Sunday, January 22, 2012

Well...that was interesting. Ice storm!

Lazy photo post today, because I'm still in recovery.  We had a beautiful snow storm on Wednesday, and I was stuck at home, but it was kinda pleasant: I had electricity and heat and all, and I baked bread and read and played music and watched the snow fall.

Snowy backyard
Pretty snow...

Wednesday night, it was supposedly going to warm up rather rapidly overnight as the snow turned to freezing rain and then plain rain.  The roads were predicted to be bad early in the day, but then everything would thaw out and be just messy and wet.  Yeah.  Right.  Instead, we got ice, and lots and lots of it.  By the time I woke up on Thursday morning, the power had been out for several hours, and the temperature in the house was beginning to drop.

Icy trees and cables
Icy trees and cables

By the middle of the day, you could stand outside and hear a constant cracking, popping, thumping sound from the woods all the way around, as one tree after another lost its battle with the thickening ice.  It was eerie, really.  One of the trees in my backyard fell, one trunk at a time, about making jump out of my skin each time.  That was loud!  Fortunately the dog was in the house when it fell, and it didn't take anything out with it.  Some houses and yards weren't so lucky.

Fallen tree in my backyard
What a mess!

Between all the fallen trees and the heavy ice hanging on cables themselves, it's no wonder there were so many outages...
Icicled cables!

I played mandolin quite a bit on Thursday, before the house cooled down to the point where it was too cold to play much.  Wrote this tune, which remains untitled, more or less...or maybe I'll leave the temporary title in place in memory of this week:


Power remained out until last night, and it got down into the low forties in the house and stayed there.  Cold enough to see your breath.  I hung out with neighbors on Friday, though slept here--with a sleeping bag and a bunch of blankets, it was OK, except I kept dreaming of power trucks coming and fixing the lines.  And yesterday, I was *finally* able to get my car out of the snow and ice and out of the drive.  The wreckage out there is humbling: trees down everywhere, and you can imagine just how many were over the roads before work started.  I spent much of yesterday hanging out at coffee houses and grocery stores, reading and just savoring warmth.  My Kindle really helped keep me sane in all this, I gotta say.

But it was soooooo awesome to get home last night and finally find the power on.  Hot showers, real coffee, the ability to do *laundry*!  I missed them so much!

The wind is really picking up out there as another smaller storm comes through.  Crossing my fingers that it won't be enough to break things all over again...

Couple more ice pictures, just because...

Icy bush

Bush by the porch

13 comments:

Bill M said...

Snow can be beautiful and fun, but when the rain and or the freezing rain arrives it can and usually is a disaster. Glad you made it through all right. Nice lively tune for a snowed-in day.

Richard P said...

We had an ice storm here too this weekend, but not nearly as bad. Have you seen the film "The Ice Storm"? I recommend it.

Your music sounds great. I am still naively fascinated by the fact that people can send music, images, and text to each other across thousands of miles.

Mike Speegle said...

Yikes! Glad to know everything turned out OK. Here on the eastern side of the state, things have been cold and icy, but nowhere near all that! Stay safe, and watch out for slippery walks!

Cappuccinoandartjournal.blogspot.com said...

Yikes is right!! I cannot imagine -- where do you live?
Good thing we don't have ice here in San Francisco considering the hills we have! Happy to hear you are now warm.

Bill M said...

I feel left out on the weather.... sunny all day and 79 deg F :(

Cameron said...

Gorgeous pictures, rather haunting, especially in view of the damage caused by ice-storms.

The snow-laden trees in your yard look very much like mine here in The Woods, when it snows.

I love hearing your mandolin playing!
Catchy little tune.

Would you please tell me how you embed your mp3s into your blog post? Thanks much!

Dwayne F. said...

Yuck. We get ice storms in the Kansas City area once a year or so. We can expect something as bad as what you received once in five years or so and it does make a serious mess.

I know the sound you mentioned all too well. Creeeek ...crack...POW! I live in suburbia and own a chain saw.

Good luck staying warm and thawing out.

Elizabeth H. said...

Richard--haven't seen that movie. I'll have to check it out!

Bill--could I borrow your weather a day or two?

Mike--shoulda heeded your warning. I got to work safely this morning, stepped out of the car, and my feet went...elsewhere. Bumped my head and smacked my elbow but good, and my elbow's swollen up as if bee stung, but I think I'm OK. Not a fun start to a Monday, though.

Cameron--I'm using my Dropbox public folder to do the MP3s. If you sign up for an account and upload items to the site, there's an option to get the public link for a particular item. Once you have that link, you can highlight text when composing a blog text and link to the file. I could probably put together a more detailed tutorial, but that's the gist of it.

Dwayne--I imagine folks with chainsaws are going to be very popular here for the next little bit!

I lost internet at home right after I posted this blog post. Not nearly as big a deal as being without heat, but I'll be glad when we're finally back to normal.

Elizabeth H. said...

Oh, and Pamela, I'm in Olympia, WA, kinda halfway between Seattle and Portland, OR. I think we were the epicenter of this particular little event.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting your composition; it's a lovely ditty and I liked it more than some of the traditional pieces you've posted.

So glad you came through the storm without house damage. PLEASE be careful on that ice. We had a little ice storm two days ago (nothing like yours) and I simply don't leave the house until it melts. I fractured an ankle several years ago slipping on ice and I still limp a bit. Don't heal as fast as I did 40 years ago.

On the other hand, the sound of the trees et al.,after a heavy ice storm is fascinating. (At least as long as we don't lose power.) I've been known to visit a small lake when it freezes over, listening to the ice grind and shift. Sounds like the soundtrack to "Ice Station Zebra".

Stay warm,

JeffTheBear

Rob Bowker said...

Great tune, thanks - cyberspace is filled with good things, and you jut added to it a great deal. I'm still practicing (and getting better at) Skip to my Lou on my son's banjo. Got to start somewhere, right?

Elizabeth H. said...

Aw, thanks!

Rob, banjos are awesome, in my book! Good for you!

Cameron said...

Thanks, Elizabeth, for your response! Greatly appreciated.

I've used Dropbox in the past and will find out how to do the mp3 thing.