Ice Storm 2010

We were tricked last week into thinking that we would be getting all this beautiful, white snow and in the end we were stuck with an ice storm. Typical. I must have missed that forecast because I had NO idea that we were under any threat of ice. Just lots of snow that never showed its beautiful face. So, Thursday night, as I sat fuming that Grey's Anatomy was a rerun, I listened to all the tree limbs outside breaking under all the pressure of the ice. Since it was dark outside I didn't know the full extent of our damage until the morning but I was pretty sure we were going to lose some limbs, if not entire trees, based on the loud crackling going on. I was mainly praying that our very old and large established trees wouldn't fall into the house and I was extremely grateful, as I watched all the transformers blow out around our neighborhood, that we never lost power. The sky all lit up in green was an awesome sight (sitting in the warmth of my house) and is something that I've never seen before. Friday morning Brett and I got out to survey our damage.

This berry tree is my most favorite tree in our backyard. In the miserable summer heat, its tall branches help to keep us a good 10 degrees cooler. In the winter, it produces those gorgeous red berries that gives me a bright spot to look at when everything else around is dead and brown.

I was thrilled to see that its branches broke around the umbrella saving me some $$$ (that no doubt will have to be paid to a professional to cut apart this tree).
This large tree sits at the very back corner of our property and as you can see, it pretty much broke in half. A large branch landed on top of our fence that we share with the neighbors but thanks to Audrey's swing set breaking the fall, there was no damage on the fence. Some more extra $$$ saved to give to the tree cutting pros.
The dogs' kennel is to the right and it is filled with tree branches. Audrey's swing set is right behind the tree but you can't see it because it is also covered with branches.

You can see here how thick the ice really was on the trees. Ice creates lots of problems but yet there is still something beautiful about it.

Love the red berries- even when they are covered in ice on top of my patio furniture. We definitley won't be bored the next few weekends until we can get it all cleaned up. We are grateful that there was no damage to the house, cars or fence. It made me think back to the winter of 1994 when we had a much worse ice storm that did knock out our power for days and damaged lots of homes and businesses around town. We were very lucky that the damage this time was not as extensive and that we were able to stay warm and safe.