One Wicked Ice Storm

 Rain in November!  We thought that was strange.  

Then, it started freezing.  The drizzles froze to the ground, roads, telephone poles, and anywhere it could stick.   It made one HELLUVA mess.  We don't see ice storms usually.  Those usually occur more south.  It's a weird year, so anything is possible.

After a while, we started hearing cracking, loud crunching, and bellowing thuds!

The noises we heard were quite scary and had no idea what was going on.   When we went outside to check (trying VERY hard not to fall on our butts, as the ice on the deck was about 3/4" thick at the time), we saw branches that were so weighed down with ice, they were hanging on the roof.

The sounds we heard were large branches cracking and falling to the ground, most likely brushing on the side of the house and deck as they fell.

Needless to say, we had no school for a few days.  Driving was NOT an option as it was too cold for the ice to melt.

Eric and I were glad that we had the tree trimmers come a few months before to cut down large branches that were actually overhanging our roof and also the HUGE limb that was lingering over the neighbor's house.  Sidenote: The neighbor was bummed when we had done that, as he liked the shade.  ...bet he's glad we did it after this wreck of a storm!!

This is the nieghbor's little Elm tree that's usually spry, with branches sticking straight up in the air.  Now, limbs were touching the ground.

When the temps warm up and it's not too dangerous to walk in the yard, clean-up efforts will be a real mess. Ugh!

In the midst of all of the chaos, the ice was quite pretty. 

When the roads were finally decent enough to drive, I had taken a quick trip to town.  Here are some pictures I took of the crazy ice that covered everything.  

Every blade of grass had a thick coat of ice.  Walking on this was like crunching over glass.

Here's a pic from the North Bridge, looking south.