The Ice-Storm Cometh

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. It would take too long to fill you in on the love/hate relationship most Americans have with this holiday or how some people go totally over-board with it but here are a few example of things you'll often hear this time of year: "it's too commercial", "I'm a loser if I'm alone on Valentine's day", "it's hollow", "if he forgets Valentine's day it means he doesn't love me"..... it just gets silly. Me personally, I like to give a card or some candy or whatever to that special someone just to say "hey, you know I love you but I also know you love ______" and fill in the blank with the token of their choice. As most of my friends know I can't resist a reason to give them crap so this holiday works for me in that sense. This year I was psyched to find that the boxes of Valentine's that are standard among all grade schoolers now come in candy form, so it was Fun Dip for everyone!

But I digress.

What I really wanted to share was the kick-ass ice storm that happened yesterday. When I first woke up I thought for sure I was heading out to work because upon first glance out the window it looked like a simple dusting of snow. It wasn't long before I found out how icey and treacherous it really was. SNOW DAY!!!!

I stayed home and cleaned, knit, watched some old episodes of Lost and listened to all the trees come crashing down in my yard and through-out the neighborhood. We lucked out and got to keep our power but much of the area is still without. The weight of the ice brought the lines down even if the falling branches didn't.

The grey sky spewed icey slush all day turning the whole yard into an ice-skating rink.

I had to go out to park the cars between the houses to protect them from all the falling lumber. I got hit in the head with a pine cone or a chunk of ice while scrapping the windows down and as I looked up to see what it was a couple of yards away a giant branch came crashing down onto the garage. I took that as my cue from God to hustle my bustle.

The top of one of the pine trees came tumbling down in huge chunks all over ours and the neighbors yard. One side of the tree is pretty much completely bare from branches being snapped off as it fell.

You can see how close my brothers car was to getting squished. I actually pulled that one branch off of his bumper but luckily there was not even a scratch on it.

Late last night Papa was out cleaning off the cars because they once again had to be moved and he started getting all excited because he had seen a blue glowing light in the distance and thought maybe one of the transformers blew up. (Yes, we are those people who get excited when stuff blows up). Anyhoo, A few minutes later I saw it too and came to the conclusion that it was sparks or fire or whatever coming off of the passing trains. It was really friggin' cool! Anyway, we check the schedule for the next train and bring Luke out to see it too. Of course he comes out in a light sweatshirt and has to run back in for a coat. In a flash he's back outside in this.


Yes, that's mom's coat! It was apparently the first one he grabbed and thought it was dad's but no such luck. What must the neighbors think when they see my family standing on the porch in the middle of an ice storm, brother in mom's coat, in desperately searching for fire in the sky?

This morning, all that ice is nothing more than a thousand photo opportunities.

Everything looks pretty when glistening with ice.