MAJOR ICE STORM

Thankfully we still have our power this morning unlike many of our neighbors around the county. It looks like a true winter wonderland around here today.

I have never seen this much solid ice on the ground before . I've seen more than this on the trees but that inch of sleet that fell yesterday is now a solid sheet of ice as the freezing rain added to it last night.
Annie can walk on top without even a mark and she probably weighs 75 lbs.

I knew it was too early for these guys !!!!

This was my mode of travel this morning as I had to get up to the chicken houses and give them some water and feed inside their houses.

I figured it was better to crawl then to take a chance of falling because I couldn't even make a mark in the ice to get my feet set.
Annie and Sadie loved having me on their level but couldn't understand why it took me so much longer than them to get up the hill.

Thankfully hubbie and I both got back inside safely.
We gave Bernie and Dolly haircuts and baths while we waited for the sun to do its melting.
Dolly is definitely not a fan of grooming.

About 2:30 we decided to get out and see how much melting was going on. With the record cold temps predicted for the coming days and nights we knew what we do today will be all we can do.
Our drive way was still very slick.

The sun sparkling off the still ice covered branches of all the trees was very pretty this afternoon.

I opened the doors to the chicken houses this afternoon so they could come out if they wanted but very few of them ventured far out onto the ice.

Hubbie drove the tractor up and down the driveway to break up the ice and form rough spots to drive on. There is still some dangerously slick places.
D-in-love and g-son came up this afternoon to get out of the house a while.

The slick ice didn't bother g-son at all and he loved sledding very fast on the ice across the lawn.

He stayed hydrated by eating the icicles he found on the trees, haha !!!

There is no school again tomorrow as this is what a lot of the roads in our county still look like tonight.

This is a city truck scraping main street in town earlier this morning.

Each time the news showed downtown Hendersonville I was surprised at the piles of ice on the sides of the streets.
Our county was the hardest hit in all of western N.C. with over 1" of sleet , covered with over 1/4" of freezing rain ice. There was some harder hit areas in S.C. around Anderson where they got more than 1/2" of ice.
And tomorrow there is more snow predicted then record breaking temperatures, then more ice or snow. Winter is sure making her appearance known !!
After inching around doing the chores and putting more water inside all the chicken house as well as putting our water trough heater in the horse tank we were inside for the evening without any falls or major mishaps.
Talked to all the boys tonight and they all got through their jobs and home safely. Daughter shoveled her driveway today but the road in her development and the road by the development are still pretty bad so she is staying in and resting. She sounds better of her sickness so this rest may have been just what she needed.
I am thankful tonight for all the brave workers who have to get out in the mess on the roads and brave the cold temps.
I am very thankful to God for keeping my family safe today and for blessing me with  undeserved blessings each and every day.
Good Night and God Bless.