Ice

It was odd. Rain that did not drip off the roof. There are going to be a lot of sticks to pick up.

When this wave of the vortex has passed. It is rather dangerous out there today.

I did not get far. Wandered out to the parking lot.

Places where there were no trees overhead.

The ice was thicker than suggested.

I was hearing things crash.

The witch hazels were still blooming, in flower cubes.

Then it began to melt fast.

For all practical purposes, it had started to rain. There was a lot of ice stuck up in those trees.

Snowdrops And Orchids In Siberolina

The Polar Vortex moved on in the night. It was warmer when I woke up than when I went to bed. The high rose above freezing. A thaw begins.

Portions of our little brook glaciated. This is the first time I have seen this even though I am sure it has happened before.

I went for a walk while I could.

It is time. Will I see snowdrops? Yes, a new garden year begins.

I saw the winter leaf of the Cranefly Orchid, Tipularia discolor nearby. Even cold nature has an under garden.

My only chore was accomplished. The exterior furnace drain line freezes solid in Siberolina, flooding the furnace. I have to collect the water exhaust inside in a bucket that needs regular dumping. Every other day is good. Once things thaw I can hook the exterior drain line back up.

This will take a few days. There are a lot of glaciers out there.

Beneath The Ice

There are three fish ponds I am in charge of that must stay running no matter the weather. Sometimes the hardest part is just being able to get to them on snow covered roads.

This is what deep cold looks like on the upper koi pond. As long as the water is still flowing, the ice falls don't matter. 

Koi and goldfish are totally cold hardy. As long as the pond does not freeze solid they will be fine. They go into a hibernation stage and stop eating as the water cools down.

The lower koi pond was a solid sheet of ice when I arrived. It also has a leak that is exacerbated by the deep cold. The water level was way low. I added water and starting ice breaking as the sheet began to melt.

There ya go fishies. All better now, until it freezes over again in this weekend's deep cold.

Squashed Daffodils

As the snow melts, impressive daggers of ice drip off the mountain into spring.

And great quantities of squashed daffodils were revealed. Those that can will perk up. Great quantities of daffodils in reserve will still come into bloom. Our guest would have seen perkier daffodils last Friday.

There was one incredibly rare sighting on our stroll today, the garden blogger in situ.

It is such a rare sight, it will be repeated now, because it won't be happening again anytime soon.

"This big rock does all kinds of interesting things."

The freeze, as is often the case, was hit or miss. All the iris seem unfazed. Daylilies and hellebore got a bit singed. The next two days will tell more about what plants have the vagaries of spring hardiness. Spring can be beautifully cruel.

Unperturbed, spring will just move on. The gardener did offer a few items some protection. The new Mukdenia rossii 'Crimson Fans' were waking up and loaded with flower buds. I did not like the idea of them freezing. Both were covered with leaf litter and then nicely covered again by a thick blanket of snow for this morning's low of 17. They look like they made it.

I try not to be perturbed, but I do like my daffodils perky.

A Thin Crust

There at the very end, when it sounded like a sack of BBs pouncing off the roof, I knew something had happened to the rain. Ice was falling from the sky. It ended as abruptly as it began, leaving only a thin icy crust.

By morning a dash off snow was on top. That wasn't much of a winter storm. I didn't get any where near ten inches of snow. All seemed well. Then an eery feeling crept in. Not one single car had passed by on the scenic byway. That was odd.

Yes, there was a slippery thin layer of ice covering things. Was the scenic byway covered too? Would the mail lady be able to fetch my ready to go tax crap today? Was I the lone survivor of some disaster I missed? It was just way too quiet out there.

The scenic byway was just fine, perfectly wet from the road salt. I have seen people drive through blizzards way worse than this. This was odd.

It wasn't even that cold. It was nineteen whole degrees.

Finally one lone car passed by. Then the mail lady came and took my money away. It was still awful quiet out there.

Oh well. I stuck with my plans to start cleaning the house next door.

And I wandered the ridge top garden a bit picking up the fresh crop of branches and sticks as I went. The snow drops were doing just fine.

When I came back home to sit, there were all these power outage and ice reports on FB from Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina and Asheville. Kentucky had been closed. Hmm? I wondered what happened in Waynesville? Was today cancelled due to ice?

I got an hour of snow, six hours of rain, a last gasp of ice and a dash more of snow. How was I seemingly spared way up high on the mountain top?

I'm glad I don't have to predict the weather. That was a weird winter storm.

After The Ice Storm

Just two days ago anything that wasn't hugging the ground was encased in ice.

I wasn't imagining things when I stood on my front porch and listened to the forest crashing down around me.

Considering how it could have gone, the carnage was minimal. I was pretty much spared. The ridge top garden was a little dinged. It's all cleaned up and out of the way now. Let spring gardening begin on the glorious warm sunny day that followed the melt.

It is spring like enough that the spring ephemerals of the deep forest floor have begun to wake up. Anemone acutiloba is one of the first native wildflowers to bloom. Two days ago they were pelted with branches, twigs and ice and you would never know it.

I was happy to find two of the trilliums I bought last year have emerged. They were sad looking things when I bought them. I bought three new species to add to the existing four species that are already here. Now if I could remember where I planted the third one.

Spring Beauty, Claytonia virginica is another early arrival. They are super tiny, not much more than a single leaf and a couple flowers. Their great numbers make up for their small size.

Hiding among all the white anemones is a pale pink one.

I got busy on the slope below the cozy cabin. I may have bought a few more Scabiosa from the discard rack that got planted. Then I spent a little time weeding out the fescue grass off to the left and out of this picture. There is a lot of bare dirt now, but the time of the Lush is coming. All kinds of germination will begin to happen. The editing process will continue from there. The fescue grass is a definite not wanted while the Flattened Oat Grass, Danthonia compressa is being left and allowed to spread.

I woke Button up for his one big adventure of the daylight hours and forced him to go on a stroll. He is becoming more determinedly nocturnal as the night time temperatures have risen. It is now a choice between sleep and letting him out at night. He wins. I can only hope his first encounter with a larger wild varmint scares the crap out of him.

Miss Collar is only willing to supervise for so long before it is her bedtime.

Spring indeed is in the air.

The Ice Storm

I was expecting to wake up to a frosty morning so it was a pleasant surprise to see that it was raining. The pleasantries ended quickly. Cold air crept in and it kept raining. The rain turned to freezing rain and stayed that way all day long. There were spits of snow and quick barrages of sleet, but the freezing rain continued.

The ice kept building up.

And falling down in outbursts of strong winds.

Loud jarring noises on the roof top increased in frequency. How long will it be before the power goes out?

It hasn't yet. The freezing rain subsided. The fog rolled in.

I stand on the front porch and listen to the forest crashing down around me. I watched several big branches fall. The ice encrusted tree tops clatter ominously in the lightest wind. The loud jarring noises on the roof top continue.

It is unnerving. And pretty.

And I have a headache from all this.

How much carnage will there be?  How much lumber will I have to pick up?

At least the power is still on. Bulbarella and I are warm and fine.

While I stand on the front porch and listen to the forest crashing down around me.