seconds when a big hailstone hit me on the top of my head like a hammer. I went back in and got my hat but still had to cover my head with my hand.

One of the skylights in Don’s living room was broken and the house sprang about eight leaks in various rooms. The hail must have done a lot of damage to the roof. We all scrambled for pots to catch the leaks as the lightning and hail went absolutely nuts for about a half hour. Then it was all over and the sun came out after a little while. What weather!

Later in the day I learned from some of Don’s neighbors, Jack and Marilou Dody, that this is “extreme weather country.” In the winter, Jack said, the temperature can suddenly drop 50 degrees when a front comes whistling through. He said this area was one of the last places of the western prairie to be homesteaded, and that the government gave away 320-acre parcels, rather than 160-acre parcels. The grass supports only one cow and calf per 40 acres.