Icy and Stormy

As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, we had a bad ice storm here yesterday.  In fact, it was so bad, that I still could not get up the driveway today.  The driveway is on a slope up to the gravel road, which becomes a small but steep-ish hill down to another gravel road, and then a bigger, steeper hill up to a sharp turn, onto yet another gravel road.  All this conspires to make driving a bit difficult after this much ice.  Even if I made it up one of the hills, there’s no telling if I’d make it up the next one…or if I’d end up in a ditch.  When I can’t even get up the driveway, I figure the rest of the hills are not going to be a good thing.

This afternoon, things finally began melting, and large crashing noises became a regular occurrence as huge chunks of ice slid off the roof.  I ventured out to the barn where Kelly was in the woodshop and our conversation was interrupted with what sounded like a herd of caribou on the roof.  Nope.  Just more ice taking a short trip off a steep metal roof.

I took the camera out with me to document some of the ice.  When I first walked outside and listened to the noises, I would have guessed the woods were full of deer. 

There were crashing and cracking sounds constantly.  It was the ice breaking, or tree limbs breaking, and all the bits falling onto the frozen ground where they skittered away to hide in a new place.  Every step was treacherous out there.  I nearly had some close encounters with the ground myself, but fortunately I held myself upright.

I took some pictures of the leaves on the trees, and the branches, in their icy coats.

 

There were a few spots on my walk where the grass was showing...well...sort of showing.

Here's what the path to the barn looks like right now!  That's pure ice!

I looked up at my fruit trees.  Some look alright.

 Others don't look good at all.

I couldn't go investigate without risking broken bones or other hazards.  Apparently somebody in Des Moines lost an eye due to a fall on the ice.  I didn't want to take that kind of risk.

Last summer's Echinacea heads were completely covered in ice and leaning over.  Oh how it makes me long for spring!

To make myself feel a little better, I visited with Dolly and Stormy.  Dolly was laying down and looking well rested.  Stormy was exploring his surroundings as he often does.  Today he is much steadier on his feet, and very inquisitive.

He has this expression, and I haven't decided what it means yet.  What do you think?  Is he really unimpressed with my checking in on him?!  Dolly was giving me the eye too.

He gave me that look more than once!

But then he came over and whined at me, and I couldn’t help but give him a little tickle.

I’m so amazed at how similar he is to Dolly’s patterns.  I would have thought that we would have seen more of his father’s colouring somewhere.  Maybe he will have more of his father’s stance or heavy coat. 

I can't decide if he's black or really dark brown.  Dolly is really dark brown but her face is more black.  We'll wait and see as he matures!  I hope your world is not as icy as mine, or if it is, I hope you have some furry critters to make you smile.