Ice Storm Aftermath

 This weekend the county iced over. Freezing rain fell Friday night and, by Saturday morning, all the trees were coated with ice. Light freezing rain continued off and on throughout the day.

We were lucky—we weren't among the 12,000 who lost power. We didn't have to drive on roads blocked by fallen trees. None of or trees fell, but many lost limbs. Sunday afternoon, after the the ice had melted, I took these pictures in our yard.

Many of our pine trees lost limbs. Below is some damage in the lower part of our front yard. . . .

. . . and near the road.

The crape myrtles lost a few limbs . . .

. . . and some of the redbud trees did too.

But the pines in our side yard were hit the worst.

This limb came down with a bird's nest attached to it. Every spring grackles nest high in the pines, o I assume this nest is one of theirs.

This is the route I travel via golf-cart to feed the outside cats at the old horse trailer. I can't travel it until the limbs are removed, so I have to take a long way through the former pasture to get to the other side of the trailer.

The yard is soft because of so much rain—and snow last weekend—that my golf-cart has plowed up some tracks.

Here's a closer look at where one of the limbs broke.

In some places the golf-cart tracks are covered by some good-size limbs.

Here's the view from the pasture side of the pines. I normally drive on the other side of this tree when I start down the trail. But not today.

Cats were waiting for me when I approached from the pasture.

They knew the drill—go to the trailer and wait for curb service. Normally, I'd park in front of the trailer, but there's a big pile of limbs in my parking space. Luckily the limbs didn't hit the trailer.

After being served, Skippy chows down.

Cedrick stays dry by eating under the trailer tongue. Other cats eat in a separate spot under the trailer.

The ice storm has been a big inconvenience, but the cats came through OK, the damage wasn't as bad as it could be, and we didn't lose power.

I'll be glad, though, when winter is over and spring finally arrives.

~

Charlotte's Box

 by Charlotte (resident cat & Otis's sister)

I have always liked sitting in boxes.

I think better inside the box—so if it fits, I sits. I have a whole collection of boxes. A lot of them came from a place called Amazon. 

 Having a lot of boxes gives me a choice of where I can sit.

Sometimes I sits loose and sometimes I sits tight.

Sometimes I sits in two or more boxes.

It was getting too hard to keep up with all my boxes, so I decided to downsize. I got a real little box, but all I could do was put my two front paws in. I couldn't sit. I thought and thought about what I could do, and that's when I bit out one end of the box. That solved the problem.

I could tell Otis was envious that I had a little box. But if I looked at him, he turned his head and pretended he didn't care.

Finally he left and I could sit in my box in peace.

There is not a lot to do in a little box. I can only sit one way.

But I'm not going to tell Otis that downsizing has a downside.

~