More pictures from the deep freeze

The sun finally rose over the hill around 9 AM and began to light up the ice encased trees around the Aerie. Whether it will be enough to cause the ice to melt ad free the branches of the added weight is another matter. With the temperatures remaining in the mid 20s, the sun may not be enough.


Here comes the sun!

The trees do look pretty with all the sparkling ice. As the wind causes them to bend and twist, the glittering increases and you can see sparks of red and blue and orange mixed in with the white. It’s much like looking at crystals dangling in the sun.

Where the trees are still in the shade, as they are here along the driveway, things are still tinted blue. These saplings are bent by the weight of the ice which comes close to a ¼-inch thickness.


Saplings bend under the weight of their ice load.

This small tamarack, one of the few needle bearers that shed their needles every winter, is coated with ice and dripping icicles from every branch.



The birches seem to be the most pliant of the trees. They bend considerably but haven’t snapped under the strain. I’ve seen the remains after similar trees got just a bit more ice and am happy we didn’t get that much yesterday.



And a close-up of the birch’s catkins encased in ice.



Makes me cold just looking at it.

I walked down the driveway to check out the road. It's a sheet of ice. We might get down the hill, but until they come by with more cinders or the ice melts, we would never make it back up. Luckily, we've no reason to go down so we will simply wait it out.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go get some more HOT coffee.