Winter Storm

Hello dear friends,

As predicted, we have had another period of  warm temperatures and record breaking rainfall this weekend followed by an ice storm.  Fortunately for us the storms seem to take place on the weekends when we can hunker down and stay safe....although we did have plans to have dinner with friends.  After watching the weather forecasts, and then the storm watches, and then the storm warnings we decided to stay home instead.  The fur-children were very happy about this decision.

All told we received just over 90 mm of rain from Saturday morning until Saturday evening.  The total amount would actually be higher as the rain started Friday night but we had already stored our rain gauges for the winter and had to take one out again!

The farm lane has been filling up with water.  The ground is already waterlogged and has a limited ability to absorb the melting snow and rain.

The fields are partially under water as well.

By late afternoon almost all of the snow had melted.

Then by early evening (also according to forecast!) the temperatures dropped and the rain turned to freezing rain.  I tried to take a photo of the ice on the large maple at the barn using my phone.  The photos on the camera were too blurry to share.

Freezing rain continued through the night but then we had some sunshine this morning.  This was the view before coffee!

We had icy views everywhere.  The wind started to pick up this morning and the air was filled with the tinkling sounds of ice falling off of the trees.

For anyone interested in techie bits, we have a Generac generator that will power our farm in the event of a power outage.  This is 17 kw residential generator and was a priority for us after having survived 5 days without power as a result of another ice storm in 2015.  We have had many power outages over the years but this one convinced us a generator would be a worthwhile investment.  Heating an old stone house using a fireplace and breaking holes in the ice of Lake Ophelia to drag buckets of water to the barn for the animals only seems romantic!

I dont know why Abby feels it necessary to remove our driveway markers!

Horatio is enjoying the sunshine on a bedroom windowsill.

Meanwhile Henry is enjoying sunshine elsewhere!

Now I will be going back to work packing up Christmas decorations while my husband investigates damage from falling tree limbs.

~Thank you for visiting!~