Welcome to JOYFUL REFLECTIONS. Also welcome to MARCH!!!! My header picture this month is a photo I took of the pretty Crocus blooms in our yard... The Crocuses and Daffodils are the first signs of spring here in Tennessee. I am definitely ready for SPRING...

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Our Ice Storm 2/16/15 (Part 1 of a Weather Week to Remember)

The little cascade behind our home is totally frozen.
On Monday,  Feb. 16, 2015,  we thought we were going to get a very nice snow storm.. However,  that didn't happen... Even though our temperatures were below freezing all day long,  a warm wind aloft came from the south ---and what did we get instead of snow????  We had an ICE STORM.... Yipes!!!!!  The weather people called it everything from ice pellets to freezing rain to sleet.... Whatever it was,  we had almost an inch of ice all over our yard!  Everything glistened and turned white....It was WEIRD...  (Not sure I have ever seen this much ice at one time --at least not here.)



A close-up of the Frozen Cascade behind our home
George,  who doesn't like snow,  said that he'd much rather have a foot of snow than an inch of ice..... We were concerned that we would lose our electricity ---but luckily,  that didn't happen.   We did lose our satellite dish (DirecTV) due to the ice for awhile ---so George had to get the hairdryer out and blow the ice off of the dish....(That worked!!!!)



The Mealworm Feeder... The Bluebirds were able 'somehow' to get into the feeder to eat--but it wasn't easy!
We put our bird feeders out at 7 a.m. before the storm began... I was SO glad I had some food for those sweet little chilled birds... It's so sad to see them (any of the outdoor critters) during weather like this... The poor little birds were at the feeders most all day long... Poor Babies!




Lots of Ice on one of our Redbud Trees
Since we have a lot of trees around our yard,  we were concerned that some limbs would break... Luckily,  other than a few small limbs---we didn't have any damage.



Poor Rhododendron Bush;  Looks SO cold!
But--our wonderful Rhododendron near our deck is struggling and 'bending over'.... Hope the limbs don't totally break... I love that big bush. Many trees and bushes in our area have either broken or are damaged... SAD!



There were Icicles like this ALL around the house.


Close up of one of our icy branches



Our 'resident' Mockingbird stayed at the feeder for a long long time.  I guess --besides eating---he had a little protection under the dome.
SO--what did I do all day on Monday??? WELL---I took pictures and shared them with many friends on Facebook... I did other computer work --such as blogging.  Neither George nor I went outside other than on the deck to put up and then take down the bird feeders. George also worked on the satellite dish from the deck.  I did not go outside ---and decided not to go out at all... All I needed to do was to re-injure that bum knee (which is gradually healing). Yipes!   SO----I was a good girl and took all of my pictures from inside!!!!

That night, we also sat by a warm fire and ate a big bowl of home-made CHILI for dinner....  How's that for my first post from this crazy week,  dealing with this weather????   Guess it could have been MUCH worse though--so we are thankful.

The good news for us is that we truly were lucky---compared to many others in Tennessee (and other areas).  Tennessee was under a state of emergency with lots of trees down,  power lines down and power out for many,  etc....  SO,  even though we were lucky, to tell you the truth,  this was NOT FUN.

ALL of these pictures were taken on Sunday and Monday (Feb. 15 and 16, 2015)...The top two were taken on Sunday --before the storm, when I was outside.    WELL--this is only PART ONE of our "Weather Week to Remember".... I will share more pictures and posts upcoming...  We have had a week of Ice, Sleet,  Freezing Rain,  Snow (yes,  we finally got some snow on Wednesday),  a tiny bit of sunshine,  AND frigid temperatures all week....

AND--the forecasters are predicting another ICE STORM possibility on Friday/Saturday for US... That will be Storm Number Three just this week.  I hope they are WRONG about the ICE....

Hope you are all okay wherever you are.  As bad as this has been for Tennessee,  there are areas around our country/world that are having MUCH WORSE weather than we are having.  Prayers and thoughts for ALL.

Hugs,