Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Return to the Ice Age


Ohio and the Hocking Hill's came almost to a stand still
overnight and today. Here in Hocking County we got
3/4 of an inch of ice on top of the 4 inches of snow already
on the ground, with an additional 2 inches of snow on top
of all of the mix. We may have had more or less than the
states to which it was heading but it was enough for our
little county. We were under a level 3 snow emergency,
which means no one is allowed on the roads except
emergency vehicles.

The electricity blink on and off all night as the rain
an ice accumulated. I finally got up this morning to the
sound of cracking branches and trees. It was yet dark outside
and it sounded like the whole woods behind the house
was crashing down
all around us. I just knew when it got
daylight there would be trees everywhere. But when it
got daylight I discovered that it was just limbs falling.
With the ice covering everything including the ground the
falling of limbs made quite a racket.
Eventually the electricity did go off from limbs and trees
across the lines, along with the telephone. We were lucky and
the electric was back on in five hours but we are still without
phones.
I did get a few pictures but it was before the 3/4 inch was
coating everything. I was afraid to venture out after that with
limbs and trees falling all around the house.
A trip to clean the ice from the satellite dish and the disintegrating
sounds of my forty-six year old, ten foot, lilac bush falling
behind me was enough to scare me to stay indoors for fear of
getting flattened. {My poor Lilac bush :( } The clean up will take
a long time of all of the limbs and trees that are down.
I will try to get more
later when it is safer and sunny so the ice shows up better.


















And with the ice and snow covering everything the birds
were flocking to the feeders to eat more than usual. Poor things trying to
stand up on the frozen ice on the ground, some sliding around
comically. It amazes me how they can cling to the frozen branches
of the trees.

































The Towhee's were back.









12 comments:

Anonymous said...

What an attitude making beautiful photos in emergency conditions. Hope all is back to normal soon.

Barry said...

Although the ice makes for beautiful phototgraphs it so often wreaks havoc in the garden.... I hope that there isn't too much damage when all is said and done. It was a nasty day here as well with close to 20cm of snow and temps around -7 Celcius. I complained when it was -18 last week, but at least we weren't getting dumped on with snow.... surely spring can't be that far away. Stay warm and safe my friend!

My Mother's Garden said...

Gorgeous photos! What a treat to see all of those birds.

Debbies Doodle said...

wowo again fabulous pictures.. how do those birds keep warm?
Just me,
deb

Anonymous said...

Scary, but beautiful! And your poor lilac bush -- that's awful. I love the shots of the birds and that incredible waterfall.

Jenny said...

I read about your storms & power outages on Yahoo News this morning. Hope there is not too much damge. Stay warm.

Jenny

RURAL said...

It looks cccccccccoolld.

Great shots, I hope that everything is back to normal for you soon.

Jen

Sunita Mohan said...

Just seeing all that snow has got me shivering. But what pretty, colourful birds ! I think they compensate for the lack of flowers in the garden right now. That red one (cardinal?) looks like a flaming ball of fire.

JGH said...

Wow Lona - I've recently learned how hard it is to get good bird photos. These are just stunning and you've captured their colors perfectly.

Anonymous said...

Do you have a zoom lens on your camera to capture the little frozen birdies so well? We've got plenty of that same nasty ice, as you know. If my flowers and shrubs survive this bitter cold and snowy winter, it will be a miracle!

Unknown said...

Gorgeous bird photos! Sorry about the ice though. We managed to avoid it in this last storm. Just a couple feet of snow. Much easier to deal with. :)

Lona said...

mothernaturesgarden: Hey when there is no electric the camera keeps me occupied at least but maybe not out of trouble with limbs falling around me. Maybe not too smart that?:)

Teza:I am sure you deal with a lot worse in your location. Makes my whining sound silly. I long for spring :)

My Mother's Garden: I just cannot resist taking pictures of the birds. I have too many!

Deb: You stay warm to girl. Did you get snow?

byriningbunny: Thank you and thanks for dropping by.

Jenny: You mean we made it to the news on Yahoo, maybe it was worse than we thought looking out from our little isolated area.

Jen: Yep, it is cooooold!

Sunita: When we have nothing blooming here in the frozen north the birds do add color to the dreary landscape.Gives us antsy gardeners something to look at :)

JGH: I am still trying to figure this camera business out. You should see all the fuzzy ones I have to delete :)

Robin: Isn't this a mess? I have a 75-300 canon zoom lens. I am not really happy with it and wish now I would have gotten a Sigma 70-300. I believe the pictures would have been much better from the research I have done since.

Chris: I was hoping for the snow also, mush rather deal with it than the ice. BUT, not 2 feet!That is all your :)