Another ice storm fell from the heavens today. Ice is much harder to deal with than snow or rain.
It’s hard to read electric meters. It’s also hard to open garage doors that face in the direction of the wind. It took lots of pounding with a rubber mallet to pound the hundreds of pounds of ice off the door to open it.
The hay wagon out in the pasture shows off the ice.
Now, for a story that might belong in the “you know you are a redneck if” department. I took the shotgun outside and started shooting trees. I hit them too! The last big ice storm cracked some branches high up in the maple trees in the front yard. The branches have been dangling down, just waiting to fall for over a year. I thought – Eureka – with the branches laden with the heavy ice, a well-placed shot to the place where they are tentatively attached to the tree, might be enough to drop them down now – instead of later on a dog, person, or car. Voila – it worked like a charm and two branches no longer irritate me hanging down from near the top of the tree.
What good is an ice storm if the power doesn’t go out? Dinner accompanied by beeswax votives. Martin had all the gear from Christmas for the occasion – a hand crank LED lantern, and most importantly, night vision goggles that really work!