Friday, February 4, 2022

The Ice Storm

Hello again friends, and welcome to February! 

We had one heck of an ice storm last night, and I woke to a winter wonderland indeed! It's certainly beautiful to look out at it, but extremely dangerous for travel, and once more I am ever so grateful that I now work from home full time.  We had a layer of thick ice covered with sleet and there's more heading our way all day today. It's the perfect day to cozy up by the fire indeed. 

The pups still sleep in my daughter's old room on the lower level, and there's a door to the outside from her room so I let them out downstairs this morning so they wouldn't have to go down the treacherous deck stairs.  I worry about them slipping on those steps and hurting themselves...we worry about our pets just like our families, don't we? 

The ice was dripping from the deck above, and the shrubs were shrouded in a thick layer of ice, reminiscent of the day I moved into my home

There are power outages all over the area, and a nearby town has been declared a state of emergency as 40% of the homes are without power. My heart goes out to them, with temps dropping to zero tonight and some of those homes relying on electricity for heat. 

We've had a mixed bag of tricks, as they say, for the last two days....rain, then ice, then sleet, then more rain, and now snow. Put a layer of snow on top of this thick layer of ice and sleet and you have a true recipe for danger. If you don't have to be on the roads, please stay home!

I salted the deck steps heavily, but was only able to scrape off the top layer of sleet, leaving behind a thick layer of solid ice.  Not the most ideal situation for bringing in firewood, that's for sure!

Fortunately my sweetie bought me some super heavy duty winter slip on shoes a few years back - he said they were like studded snow tires for my feet, and he wasn't kidding! They are the Salomon Women's Snowclog, and I seriously live in them all winter long. They sit in the boot tray by the kitchen door and any time I'm stepping outside to do anything in the winter I step into these babies and I have to say they have the most amazing grip. I was able to navigate the deck stairs, albeit very carefully, to stock up on more firewood to hopefully keep us going until tomorrow. 

I also managed my way over to fill the feeders and top up the birdbath....and let me tell you, this layer of sleet is so solid I didn't make one footprint even with three trips back and forth - crazy! 

Everything that was in the flat feeders was frozen into a solid block. I wasn't able to dump it out, so I put some seed right on top - poor little critters, this weather must be so hard on them.  Come April when the bears come out of hibernation I'll have to stop feeding again, but for now I happily keep their little tummies full, when they really need that extra help. 


I have a heater in the birdbath, which I move to the outdoor dining table in winter so I can get an up close view of the birds from my dining room window. The birdbath has been a busy spot all day today indeed, as all the other water sources are frozen solid now. It's so important to give your critters a water source in winter if you can, as well as food and shelter. 


The model I have is made for farms, to keep the livestock's water from freezing. It's far more heavy duty than some of the other's I've tried....I've had this one for 5 years now, which is a record for me with birdbath heaters. Many die after just a season or two, which is so frustrating. 


When the weather warms, I sometimes see the birds sipping from this little birdbath as well, but I think at this point all that's holding it together is rust so I'm guessing not for much longer. In the summer months I put a flowering plant in there for added color outside my kitchen window. 


Just look at those Morning Glory vines covered in ice! It's hard to believe how beautiful they are in the summer months, but they are voracious re-seeders and they will be glorious again indeed. 


Below them the herbs are also coated in ice - this is Sage, and I will still snip it for use in broth, even when it's frozen solid. Last winter it made it through the winter and I had a healthy batch in spring, but it's been so frigidly cold this season I'm not sure it will survive, which is truly a shame. 


The deck swing where I spend so much time in the warm months is hardly an inviting spot to linger now!  I miss those spring and summer evenings, relaxing in the cool mountain breeze and listening to the sound of the peepers and the other night noises. 


The clothesline was in use as early as March 5th last year....will I be so lucky again? We had an early spring last year, which is extremely rare for us up here on the mountain top. I wouldn't complain should it want to happen again!

The patio swing is positioned to get the wonderful afternoon sunshine in late winter....come March you will find me out there soaking up rays on any decent afternoon - usually covered with a down blanket, but enjoying it just the same.  The smell of pine drifts over from the acres of woodland, and the late winter sun is so warm on my face...pure heaven.  I sit and swing and listen to the birds in the trees and marvel at the fact that I am so blessed to be able to live in this most beautiful and peaceful place. 


Meanwhile, back at the kitchen door I'm showing you one of the best investments I made last winter - these heated mats from Heat Trak.  Last winter the icicles dripping from the gutter above the kitchen door created such a mound of ice outside the door that I couldn't open it and Sweetie had to come over and chop the ice so I could open the door. That was when I started doing research on heated mats, and although they are an investment, they have been incredible! No more ice mounds outside my door! They aren't the prettiest things, but that's ok - in winter it's all about being practical, not necessarily pretty. 


