Ice Ice Baby

Around midnight of Friday (between Thursday and Friday) the predicted ice storm hit our area. At 7 a.m. Friday PJ went out to catch the bus to work, as even with the fancy new snow tires there would be no way that the bike was going to get through the ice. He waited nearly a half and hour in the rain, and the bus didn't come so he took the car. Ava's school, like most in the area, was cancelled. Everything was covered in ice. The poor trees, some of which had branches that lost the struggle to keep upright under all the weight of the ice, are burdened, and I expect more losses as there is no thawing for at least a few days. It is quite lovely, but depressing nonetheless. We were lucky enough to have kept power, which is more than we can say for about 100,000 of our fellow Allen County residents, including our friends Paul and Jennifer and their boys. They braved the day at home, and we convinced them to come and spend the night up here. The kids had a total blast, and when they returned home this morning it was to a powered and warmer house. I am sure they were all, including the dog, quite happy. Here are a couple of pictures I took of our neighbors tree right in front of her house, and our tree. Her tree sadly has lost a couple of branches, one pretty substantial, as has the house on the other side of hers. It was blocking the street most of the day until some neighbors came out and moved it to the side so vehicles could pass through. There is still a chance that there will be more power loss, but we are going to hope and pray that we keep warm and keep the spare room an option to our friends who don't.