I have been off line for a while. We had freezing rain and along with numerous other folks in the Ozarks, we lost power for a while. No worries here, we heat our house with an airtight fireplace insert. We purchased a little “ecofan” for on top of it a couple of months ago, and that thing has proved its worth. Warm air circulated all the way back to our bedroom because of that fan.
We cook on gas, our deep freezes live out in the carport, so we didn’t have to worry about our stuff thawing out. Other than the fact that we couldn’t watch football yesterday, which was just AWFUL for the significant other, we did all right. And now the power is back on.
When the ice accumulated enough to bend the branches over, we began to see curved icicles:
I liked the look of the evergreens, also. This heavy burden of ice caused a lot of branches to break, though:
The clothesline made itself into a work of abstract art:
The garden ornament on the pergola got an icing as well:
Lest you think all is wondrous beauty, here are a couple of shots of the damage in the yard:
We have a lot of work to do to clean up after this. When Mother Nature decides to prune, she pulls no punches.
Stay warm, everybody. And bless you.
It’s quite amazing to see these pictures. I spent the afternoon playing in the sun with my kids – lovely, warm, happy hours. It is not right, it should be freezing here too, so while I’m sorry you have lots of clearing up to do, I’m pleased to hear that someone is having a winter!
Goodness, those are beautiful photos of the icicles – but I don’t envy you the clean up in your yard. I hope the house wasn’t damaged by any of the falling branches or anything?
You be careful out there, I bet its treacherous with all that ice around.
I was wondering, when I heard about the storms, if you and hubby were OK. It’s a good thing you have that ecofan, and that your stove deosn’t need power to light.
Criminy, is there a lot of damage to your poor trees. You’re right, I don’t envy you that cleanup. Can someone come around with a wood chipper, or will you hack it up for firewood?
Poor trees. I agree … be careful with the cleanup. It looks slippery. The icicles are pretty to look at. I love the clothesline photo the best.
–L
We are not even trying to clean up until the melt comes, which is supposed to happen in a couple of days. Every branch you see is crusted with at least an inch of ice, plus the icicles that are hanging off them. We are not interested in destroying our backs trying to move all that weight.
We had no structural damage. We are blessed. I know several people who have holes in their roofs now. Or need a new garage.
We are not going to make this into firewood. it is almost all elm. When you burn elm wood you get a huge amount of ash. Since we have plenty of oak available, we don’t use the elm unless we absolutely have to. Also, it takes it quite a long time to season as well, being a very “watery” wood.
We have a compost shredder, and we intend to put a lot of the small stuff through it to make mulch. However, we have just received notice from the city that if we put the down branches out by the curb, they will haul it away for free. Eventually.
The amount of damage you are looking at here in my yard is just a drop in the bucket. A very small drop in a huge bucket. Every single tree in this city, and there are thousands of trees, has lost limbs. It is amazing. Poor trees. It depresses me no end.
Later on when it warms up we will be hiring a tree service to come in and trim off the broken stobs of branches, and treat them with tree paint to protect them from rot and bugs. I have no idea what this will cost, but it is interesting that we just learned that we are going to get a huge tax refund this year. Looks like it is already spent. . .
Outstanding photos; I especially like the ones of the clothesline very “arty.” Glad to see no damage to the house (whew!) Send a little of the firewood our way….our woodpile is looking a little light . You can never have too much firewood. Actually, one of my wife’s colleagues has a couple of trees down in her backyard that have our names on them….just gotta get over there with the chainsaw.
Dear healingmagichands,
What wonderful photographs. You really are a most talented person.
thank you for sharing them with us.
Sincerely,
Christiane.
RJDV
AR1
What gorgeous pictures!!!!!
Never mind the chaos: you have to suffer for your art 🙂
What a pity that the clothes line display was ephemeral. That is absolutely wonderful. Thank you so much for directing me to see this.