Refreshing Afternoon Showers? You Be The Judge.
Monsoon. It’s a word that strikes joy in the hearts of us Southern Arizonans. My friend and desert neighbor Kellie explains our unbridled giddiness at the prospect of an afternoon thunderstorm far better than I could so I’ll let her beautiful post do the honor. But suffice it to say that monsoon season around these parts is something we all look forward to with eager anticipation.
I would be remiss though if I didn’t admit my initial confusion about the word ‘monsoon.’
When we first heard about it I mistakenly confused the ‘monsoon’ season with the typhoon season (I know, I know. I never claimed to be a genius though so leave me alone). Images of rooftops being torn away from buildings and carried off in the wind left me wondering if this little spot in Southern Az was the right place for me. Of course my confusion was quickly cleared up when our neighbor explained that the monsoon was nothing more than a season full of refreshing afternoon showers with only an occasional flooded wash. No biggie.
Or so I was led to believe.
Last night I sat with my family at the dinner table and we watched through our large picture windows as the sky turned that telltale glowing navy blue. It wasn’t long before the winds started kicking up, whipping through our yard, howling all the while. After dinner, as I was clearing away the dishes, the rain came. It started with just big ‘ol pumpkin seed drops but within minutes those drops began coming in sheets, moving solidly across the yard. Not wanting to miss a minute of it we went out to the front porch and watched as it spilled like a hydrant from the spouts in our roof.
It was as we were coming back inside that I heard a crash in the backyard. I assumed that one of our patio chairs had blown over as they commonly do during these storms. When I raised the blind from the side window though I began to fear that it was something else. Something worse.
We own a glass top patio table. Or, should I say that we used to own a glass top patio table. Now we own a topless patio table.
Check out the damage my friends.
I’m almost embarrassed to post these because it’s such a filthy mess. I can assure you it wasn’t before the monsoon. We had gathered up all the toys and placed them at the corner of the patio to “protect” them from the storm. Yeah, well, so much for that.
For the life of me I couldn’t figure out how it had happened. That is until I saw that noticeable chunk out of the stucco. As best I can gather it looks like the wind picked up the glass top and smashed it against the house. And thus the shattering of the glass. Apparently even weathered glass doesn’t hold up against that sort of, well, weather.
I swear every time I inch closer to being able to afford that new top-loading washer and dryer that I’ve been wanting something takes me two steps back. Grrr!
Oh no! I’m so sorry.
What a mess.
Scary! We didn’t have a monsoon, but when we went to the pool party a few weeks back some freak wind/rain combo out of no where sucked up our friends table and umbrella and did the same thing except into the pool and spa! Not fun to have to drain the pool to find all the glass!
H.O.L.Y. COW!…that’s some serious wind. We missed that part last night, but we’ve lost too many patio umbrellas in the past to count. Not even worth having anymore! So sorry for your loss…and your new washer/dryer setback.
It’ll happen…
Wow! That really stinks. Just geting a new sheet of glass cut shouldn’t be expensve though…right? We get glass at Lowe’s all the time.
So do tell about this washer/dryer thing. Do you have front loading and not like them?
Oh my word. That’s crazy! So sorry the top-loader dream is delayed.
I LOVE the monsoon season, too. It is such a refreshing change of pace, and so incredible to see the afternoon clouds rolling in over the mountains.
We had the same thing happen to our glasstop patio table our first year here in Idaho.
But our table had a little help. I had unfolded the umbrella that sat in the middle of the table. I thought it would be safe from the wind that way. NOT! The wind caught the folded umbrella and pulled the table over also. Much glass and a frame to discard later!
Many years ago in Burbank the wind caught our extended umbrella, pulled it out of the table, and took the umbrella (without Mary Poppins holding onto it) up and over the wall into an adjacent parking lot where it slightly damaged a parked car!
I cannot believe that! You must have had one of those Microburst things.
You have seen some amazing “weather” so far this summer, haven’t you?
And thanks for the Link!
[...] at Target FYI) and let Cass and Jayce go hog wild while Torri, Kennedy, and I sat around our defunct table for some good old fashioned girl [...]