Geekiness and a Hail Story

Issue the Fourth from the last post was fixed with a particularly well-timed swing of a crowbar and some judicious googling. I now have Flash on my computer, and I feel like I've tripled my geek cred. I also now understand several XKCD strips much better.

I get this now!

In other news, Terry Pratchett's newest novel is coming out TOMORROW. *celebrates* I will be getting that ASAP. Because Pratchett is just that awesome. And because the book sounds awesome. Once I finish it, I might even do a review after I uncurl from the inevitable withdrawal from New-Terry-Pratchett-novel that I will go through.




Now, story time. Backstory is thus: I'm keeping an eye on my sisters while my parents are stranded at my mother's place of work due to the massive storm currently going on. One sister, acting with uncommon sense for her, is simply sitting in her room reading. The other.. Well.

We were both staring out the windows at the storm. There was two-inch diameter hail falling outside, hard enough that it was bouncing off the lawn as high as two or three feet upon impact. My baby sister wanted to go outside and play in it, because she loves the rain. I stopped watching the storm and stared at her.

The culverts were flooding. There were birds falling from the sky. There were windows being broken. There was lightning happening in force, and the resulting thunder was rattling the windows the hail wasn't. And her response to my explanations that being hit with hail hurts, was as follows:

"I'll use an umbrella!"

She continues to look at me, her eyes wide and hopeful, as lightning strikes the tree across the street and nearly deafens us with the resulting concussion of sound. I open my mouth, about to say something, but I can't find anything to say.

The storm radio went off, telling us that there was a severe storm warning for our county. I looked at it and said, "No duh." It continued on, saying that if there was hail occurring, everyone should head to the basement.

"So can I?" she asked.

With a crack resembling the thunder, the tree across the street lost a large branch to the wind, which blew it across the street and into our yard, up to the base of the window in front of which we stood - a good three hundred feet.

"No." I said. "Basement."

She pouted. She whinged. She dragged her feet. And, as soon as I had my back turned, she ran out the front door. I turned just in time to see a particularly large piece of hail hit her. There was much drama as I ran outside, grabbed her, hauled her inside and to the basement. Then she started giggling and held out a piece of hail the size of my phone. The chuck  of ice had an... interesting shape.

Which is why I now have a bruised sister and a piece of hail shaped vaguely like female secondary sex characteristics in the freezer, and I have to explain both to my parents once the storm abates.