A Southern Girl Experiences Ice!

Day three of the mess of ice.  I say "mess of ice" because that is what it is now.  No more pretty white, snowlike stuff blankets the yard.  Now there are patches of slick, brickhard stuff that will make you fall in a moment.  I have learned quickly that it is far safer to step in the slush than to ever worry about keeping the moccasins dry.  Of course, that does have the downside of making the feet like little chunks of ice but at least I have held my balance throughout the course of this storm.  Today's much warmer temperature did indeed melt a bit of the ice but still much is to be found about the yard and on the board path.  I did not realize that in the backyard, the ground beneath the fruit trees is a good three inches thick still.  Mark and I ventured out back to check the trees only to be met with some good old fashioned slipping and sliding!  It was sort of fun! (Perhaps I would not say that had I fallen but a few hasty grips on low limbs helped tremendously!)

To show just how deep the sleet built up on the north side of the house, I took a picture of a small garden sign that one of the kids stuck in the ground years ago.  The thing is supposed to read "Secret Garden" underneath the pretty embossed flowers.  The letters are about two inches tall with a nice border going around that part.  From the picture, you can see that the "Secret Garden" must be quite secret!  Even the bottom six inches of the sign has become hidden!

 

And then there is my prized sapling!  Poor baby is covered with icicles almost as large as the tree itself!  I have had folks tell me in the past that coating a tree with ice intentionally will protect it from being damaged by the frigid temperature.  Well, I did not do this to my poor tree but Mother Nature must have thought it would be a fine thing to do.  The tiny tree bravely stands supporting the weight of icicles with a circumference the same size as its trunk!  I sure hope this little one survives.  I sure hope all of the fruit trees survive.  It definitely has been hard on them this year.

 

One of the things that struck me as being a tad weird was just how green the tiny mosses were even when subjected to temperatures down in the teens.  With everything else in the yard either coated in ice or burned by the cold, the moss stands out as a bit of loveliness.  Perhaps mosses have a built in antifreeze system or something but none were the least bit damaged by the cold.  I am now fully considering carpeting the yard with moss instead of grass!

By tomorrow, the ice should be gone and we can gather more firewood for the next winterlike weather to hit the Bayou.  Some kind folks are saying that this should be as soon as midweek.  Well, I will take it as it comes and remind myself to make sure to check the persimmon seeds this next fall. This years examination of the seeds is holding true.  The spoon shape inside predicted cold, snowy, icy weather and I must say the seven seeds are dead on track.  Persimmon seeds do not lie!