Winter Storm #2

Well, I thought we were through with winter weather after that last ice storm.  HA!  I was REALLY wrong about that!

This past Sunday, we had a storm that laid down one inch of ice, topped by three inches of sleet, and then two inches of snow.  That's six inches of frozen precipitation.  After it was done falling, the temperature promptly dropped to 11 degrees and turned it into a sheet of ice.  And during the time it was sleeting, we also had a considerable amount of thunder and lightning.  It was the craziest storm I've ever experienced.  I've not seen anything like it, and I've lived all over the country.  

That looks pretty, right?  Looks like snow?  It's frozen solid.  

School was canceled for the entire week!  The first day, the boys jumped outside and played for a few hours.  But even though there was a bunch of white pretty stuff on the ground, only the top layer was snow. 

You can tell by this picture that it was frozen.  Look at the boys feet.  They are on top of the snow, rather than sinking in it.  It was not exactly a whole lot of fun to play in. And did I mention it was 14 degrees outside?  

The roads were an absolute nightmare.  Shandi packed a bag Sunday afternoon and stayed with a friend that lives near her job so she could get into work the next day.  She didn't know she'd end up staying there for three nights, but that's exactly what happened because the roads were so bad.  And let's face it, we all know Shandi's track record with accidents.  Nobody wants Shandi driving around in the ice.  

The good news is that we did not lose power.  Even better news is that no trees nor limbs came down in our neighborhood.  That wasn't so much a problem with this storm like the last one.  My only guess is that all the damaged and weak limbs came down in that first storm so there wasn't as many this time.  It had the potential to be absolutely catastrophic, but thankfully it was not.  The roads were an absolute mess though.  They still are, that's why school is still out.

The worst thing is that we have been STUCK in the house for five straight days.  Our house is on a steep drive that gets shade nearly all day and nothing has melted.  Lucky for Joe, he has a telework option with his job so he was able to work from home the first few days.  He also has a 4WD Jeep, so he was able to make it down the driveway on the third day.  He was not able to make it back up though until last night.

This was on day 3.  See the road?  Not a whole lot of improvement!

  

Lots of ice in the trees again.  I'm nearly 100% certain that we have lost this Japanese Maple due to the ice.  That's a huge bummer, I loved this tree. 

The boys were able to scrape up enough snow to make snow ice cream.  The little boogers doubted me that such a thing existed.  Ha!  I showed them.  I made them a huge bowl and they devoured the entire thing within 20 minutes.  

See Jack's face?  He's like "No way she's gonna turn that into ice cream…"

These were taken this morning.  That is the driveway across the street.  Things are finally starting to thaw.  It is expected to be 54 degrees today, so hopefully it will be nearly gone tomorrow.  The biggest issue with our neighborhood is the number of trees.  See all those trees?  We have a lot of shade, and it takes forever for the sun to get through to melt everything.   

The road outside the house has melted, so I may try and venture out of the driveway this afternoon.  That would be a great thing, considering I haven't left the house since Sunday!  

  The boys seem to be handling it pretty well.  Jack is a homebody, he would never leave the house if you didn't force him to.  Justice needed the mental break from school, so he hasn't been complaining much either.  I am not complaining either… while it is a bit nerve wracking to have everyone stuck in the house for awhile, I enjoy the fact that when it snows here everything shuts DOWN until it melts.  No hurry, no worries.  

With that being said, I am really ready for warmer weather.  I am hoping and praying that we are DONE with ice and I am looking very forward to the sweltering heat and high humidity of a southern summer.