Ice and Snowmageddon

Hello Friends!  Welcome to Icemageddon!  After a weekend in the 60 degree temperatures, Mother Nature has once again teamed up with Mr. Freeze (think Batman villain) and they are implementing their diabolical plan on the Southeast. Things were so bad here that the Weather channel's Jim Cantore was in town, informing us that we are located in the epicenter of this storm.  Thanks Jim, I think we figured that out with a glance at the  map!

When you look at these photos you should be aware that it has NOT snowed yet. We are supposed to get snow starting tonight... anytime now, actually.  The white in these photos is ice.  Everything is iced over here in Aiken.   The first three photos are from my front yard.  I am currently avoiding the back yard.  Doug told me that part of the woods came down on our azaleas.  I should have asked about my blueberry bushes, but to be honest, I am not sure that I want to know.

I ventured no further than half way down our driveway and across into our front yard.  Doug went and knocked ice off of the DirecTv dish and he went out back with the Duncan.  Not me, man.  I am cozy and warm and staying inside.

Meanwhile, facebook is full of photos of our frosted town.  The traffic circle on Lauren's Street is generally a very busy place.  Not so today, though there are some tire tracks in the ice.

Lauren's Street, the main shopping area down town, was closed today.  In fact, everything was closed today.  Aiken is officially iced over.

I hate to see this, in the photo above some of the very old magnolia trees have lost large limbs.  I have had limbs falling in my back yard as well.  When they break it sounds like an explosion.  The limbs just cannot support the weight of 1.5 inches of ice.  By the way, it was not really snowing.... Google added the snow to the photo for me.  I thought it was pretty so I kept it!

And for you golf fans (MFJ - Jayne) this is for you:  This is a photo from the Augusta Nationals today.  It is only seven weeks until the Master's tournament. The grounds keepers are going to be busy removing fallen and broken trees and limbs, as well as clearing the debris.   But in seven weeks this same scene will be resplendent with a green carpet of grass and fabulous blooming azaleas!

Not wasting my day too much, I have been working on Valentine's for Bethany's students.  I should have plenty of time to finish them as there is not school today or tomorrow for local students and teachers.  Hopefully we will be back to normal by Friday.  I am just thankful that unlike 10 years ago during the ice storm, we have not lost power.