Winter Wonderland

It started about 2AM: big fluffy flakes of snow.  By 6AM, it had changed to sleet.  By the time I let the dog out, the trees and bushes were mostly bowed down with the weight of the ice--every branch, leaf and needle had its own heavy coating.

The holly tree by the front door.  Can you see the icicles??

The ice coating on these leaves has to be at least a quarter of an inch thick!

The burning bushes by the driveway...

The driveway itself... (UGH)

The maples along the road...

 

The row of pines separating us from the closest neighbors'.  Can you see the ice on each individual needle in that second picture??  Crazy.  

It goes without saying (or should) that the kids' school was--yet again--cancelled today.  As it should have been for safety, to be honest.  They've been good, and except for the brief flicker around 7AM, --I am not going to finish that sentence because I KNOW better than to tempt fate!  Ice, branches and power lines do not mix well, especially out here in the sticks where the electrical grid is old and trees are plentiful.  And the precipitation is still coming, albeit mostly a misty rain right now.

Signing out from the Snow Queen's domain, and wishing her damned spell would be broken soon...

Mama D

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ETA: Not half an hour after I typed this, the power went out for several hours.  Apparently I thought the word too often, Beetlejuice-style!