ICE STORM

My phone woke me with the 2-hour delay message for schools this morning before the alarm. I knew d-in-love would be here on regular time anyway as she has to go in on time on delay days.
When she arrived with g-daughter at 7am we looked out and saw nothing falling yet but the temperature was 22 degrees.
G-daughter went back to sleep for the morning so hubbie and I both layed back down to wait for better daylight.
Just as I dozed off the phone message sounded again announcing schools were closed for the day.
As we did chores there was a thin coating of ice on everything from the freezing fog and light mist that had began falling.
The scanner lit up with wrecks all around the county as we had breakfast.
While g-daughter slept I got the weekly laundry started and got last weeks laundry put away.
D-in-love and g-son came in from school just before noon as the roads were beginning to get really bad as the misty rain got heavier.
G-daughter loves watching her brother !!!

 We played "jacks" while his mom downloaded some photos off my computer. She had lunch left overs from yesterday and then they headed home.
I finished laundry and started #2 son's taxes on this icy afternoon.
The roads stayed treacherous all day with many many accidents all around the county.

 As the afternoon turned into evening and an icy chore time rolled around again,even more harder to stand up than this morning. The rains got steadily heavier and the temperature still held below freezing putting an icy glaze on everything.

At least these pine trees above the garden and our power lines are still standing straight.

My icy netting over the Silkie pen.

Just as I came inside Sadie my Aussie took off barking to a tree just outside the pasture fence. I saw the little racoon that had been out in the pasture earlier now coming bravely into the back yard. Sadie caught it before it could climb the tree and I was  afraid it would cut her up with it's sharp claws as it fought to break loose from her. I yelled for hubbie to get the gun and yelled for Sadie to come. She let the coon go and it scurried up the tree.
We don't like to shoot any animal but these racoons are dangerous rabies carriers and we can't have them coming this close to our house and hen houses and fighting with the dogs. We always keep all our dogs rabies vaccines up to date but this racoon could have killed Bernie or Dolly if they had fought it like Sadie did.  It only took hubbie one shot and we don't have to worry about this intruder any more. So sad that he had the chance to run away as hubbie said when he fed the horse and cattle earlier he had tried to scare it back down into the lower pasture but it refused to go.
As the evening wears on the ice is getting thicker and thicker on the trees and everything else. This is the timeline supposedly for the temps to get above freezing but so far it is 9:45 and it is still 32 degrees.  Praying the trees and power lines don't start falling under the weight of the ice accumulations.

Looking forward to the promised warmer temps for the rest of this week. Ahhhhh !!!  this weekend !!

Grateful to God for sparing us in this storm and praying for all the folks who were injured in wrecks and falls today.
God Bless and Good Night.