The Hail in June

Yeah for Gypsy Gardens.

3:00 pm: Received a call from my father that golf ball size hail obliterated the town of Absarokee near where they live and the storm is picking up speed towards us. You may want to cover your garden.

3:01 pm: My sister, who’s visiting us, and wife call and ask where to find buckets and boards. I tell them.

3:02 pm: Leave early from work.

3:05 pm: Text warning to fellow gardeners. Get back comments about an alien invasion and an avant-garde picture titled buckets on dirt.

3:06 pm: It’s a beautiful sunshiny day.

3:10 pm: Get home. Begin assault. For the next hour we bring out sawhorses and chairs and plywood and boards of all shapes and sizes and a sled and cardboard and every bucket I own. I cover the garden and the flowers and then I screw it all down.

4:10 pm: The yard is transformed into a gypsy garden. I mow the lawn for good measure just because I’m on a roll. Dark clouds have moved in from the west.

4:15 pm: The rain starts. The boys are wound up tight as drums. Zander’s giving me minutely weather updates. Storms are exciting.

4:20 pm: No hail yet. Rain’s picking up strength and a good wind moves it around a bit. I’ll admit that if it doesn’t hail then I’ll be a little disappointed.

4:30 pm: The rain is pounding down now and pea sized hail is coming down with it. Torrent may be an appropriate adjective. The gypsy hovel I put on the garden resists the storm.  I think of it as the Argo, Jason's ship consecrated by Athena and given a magical 5 gallon bucket from the sacred shop of Sayer which could speak and render prophecies. Or it may be the two dozen screws I drilled into it. Either way we drink wine and watch the flood commence.

4:40 pm. The window well is filling with water. I watch it in horror. I’ve no buckets left to bail with.

4:45 pm. I empty all my tools out of my tool bucket into a big pile in the laundry room and consecrate it for the cause.

4:50 pm. I’m up to my nuts in ice water bailing like a mad man. Perhaps my metaphor of a ship in a storm was a little too apt.

5:00 pm. The rain lets up. The house doesn’t flood. The garden is whole. All is well.

5:15 pm. Eat dinner. Give thanks.