In Nov. of ’03 (is that possible!), I moved from the utopia of Oregon to the climatically tempestuous Indiana. Northern Indiana, Amish country: motto — Don’t Step in Our Exhaust.

You never know what the weather is going to do here! A few weeks ago we had about a foot of snow on the ground, then suddenly the warm winds and rain came and pretty much obliterated it. Then it turned cold again and the last couple of days it’s trying to snow some more.

And on May 8 ’04, check this out!

I was surprised to hear a loud roar outside, and what do I find but monster hail!! Being from Utopia, I had never seen anything like this.

And these had already melted a bit in my hand, they were huge! Average of maybe almost an inch in diameter.

Snow, freak hail, high winds, monster rain and thunderstorms (I kinda like those though), this is not the weather of Utopia!

My friend Ellen sent me this pic from Utopia recently. By the file date, she took it 2-5-05. Yes, in the dead of winter.

Looks like spring. I have a particular fondness for this picture also because I grew up three or so miles closer to this mountain (Snow Peak). This is about the exact view I saw every day as a kid.

If there was anything this size here in hoosierville, they’d think it was the Matterhorn. They call a gentle rise in a field a “mountain.”