Dawg Daze: Ignorance can be bliss, or, Obliviously dodging bullets.

For many in this area Wednesday the 13th was their unlucky day!
On the other hand, I have, by the grace of God, dodged yet another bullet.

Neo's got nuthin on me!

Perhaps I shouldn't be so cavalier.... I'm kneeling to say a prayer.

I had known that storms were moving into the area as I left for work Wednesday afternoon. The Doppler images I looked up seemed to show the storms skirting the area around my apartment and the office. Little did I know just how close I came to disaster.

I went for my usual walk at about 7:30 PM and the guard mentioned it had rained but just a little. Indeed, it was hard to tell there had been any significant rainfall around the office. I could see ominous looking clouds surrounding the area, and in fact took the picture below of the pretty sunset. I had no idea this departing storm had caused so much damage nearby.

One of my coworkers had mentioned a text from another coworker that had been off last night, and the fact they had been hit will golf ball size hail at their apartment north of the office. There was no mention of damage so it readily slipped my mind.
We all left for home at midnight and on my seven block trip north to the apartment there was no evidence of anything more having occurred than a passing sprinkle or two.

Waking up this morning I realized I was out of coffee and decided I'd treat myself to a Starbucks Mocha, and have them grind me a pound to take home. Still half asleep, and my mental acumen hindered by the cobwebs that form over night, I was having a hard time trying to figure out why things just didn't seem right. As I turned up Swiss Avenue not 2 1/2 blocks from the apartment. I noted I was driving on top of piles of leaves, twigs, and small branches covering the roadway.

The neighborhood was alive with homeowners, gardeners, contractors, police cars, and all at this very early hour. Leaves and branches were everywhere, and I started to realize this looked very much like what I'd seen after hurricane Isabel in 2003. My first thought was that they must have had a terrible windstorm overnight, but it didn't seem to fit the fact there had been no signs of wind damage not 3 blocks away. It was about then that I drove by a house who's owner was out front with a contractor taking pictures... of what I wondered.

OMG! His tile roof had been beaten to a pulp!

CLICK-brain engaging...... Hail...... this was a result of a hailstorm..... Nah, couldn't be... again not three blocks away nothing, no damage???
I stopped a guy walking across the street and asked if this had all been caused by hail and he told me yes it had, and that it had been the worst storm he'd seen in years. Baseball sized hail he tells me, roofs torn up, windows broken, cars smashed... he didn't look pleased as he wandered away mumbling something I didn't catch. In hindsight I wished I hadn't stopped him. It appeared to have pained him to discuss it.

Good grief, my second worst fear after the fear of a tornado, had been realized, and in biblical terms, while just blocks away I was oblivious.

I continued on to Starbucks and noted that the damage seemed to be getting worse. Once I arrived and parked my car it was evident this area had sustained significant damage as well. I must have counted half a dozen news crews working in a one square block area near the coffee shop.

This is what I parked next to, and what I saw across the drive:

Mixed amongst the leaves are thousands of glass shards.

Hard to tell in this picture but the windshield is smashed and the body beat up.

Theater marquee pulverized.

As I walked around to the entrance to the coffee shop it was easy to spot the cars with significant damage, they were all festooned with leaves, and the ones moving all had drivers craning to see through whatever undamaged portion of the windshield remained. A couple drove up in a demolished SUV, and another couple drinking coffee out front applauded as they exited the car, telling them they were the best yet of the damaged vehicles seen that morning. The arriving couple just smiled, and then regaled anyone within earshot of the harrowing storm they'd witnessed. I was mesmerized!

I picked up my coffee and started home when I realized this had all occurred within a mile or so of the Dallas Arboretum and it's "outdoor" Chihuly exhibit. I had wanted to return for an evening tour and see the pieces all lit up. I now wondered if there was anything left?

I got home and grabbed my new camera and headed back out. As I made my way to the Arboretum, located on the other side of the lake from the coffee shop, the damages apparent seemed to be less severe than what I'd seen on the south side of the lake. Perhaps they too had dodged the bullet?

I asked the guy at the parking entrance what he knew, and he said he had heard there had been some limited damage but was vague on the extent and to what pieces. I turned around and headed home. I suppose I could have gone upfront and asked, or paid to go look for myself, but I think I was afraid of what I might find.

From the news I've caught so far it appears the damage to the Chihuly exhibit was "limited", and not to all the pieces. Alas, one of my favorites, the Persian Pond, did sustain some damage.

Guess I can be thankful I made the tour when I did, and before the damage occurred.

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== 8 p.m. ==

At the Arboretum, glass sculpture exhibit + giant hail balls = 6 smashed lily pads.
A Dallas Arboretum spokeswoman called what happened to the White Persian “minor damage.”
Minor, of course, is relative.
The arboretum has glass sculptures arrayed across its 66 acres for its months-long Chihuly exhibit.
“We don’t put up protection,” spokeswoman Wendy Rentz told me. They can’t. Some of the sculptures are 30 feet tall.
The White Persian is approximately 30 beautiful glass lily pads sprouting from the arboretum’s ponds. Or it was. Now it’s approximately 24 beautiful glass lily pads sprouting from the arboretum’s ponds.

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Say a prayer I make it out of Dallas alive!

Some additional pictures of the damage, culled from the news.