Ice Storm, 43rd hour

How blessed we are to still have electricity!

The trees on the property are worse than decimated. (yeah yeah... any normal person would think decimated means almost destroyed... and what could be worse than that? But my kids learned that decimated means "reduced by one tenth".) These trees have been reduced by much more than one tenth.

The chinaberry/pear tree is nearly destroyed. The one beside it has lost several branches, and the largest part of the tree is leaning dagerously over towards the house. It isn't near enough to do more than break the bathroom window if it does come on over, but that would be bad enough!

Tom got home last night and insisted on clearing the build-up off my car. It was encased in more than an inch of ice/sleet buildup. I don't know why he wanted to do that... but he did. He said it was in case I needed the car in an emergency. Like I would try to drive on this stuff? HA! What sort of emergency could it be that would have me attempt the hills surrounding this backroad? If it were a serious enough emergency that I thought we needed an ER, I would call an ambulance... they have tire chains!

We have had ice induced emergencies in the past. Bill and Chris went out to the wood pile (by the house in Central High) to bring in firewood. An icy branch let loose over Bill's head (Of COURSE it was BILL, who would you expect?) and knocked him in the head. He didn't know if he was stunned or completely out cold. (Hahaha... cold! In the ice.... oh wait, this was serious, there was blood....) He came staggering back into the house covered in blood. Head wounds do bleed a lot. There was no way we could get out of there and the 17 miles to the nearest hospital. In those days we didn't have a second vehicle, and Tom was at work. So I (ironically) put ice on it, held the wound closed, and forced Bill to stay awake so we could watch for signs of a concussion. (Also hard to tell with Bill.)

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In the back field, we haven't cut the grass all last year. Daniel and Sam discovered that they could walk on the TOP of the tall grass, the ice coating was so strong. When they would break through, it was a good 18" to the ground. The boys spent more time outside in the sleet and freezing rain yesterday than they normally do in a week. Ben fired up his forge and smelted down enough aluminum cans that he was able to cast 2 and a half "corn ear ingots". He has been using my cast iron cornbread pan, which has the little 'ear of corn' shapes.

I do have pictures, which I may be able to post, if Ben can get them from my camera to his computer. Check back later! The two or three pictures I took myself marked my only venture outside at all. I stayed inside, in my PJ's, all day.

I made an awesome soup in the slow cooker, from roast beast leftover from Sunday. It was even better than my favorite Beef Barley soup from Campbell's. I think Sam saved the day, as I tasted it early on and decided something was missing. He asked if I had my bay leaf in it yet. The secret ingredient that makes soup taste like soup!

Laurie, how are you and your family faring?

Have a blessed and WARM day today!