Tree Planting at Jacob's

I was finally out and about in the woods and parks despite the unrelenting COVID. The woods are safe. Several of us joined in planting trees at Jacob’s Nature Park on Sinking Creek in Johnson City. We’d had rain the day before and now rain again in the forecast for the afternoon. The group was an assortment of volunteers from a local company, state forestry people, and one or two ordinary volunteers, like me, all masked. Jacob’s Nature Park is a small park that is bisected by Sinking Creek of which you are warned to avoid the waters. It is a very nice little park and lots of fun if you like taking walks focusing on the trees and flowers. At one entrance is a pavilion with a live roof where we met to get organized and started, hopefully before it rained. Mostly we worked in twos and threes but really scurried to finish up. I was told later that we planted 60 trees in an amazingly short period of time. I know i was a muddy mess and already sore but it was fun. Until the first lightning bolt and rumble of thunder. At the shelter, we gathered for a communal “thank you” the majority of the group headed for the cars since this not a threat of a storm. Those of us that stayed were entertained with a very strange natural treat. A hailstorm. Generally you don’t want to be out in a hailstorm but the shelter was big enough that we were protected. But, a hailstorm is a fascinating. I don’t remember how many years it’s been since I have seen hail. And my impression was some of our group had never been so close to a hailstorm. When you’re standing under an open shelter, that’s as close as I want to be to a hailstorm. But these things move on and probably 15 minutes later the hail stopped, the rain let up, and not soon after that the morning became just an ordinary rain-soaked spring day. ###