Ice Storm!

Eve's birthday weekend arrived and so did the ice!  The storm came in Thursday night/Friday morning and hit with a vengeance.  Ok, really it didn't seem that bad to me because I measure the intensity of storms by the inches of snow they drop.  Not the case here.  Freezing rain doesn't really accumulate much depth, but the ice can cause major damage!

 

I worked from home on Friday (our downtown office was without power, the trains were shutdown, and the roads were ice) and we all got to witness (with our ears) the sound of our backyard tree/bush cracking and falling. 

 

 

It was bitter cold, but I couldn't resist going out to take a few pictures of the ice.

 

Andrew untangling the fallen braches from cords that run along the back of the house.  Not sure what they're for, but they didn't come down with the tree, so that's good!

 

You can see how every branch, twig, and leaf is perfectly coated in ice.

 

We lost I think only one branch out of this tree in the front yard (the branch hadn't fallen yet when I took this picture).

 

These are our blades of grass - each blade coated in ice!

 

Another view of our downed tree.  We were so fortunate compared to many others.  No limbs fell on our house, cars (thank goodness for garages!), or fence and we didn't lose power at all.

 

Church was reduced to just one hour on Sunday and anyone who felt uncomfortable driving in the ice was told not to come at all.  We live right across the street, so figured that didn't apply to us ;).  But the shortened meetings did buy us some extra time to celebrate Eve's birthday!  That's up next!