Winter Isn't Coming...It's Here!

This will likely be a Christmas many in our area will remember for many years to come.  While we were one of the fortunate ones Christmas morning, a lot of people in the surrounding areas were without power before, during, and after the holiday festivities.  Not that we didn't lose power.  We did.  Ours went out and stayed out for a couple of days, but we had heat, water, and limited electricity thanks to the generator.  We could even watch television and play offline video games, if we felt so inclined.  Food was either served cold, picked up from the gas station's Subway station, or cooked on the Coleman stove. 

The reason for these less than ideal living conditions was a beautiful, but destructive ice storm that rained down on us just days before the Jolly Old Elf and his flying reindeer were expected to arrive.  These pictures don't do the scenery any kind of justice.  The light shining on and through the ice was simply stunning. 

While we lost power for a few days, we were very lucky not to lose a bunch of our trees.  Others were not so fortunate.  Ken and the boys had to help clear my in-laws' driveway and garage door.  What a mess!

Unbelievably, my in-laws didn't lose their power.  A blessing, for sure, as they don't have a generator.

You'd think Mother Nature would have been content to drop that loveliness on us and be done with it.  Oh, no.  She has a wicked sense of humor, that one.  Just a week or two later, we got a nice heavy snowfall.

You can't even see the steps leading up to our front porch.  On the bright side, this white landscaping did offer a nice contrast for some pretty cardinals that were feasting at the corn feeder. 

I zoomed as far as my lens would allow, and then digitally zoomed
again before cropping.  Not exactly in focus, but still pretty. 

Some digital zoom. 

No digital zoom.

Now, just a few days later, we've had a wintery rain/snow mix that has melted a lot of this snow and threatens to collapse people's roofs with ice accumulation. On the bright side, we don't have to worry about White Walkers visiting us.  

Image courtesy of www.thechonzone.com