Friday, December 27, 2013

December Ice Storm

In the late afternoon it began to drizzle and freeze on contact.  
 

The branches are bent to the ground from the earliest of the 
freezing drizzle. Usually I can't see the house across the street.  

This is our Nandina, icy but still fairly upright.

Even with the boxwood beginning to seriously droop, 
you can see that there's usually a lot of room under the branches 
to get near the bench and sit without getting clobbered. 

By morning the ice was at least half-an-inch thick, 
depending on whether it got direct drizzle, or an accumulation.


The glider has been completely closed in by the limbs.

The Nandina is bent parallel to the ground.

The next morning, inside the dining room, 
waiting for enough daylight to take more photos.

The bent-to-the-ground boxwood.


The longest icicle was about 18 inches long.

Another cedar brought down to the roof - 
and the power lines.

We were fortunate.  
We never lost power as did some tens of thousands 
in Oklahoma.  It was fascinating to watch the weather unfolding 
that evening and morning.

That morning, birds - robins and starlings, mostly - were on the
dry underside of the cedar and boxwood outside my window
pulling off the berries that weren't encased in ice.  
I guess they were having a hard time finding food.