Friday, 26 January 2024

Smashing out from the ice accretion!

The Ottawa high schools are in exam mode. All exams are cancelled Wednesday, and shifted a day forward. Josephine had an exam to write Friday, Isabelle had a PD Day, and then both girls were to take off to Florida to see their paternal grandfather. Bye-bye beach time. I am so sad for them. They have to cancel.

School busses are cancelled again today. What a shame. I know the kids wanted to their exams done! There is another 10 - 15 mm rain on the way on top of knee-deep snow. 

Yesterday the ice accretion was about a cm. The ice pellets had melted and there was a layer of ice on everything. The back deck was an ice rink at 7 a.m. I managed to scrape it off later in the day when it warmed up. By then everything was dripping and you could hear the ice falling.

My first worry was losing more branches. They were OK, except for one touching the ground.


The sun rose, as it tends to do... Squirrel was being cute.


The trees are snow and ice covered. 


The ice accretion if obvious on the bird feeder! It warmed up and everything melted off the trees and the trees relaxed. (So did I!)

After using the chipper on the sidewalk, the ice was gone. The driveway was still a mess. But I worry about slipping on the ice. 

Back to bird watching as I caught my breath. The Hairy woodpecker was being an arse. She kept on scattering seeds until she found the perfect one. You can see the seeds flying to the ground. She knocked all these down!

The sidewalk: Before and After! My arms are sore, but it was a good workout.

I was ready for a shower. Happily I did not wait. At 3:00, we lost power. It came back about about 3:45. That was a relief. It was still light out and we sat and read. There was a tree on the line...

Now I have to get caught up on reading my blog newsfeed. Who knows was today will bring! Hope you are warm and dry.

13 comments:

Jeanie said...

That's so disappointing about the Florida trip for the girls. I hope they'll be able to get it rescheduled. It looks like you were really pummelled. I need to read yesterday's post -- should have read that first!

Barbara Rogers said...

Wow on doing that icy walkway! Big credit on exercise for the day! We had solid rain for two days, no ice because it got to the 60s F. Unbelievable. The fog outside my window reminds me that I am mostly water myself, as I dressed and bemoaned the humidity in the house. My comfort is that this walking water creature would have an environment that is drier and just cooler than my skin. Stay safe! So sorry to hear about kids' exams and missing their Florida trip!

Tom said...

...you sure have had more "winter" than we have had!

RedPat said...

What a mess. Snow would be better than ice for sure. We just got rain and it is still raining.

Anvilcloud said...

The photo boys and I were to have coffee, but we cancelled. I don't think it will freeze, but the rain is miserable enough to keep me home.

Elephant's Child said...

You had quite a work out. I hope your arms are no longer sore and feel for the girls.

tz_garden said...

Wow, good job on shoveling - that is a long walkway! Ugh on exams being postponed, being all prepared for nothing. I'm so glad to hear your power was out for a short time.

Christine said...

Thankfully we are almost at the end of January.

Cloudia said...

Oh that must be so disappointing for the girls! I'm sure they could use a bit of sunshine. Thank you for sharing your wonderful photos with us. Aloha!

Red said...

You have extremely severe and stressful weather. I feel sorry for the kids missing their exam and then having to miss the trip.

Kay said...

Oh wow! I'm so sorry for your girls. That was a disappointment. My granddaughter was luckily able to have her class remotely. Right now the temps in Chicago are staying just above freezing, thank goodness. Your squirrel buddy is really cute. And I'm so glad you didn't lose power for too long.

Kay said...

I just wrote a comment here and I think I might have closed it before I published. I must be too sleepy or something.
I mentioned that my granddaughter was luckily able to have her classes remotely although my daughter still had to go to work despite the -6 degree temperature Chicago was hit with.

I'm so glad you didn't lose power for too long. That would have been terrible with the freezing temperatures.

Divers and Sundry said...

Ice! It's so pretty, and yet it makes life so much harder and more dangerous :(