Wild Winter Ice and Snow

The last week and a half has been very challenging in WA. First, some pretty crazy snow, and then a whole lot of ice via freezing rain! UGH! Besides that, the snapping tree limbs weighed down with the 1/2" coating of ice were littering the roads and downing power lines. We were out of power from Thursday around noon to Tuesday evening around 6. Needless to say, I was told to stay home from work for three days so I had a lot of time to dink around and catch up on my photography!

This was the Hawthorn tree prior to the major freezing rain:

This is the birch tree before all was said and done:

And this is the hawthorn after... of course Blogger is being silly, so I couldn't possibly put this after the first pic...:

And Chai wanted her time in the spotlight too:Ice on the 'blueberry muffin plant':

Even the baby twisted willow got it:

Love the colors on this Azalea:My poor Ginko held it's own, thank goodness:Mercy has certainly had enough of this- she was going CRAZYYY!!!This is where the electric fence use to be...Even though the ice was so devastating, it sure was pretty:Glad it's gone though! I'll have an update on Mercy soon, just have to get my thoughts together. Gotta figure out what's up with my blog view too- thath white frame cutting right through the middle just won't do! ;)

Snow Day!!!!

It snowed hard enough earlier this week that after making it in for only a few hours on Monday, I was told not to come into work for the rest of the week. YAY! I drive a 1995 Ford Mustang... not the best snow vehicle, but we managed for 4 years in Pullman, so we know how to handle it well enough if we have too.

With so much time on my hands, I really didn't know what to do first! I decided that Mercy really needed to get out for a walk. It was really icy on the road, so I didn't want to walk her there. And, I can't take her on the trails, which would have been too icy too. So, I led both of the girls over to my neighbor's pasture for a little walk-about.

I let Starlett loose so she could dink around on her own, but Mercy needs to be kept under control. A controlled walk. Period.

Here's how it went.... :

"OMG! What is that!?!?!?" *snort*
"Can I stare it down?! Maybe? No, no I don't think it's working! What is it?!"

"Maybe I could just get close enough to touch it!?"

"Oh.... ok.... it's just nommy snow on a branch!"

"What?... It WAS going to get me! I have no doubt! Seriously!"

*Rolls Eyes*

After all of that craziness, she decided that tree snow wasn't that good after all. She decided that real grass was! Mercy actually had a lot of fun digging out the snow to get to the grass. She tunneled around for a while, looking for the longest, tastiest grass.

Soon Starlett wandered over and started digging for grass too. She didn't want to be left out of the fun!

Both girls rolled in the snow while we were wandering around. Mercy got concerned, because of the lead rope attached to her halter, and decided to get up rather quickly. Star, however, really dug in and enjoyed her roll!

After they had had some fun, I put them away and went for a walk out back. I can't ride Mercy, and we don't ride Star when it's icy because of her likeliness to fall, but that doesn't mean I can't go out an enjoy the snow scenery!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

;)