The Good Banter Thread

[j.w]

Sorry you had to go through all that drama country. Hope you can get your car fixed back the way it was. Hope your insurance company treats you right. Fortunately we were not involved in the accident that tied us up yesterday coming home from my doc appt. I always feel better to be just in the bad traffic from it and not involved in the actual pile ups. Our snow is now starting to turn to nothing but slush on the roads up here on our higher hill where we live. They don't plow the roads very well up here compared to closer to the city. Leave us to fend for ourselves.......throw us a bit of dirty gravel once in awhile but it's really a mess up here. We still have pretty deep snow in our yards and it rained all night.

 

[CountryEscape]

The car is nothing, and I have really good insurance. I was just glad the County had rocked the 7 mile stretch of blacktop I had to drive, as it has 2 pretty good sized long hills, but I made it home just fine. Took it about 15 mph on country roads last 3 miles, stayed in the middle on top of the crown. No sliding except when I tried to turn, and I was literally going MAYBE 5 mph, it was unbelievable. I HATE ice! LOL At least the worst damage was the hole and that came from the idiot in the Camaro. I will demand that HIS insurance pays for that dearly!
Yes, JW, my country roads did not get touched with anything. Today the sun is out and will hopefully melt all the ice off. Tomorrow supposed to be 48, so it will be gone by then. Think I will stay home, not go to winery with girlfriends. Too wiped out after last night's fiasco. Just rather stay at home and relax. Hope they get your snow moved some, and that the rain just rinses off your trees, doesn't weigh them down more! Pine trees can really bend! Heavy ice stuck to them for long periods is bad, too, and snow is heavier, but usually gives somewhat, so I'm hoping you have springy trees!

 

[j.w]

country I removed all the snow I could from a lot of the trees except for the huge doug firs...........they are on their own. We have a couple pine trees that had lots of snow and I noticed that they do not like the heavy snow at all. I removed the snow but one bigger one may have a bendy nature to it forever now. Will see if it springs back up. Have some bushy Mugo Pines and the snow flattens them and so had to go out a few times to dig them out. Hope they look better eventually cuz right now they look like gradoo! Did not break any trees thankfully. I'm staying home too till the messy,slushy stuff disappears.

 

[CountryEscape]

In the ice storm we had last year in February, lots of trees had huge branches that broke off. It was the worst ice storm I ever remember. Ice hung around for over a week on the electric lines, which is unbelievable, as usually the following day (like today) there is some sunshine that melts it off.
Ice covered pine needles on tree in my yard. (I lost a branch from the middle that was about 8" in diameter at the trunk, still hung up in middle of tree).

Rows of ice on my house siding.

I thought this looked just really neat! Gates set up in a round pen at farm store.

This is one of my favorite pictures from that ice storm. The sun was melting the ice away, but instead of just melting, it pulled away from the object it was attached to, in this case a stop sign. LOTS of art went into that storm!

And, this is what the electric lines looked like for days, and why they would simply snap from the weight of the ice. In some places at the height of the ice coverage, there were 6" icicles every inch on lines, no wonder more lines didn't snap.

 

[sissy]

I love the ice village you have there but I don't want it here .Last winter I think everyone suffered and don't want any repeats here .I like looking at the pics of it but makes me shiver when I see them .

 

[CountryEscape]

I agree, Sissy, I never want to see it again, but Nature sure made for some beautiful photography! I always try to see the good in everything bad, and these pictures prove that. Life is all about good and bad, but when you can see good IN the bad, that makes for a happy life! Can you tell my glass is more than half full?!

 

[j.w]

Awesome photo's country! That stop sign one is really unique but all are really cool. That first one w/ the ice covering every little needle on that limb is amazing how it does that! I don't ever remember seeing anything like that here ever. Seen it in Michigan tho. Thanks for sharing!

 

[taherrmann4]

We got that ice storm last night too Country, roads were a mess north of cincinnati where I work, must have had an inch of ice/snow/sleet. Tomorrow it will be close to 50.

 

[CountryEscape]

Todd, supposed to be 48 here. Still solid ice on north sides of roads that are sheltered from the sun, as it didn't get very warm today. My rock drive is still ice, but the road was thawed and dry this afternoon. Sun didn't shine very strongly today, thus the ice remained in areas, including my back deck.

 

[koiguy1969]

our MACKINAW ISLAND BRIDGE friday @ 9:30 am.

 

[CountryEscape]

Awesome picture, KoiGuy! It looks like there are vehicles on the bridge though, which surprises me. Maybe they had it rocked and/or salted? Must be very cold there, as salt isn't working if they have salted it. I know it only works down to something like 15 degrees or maybe warmer. After that, rock is the only savior. Hope you didn't have to drive on that!
And, our temps are NOT heading up very quickly today. Still only 36 degrees, and I still have ice on north side of my house. Was hoping to drive my car tomorrow to get estimates and turn in insurance paperwork, but not if there is still chance of ice on roads. People don't think that there may be ice on north facing roads, or where trees shade the road all the time, and that will get you in trouble every time. Only roads around here that get salt are State roads (interstates), county gets rock on hills and main intersections, and township (I have 3 miles of township roads) get plowed when there is more than about 4" of snow, and rock on hills. So, tomorrow so far looks like truck day.
To top off my bad luck for the weekend, the pump I thought needed to be primed in my well house, it is my horse water trough well, turns out the housing is cracked, darn it! I had heat lamp in the well house, but it somehow got busted from the base, was not on, and maybe it froze. We have not had that cold of weather, so surprises me if that is what happened from the cold, especially since the well house is insulated very well. Looks like another plumber bills. Grrrr .....

 

[taherrmann4]

Same here country it is only 33 degrees right now and is supposed to get up to 48, not seeing today. We are supposed to get some serious storms tonight with strong straightline winds and hail. Tornados possible as well. Strange year weather wise.

 

[CountryEscape]

Dang, I sure don't want any straight line winds again! Did you get that earlier last week, Todd? I was sure the rain was going to blow out my bedroom west windows! Very scary indeed. Today the wind is from the southeast, so I figured we are in for another storm. You would think the temps would be climbing with SE winds, but not yet! Very strange winter weather indeed!

 

[taherrmann4]

Yeah it was very windy here last week. With the temp hovering around freezing right now there is a lot of fog. At least all the ice on the trees are starting to melt slowly.

 

[CountryEscape]

Foggy here, too, and ice is melting pretty much, although my rock drive to the barn still covered in ice. Not sure why that is. Just glad most of the ice is leaving. But, I suspect below freezing temps tonight, and with all this fog and moisture in the air, the roads will be tricky in the a.m. to head to work. OK, give me snow any day, get rid of this ice. I'm tired of it. Dealt with it for too many hours Friday evening, 6 to be exact, so not looking forward to dealing with it any more. Need to get my sand bags put into the truck bed for added weight, although as someone asked me, would I have been any better off Fri. evening in the slide into the semi trailer that I did in my Charger, had I had my truck, and the answer is no. The truck would have slid just as easily as the car. Exit ramp was banked, and the semi was on the low side of that bank. It was a no brainer. More ice that formed, slicker it got, and I was the unlucky first to not make it past him. :-( Oh well, live and learn.