Meanwhile inside my warm cozy house there's a Monkey snoring on one side of me, and a tiny ball of fluff on the other side, and we are not going anywhere. I'll venture out again tomorrow for more wood, and to feed the critters, and then find something to keep me busy indoors.....I may even get the first round of seeds planted!  

After all, as the groundhog said, it's only 6 more weeks of winter, right? Time for us gardeners to get busy!

22 comments:

  1. Ice storms are not fun! I'd much rather have snow than ice, that's for sure. I'm glad you didn't lose power. Your steps look treacherous with that ice - I'm glad you have those nice shoe-boots with good traction.

    Stay safe and warm, cuddled up with your fur babies and nestled down into your flannel sheets! I'm enjoying mine so much now that it's hard to get out of my warm bed in the morning!

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    1. I have the same problem, Melanie - so hard to crawl out of my cozy bed when the alarm goes off!

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  2. Brrr!! I am glad you have some safety shoes to get your firewood in! Stay warm and safe, and enjoy the beauty of winter.

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    1. It's easy to enjoy the beauty of winter when I don't have to be out in it, Carole! Today was a glorious day, over 40 and sunny!

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  3. BRRRR! Ice storms are the worse! Please be careful! It looks beautiful though and that fire looks very cozy!

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    1. We were actually lucky, Penny - south of us there were so many trees and power lines down there were about 50,000 ppl without power!

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  4. You are a true mountain mama, Debbie! Kudos to you! Maybe investing in heated mays for your stairs is in your future should you stay on the mountain. Stay safe, my friend!

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    1. That would be nice, Rita....I should look into those!

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  5. Looks like a winter wonderland...unless you have to be out in it. Good thing you have your special shoes to keep from slipping and sliding. That is a lot of heavy ice. Take care keep warm!

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    1. Yes, my sweetie is always looking out for me, Donna, I'm very lucky!

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  6. You have really has the worst of the winter just in the past few days, Debbie. I'm relieved to hear you are safe and warm AND using all of your instincts to cover the bases. Ice is nasty, I always have a few bags of salt, and like you, I have a cleared place for the dogs to go out to do their thing without having to venture far. The heated birdbath is such an awesome thing... I try to pour hot kettles of water into mine each day---how primitive I am! I don't have bears but I have mice in the summer so now I do my best to feed the little birds that live in my hedges.

    Thanks for your tips. We've got the fires going strong here also. The price of gas is making us more reliant on the fireplace.

    Stay safe, my friend!

    Jane ❤️

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    1. I cringe when I hear my boiler kick on, Jane, with the price of oil....I keep my heat pretty low and rely mostly on the fire, which helps so much as you know, but still it's been so frigidly cold it feels like the boiler rarely goes off! Today has been lovely, so I can't complain - sunshine and over 40 - I'll take it!

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  7. Wow those ice storms are the worst. I am glad you can work from home and not have to travel and glad you have a shorter way for the fur babies to go outside. Hope it begins to melt for you. Have a good week. xoxo

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    1. I'm going to venture out shortly and see what melted today, Kris, as the sun has been shining all day - just lovely!

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  8. You do live in such a beautiful, serene and heavenly place. I can only imagine how peaceful it is. I've never heard of heated mats, but I'm sure they help a lot during this type of weather. I did go out yesterday, but was very careful walking down the sidewalk to my car due to snow and ice.
    Brenda

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    1. You may need to get yourself some winter shoes, Brenda - the last thing you need is to slip on the ice and injure yourself! My heated mats were an investment, but I don't have to call Sweetie over to chop me out of my house any more, so they were worth every penny!

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  9. Your wood stove is so wonderful and so important. We miss the one we had in our past and always gives one a peace knowing there will be heat even in an outage. I was always so inspired by your early plantings of seeds. Wishing you the best!

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    1. Yes, Bernideen, it's such a relief to know I could always hunker down out in the living room by the fire in the event of an outage - I had to do that in my old house when we lost power for a week after a HUGE dump of 7 feet of snow - now THAT was a storm!

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  10. Hi my little forever friend everything looks beautiful yes cold but you seem to make it fun xoxox love you

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    1. Awwwww Debi I miss your sweet smiling face!!!!! We are still buried in ice and snow but tomorrow looks warm so hopefully some will melt and I can sit outside for a few minutes and feel the sun on my face! Love you!!

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  11. Goodness, that was a doozy of an ice storm! We've had ice here, but only because it rains, then the rain freezes, and the roads turn to ice. I'm thankful you have a great pair of boots to wear outside in the snow and ice. I use a pair of Sorel boots and they are great, when it is really icy, I will wear Snow Trax on my boots. Our snow is now melting. Winter seems to be over here. We really could use a bit more snow. But, I am ready for spring! Those heated mats look wonderful!

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    1. I keep those Snow Trax in my car, Marilyn - well, I did when I went into the office every day! I often had to use them as our employee lot would be an ice skating rink. The ice and snow has been sticking around here, our temps have been really frigid but it looks like we have a warm up tomorrow (for a whole day, wow!) so fingers crossed some will melt!

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