As predicted, it did arrive at some point during the night. I woke up early to the power's coming and going. Then it went off for about thirty minutes but back on now. I had gotten ready - checked batteries, etc., - so far so good. But it is beautiful as long as I'm inside looking out, and the little brown birds are having a wonderful time at my feeders. By the looks of things, I will have to venture out to replenish at some point. I wish I were not cameraless.
L: I added an ice photo. K
26 comments:
Ice is beautiful, but I hate it above all things wintry. Three years ago we almost lost our banana shrub - which is taller than my two story house so hardly a "shrub" by standard of size. The only reason it survived the weight of the ice was my brave husband standing in the storm directing water from the hose onto it to keep the accumulation at a minimum - this plant correctly called Michelia fruscata which is rare in this zone and unheard of at that size hereabouts (in my experience and according to Elizabeth Lawrence's garden bible for Southerners) is one of the stars of my spring garden when covered with blooms that look a bit like tiny magnolia blossoms and smell like - you guessed it- bananas with a hint of something more. It has still not recovered and I suspect never will, but blooms faithfully although it does have some holes in its once perfect structure.
The storm split a hardy camellia - one of the pink varieties that are hardest to grow - at the top and brought down several limbs from the ancient willow oak at the side of the house.
But nothing could compare to the storm we weathered in Tennessee when we lived on the backside of the hill and listened in total darkness to transformers exploding all night and heard the branches and even the trees that surrounded our house cracking like gun fire and falling - in some cases on our roof. The next morning with debris everywhere and forty foot trees lying on their sides, it looked iike a war zone - we spent over a month with a rented chipper disposing of our beloved forest. I shudder still.
The prayer I pray every winter is no ice please. Snow by all means but keep the ice.
Gosh, Charlotte, if you've got a banana shrub, you really do have the "touch" as well as the location. I have seen them producing bananas on St. Helena's Island (Beaufort, South Carolina), but that's a lot farther south and certainly more coastal than you are.
I assume "your" Tennessee ice storm was the same one we had in 1994. I well remember waking up that morning thinking there was a fire, because of the cracking, and the way my house shook when a big, old maple street tree at the end of my driveway hit the street.
So far all I've got down is a red bud and they're pretty good about regenerating from the roots. But it continues to rain and freeze.
I am sorry that your ice storm materialized but I am glad you have power and were prepared. I bet you are enjoying the scenery but not enjoying the thoughts of past power outages during such events. Charlotte, send us a picture of your banana shrub.
Ann P.
Ann, I will look through my pictures to see if I have anything - she is an evergreen but drops some leaves in the winter and as I mentioned before is not the girl she once was and is not a particularly "pretty" plant. But in the spring her tiny, tiny blooms smell so sweet that people linger on the sidewalk when she is doing her thing. She has nothing to do with bananas despite her name and is a member of the magnolia family I believe.
I suspect that where this plant is sited has to do with it doing so well in a borderline area - it is close to the back door and somewhat sheltered by the house and the basement which stays very warm in winter because of the boiler probably keeps the soil from getting as cold as it otherwise might. I can take no credit for this as Daisy planted this bush - probably twenty or more years ago. It is a very slow grower and to reach its current size it would have to have been growing for a long time.
Thanks for adding picture, Keith. It really is pretty, but I'm dreading what tonight will bring. We continue to get some precipitation, and the temperature is hovering around 32, so prediction is more freezing over night.
Charlotte I feel the same way about ice storms, the stranglers of winter storms. We have lost lots of apple and cherry and maple (maple syrup!) trees due to the ice storm here a few weeks ago. Lucy, I hope you get through tonight without losing power again.
I too would like to see a picture of your banana shrub posted, Charlotte. Sounds like an exceptional plant!
Up our way, we're expecting a big snow/ice storm starting tonight with as much as 12" predicted. So maybe I'll have another picture to post tomorrow - if we don't lose power.
Lucy, Keith, here is hoping that you keep your power - my biggest fear, an even higher priority than my garden, is always for my birds who need to be kept warm - but we are on the right side this time with only rain in our forecast. In 1994 (and I am taking Lucy's word for this since I don't track time by years but rather by experiences), we made a circle of cages in the library where the fireplace was and kept everyone under covers for many days without power - we also rescued a little flying squirrel who was knocked unconscious when her tree fell - we later returned her to the wild which was one of the happiest of days for me. I have many memories of our time on the hillside -
All of the birds moved safely from there to North Carolina but over the last ten years I have lost three of them - all over twenty years of age - I still have five fractious children here with me.
