All Hail the Hail

The sun had been shinning and the temperate was a warm, springlike 74 degrees. A sudden clap of thunder was all the warning for the torrential rains -- and hail -- that came with force and just as suddenly stopped. The layer of hailstones in the yard was the only sign left behind.

That and the toad that we saw later walking along the path in our backyard, emerging from his winter hibernation.