And it's been "wintering" all day long.
It actually started sometime last night. Yesterday was cold and windy, a very raw day with occasional rain but not icy. After the warm weather we've had this week, it felt extra cold. The wind was brutal. But the forecast was for worse to come.
When we got up this morning, which was at 5:30 for me because that is when I woke up, we looked out on the back deck and it looked a little icy. With either freezing rain or sleet coming down. Or maybe both! Otter had to be in to work at 8:00 this morning, she got up about 6:45 and immediately got the browines she made last night frosted so she could take them to work. I went out to get the paper and the grass was icy but the street was still "only" wet. The car, however, was a giant silver ice block with lots of icicles hanging from it. It warmed up quickly and the ice on the windshield wasn't as thick as it looked. We left about 7:30 even though it normally only takes about 10 minutes from home. There was a lot of water on the road but it was not frozen. There is one bridge I had to cross, it's over a turnpike but the turnpike authority had already been out and sanded. I took it easy anyway and got her to work about 7:50. I got home quickly. To a waiting fire and a husband cooking breakfast, which was nice. Also, lots of coffee!
Husband and I (and two dogs) spent most of the morning in front of the fireplace, at one point nearly all 4 of us were asleep in the floor in front of it. Bill eventually got up and went to bed to finish his nap, but I was awake at that point. The dogsters and I stayed in the living room - Maggie Moo split her time between in front of the fireplace and being my footwarmer. I put out another suet feeder, the first one still has about half of the cake left. I got two seed feeders ready to go, then Otter called at noon to say that they were letting her leave an hour early so I headed back up there. Not much traffic for a Saturday, but more than normal for the weather conditions.
When Otter and I got home, I took the two feeders out to the back yard. And my right foot promptly sunk up to the top of my ankle in mud! Wet, frosty mud. Courtesy of a mole that dug a trail across the yard. We've had several birds and the woodpecker was at the first suet feeder for a long time this morning.
It's been raining most of the day and some of it has been ice. Tonight may be snow. The weather front was three ice storm waves. We have not had any power outages, but Tulsa has had some. We do have trees with limbs that are heavy from the ice, the elm tree in front is really bent and we are just hoping that it will survive. The small elm is a much younger tree and it's bent over as well but is probably more supple than the bigger tree. When I was getting Otter from work, I noticed that a lot of small limbs have broken off of trees in the area. Our power lines are buried, but the lines leading to them which are above ground are in danger of ice-laden tree limbs falling on them. Because it is still so cold and getting colder, that is still a serious possibility even if there is no more coming down.
We didn't have a lot planned for tomorrow anyway, we had plenty of warning of the storm so we got a lot of things done earlier in the week so that we wouldn't miss anything that had to be done if we do get iced in. We have plenty of firewood and lots of food on hand, but the weather will be improving by Monday.
The mouse count is now four. The latest was a very young female and she was trapped in the trap behind the bathroom door. She very probably came out of our closet. I think we're going to take all the clothes out that are on the lower rod and see if we can find any sign of a nest or an entrance. The fact that this is the third female and was so young is not a good sign. I really hate to kill anything, but they are vermin and we don't really have much choice.
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