Sob…. that beautiful birch…..
Sunday, December 22nd, 2013fell victim to the ice. When I went out this morning I took some photos, and hoped the river birch would survive the storm.
When I got out to the living room, I decided to snap more photos from the slick front deck:

As were the boards in the siding. I don’t think I’ve ever seen something quite like this. This is outside the dining room, facing north–the direction of the weather.

Another shrub bearing “ice berries”, beautiful, but hope it won’t kill the shrub. We have bitter cold coming (again) so no chance of a melt-off any time soon.

That glassy surface in front of the garage is ICE, not water. We didn’t leave the property today. Paul walked the dog–with ice cleats on his shoes and itty bitty baby steps at that. He said on the lower part of the driveway two trees are blocking the drive, completely bent over from the ice. Tomorrow I need to grocery shop for Christmas, so we will see what happens….

And this is our glorious river birch. I so love the lacy beauty of this tree in summer, the beautiful bark…I had hoped it would survive the storm given how far the top was drooping over (the lowest dangling branches are usually about 4 feet above ground), but things got worse.

On the left of the pine, the side facing the oncoming freezing rain, you can see how the branches are laden with ice and sagging compared to the protected side on the right.

SOB! ALL THREE of the leaders, the trunks of the tree, have snapped. Sigh and sob and sniff. The Asst. Wrestling Coach with whom Paul has worked for the past five years has a tree business, so we are hoping he can come by this week and prune off the broken bits and maybe we can save the tree. I hope. Sniff.
And I really hope that no one gets badly hurt driving in this nonsense. I will venture forth tomorrow, and then probably stay home until Thursday!