Twelve inches! Makes me feel like a wimp. If we got anything like that, guess the folks from Fort Campbell would have to be out in force.
Charlotte, now you need to post a picture of at least one of your birds. Are they cockateels, parakeets? I'm sure they provide a lot of company. I have a friend who has a cockateel, and when I visit, he jumps out of the cage and on my shoulder at which point I feel compelled to say, "Arrgghhh, matey!"
Lucy, the snow is coming down this morning in a very determined way as I type. Stay tuned to see how much we get. The feeder birds are out in force this morning. I filled the feeders yesterday with sunflower hearts, a special (and expensive) treat that they love.
Keith, Four of my birds are big birds - a Severe Macaw, a rare Triton Cockatoo (remember Beretta's bird?), two African Greys - I used to have three - and my little Conure makes five. At one point I also had an Amazon parrot and a Mollucan Cockatoo who was the love of my life. Fanny died about three years ago but Lola the other Too, Lola for Whatever Lola wants, and I still sing her song. These birds are remarkable and never forget anything which is more than I can say for me at this point.
They sound like spectacular birds, Charlotte! You've got to post some pictures, we've got to get to know your birds a little better. In the meantime, I suppose I can google them and get a better idea of how they look. I would love to photograph those birds. I just didn't know you had such a variety of big tropical birds.
Update from my laptop: Power is out County-wide; it is a TVA outage and serious - don't know how long will be. It sleeted most of the night and finally changed to snow, which has now stopped. Bless Don Neagle and WRUS; they are running on a generator. Everything here closed, including banks, service stations, groceries. It's amazing how dependent we are on electricity.
I am so sorry, Lucy, that Logan County's power is out and it is through TVA. It appears that the entire Ohio Valley and Arkansas and west are effected. Try to stay warm. I hope you have a battery powered radio to be able to know what is happening and to get what information you need to have.
Ann P.
Lucy, I hope your power will not be gone for long but this sort of outage doesn't always lend itself to a quick fix. And yes, when the power goes everything stops - yuck.
Power finally back on a little before 3:00. Had been a pretty long day. Thank goodness for WRUS and its generator and my old portable radio. My laptop warned me to plug in - yeah, right.
Lucy, glad your power is back and hope it stays on. Now, go charge up your laptop! :-)
Lucy, I am so glad that your power came back on before nightfall. This was evidently a killer storm and Kentucky got the brunt of it.
Lucy, I am so relieved that everyone has power again. I love it that Don Neagle plows his way to the station and broadcasts with the benefit of a generator. I know it got really cold in the house but am glad you have a gas stove so you can have tea and whatever else you need. I hope that Betty and Jack are OK, too. He was going to make some of his yummy soup the night before the power went out. Whew!
Ann P.
From today's reports, we were really lucky. Ohio, Muhlenberg & Hopkins Counties were really hit, and some areas are not predicted to get power back for another couple of weeks. In addition, we had a lot of rain; the Green River is at some sort of flood stage, and there is a boiled water advisory in those areas.
Don Neagle is a Logan County institution and should be recognized for all he has done, including in the midst of ice storms. Maybe there has already been such.
Glad that Logan escaped the worst but sorry to hear about Muhlenberg, Ohio and Hardin. I've got relatives in Muhl and know that snow plows are scarce there.
We got ice on top of snow yesterday, trees were glistening and our driveway is still a skating rink. It's 11 deg here this morning, so no warmup anytime soon. Coldest winter here in over 20 years.
Keith, we can't really compare a North Carolina winter to yours, but I suspect this one is shaping up to be one of our coldest as well. I will admit to being spoiled here most years.
Except for what the boys refer to with disdain as my dead animal coat which is nearly as long in the tooth as I am, I don't even have a proper winter coat. This winter I could use one.
Don't know if you all were aware or not, but Don Neagle got a lot of state-wide recognition last September in honor of his 50th anniversary at the same job. That is amazing, and he goes to work at 4:00 a.m. five days a week.
Latest out of Muhlenberg County, - may be a month before power is restored. Folks are being advised to "just leave if they can get out and have any place to go." We finally have sunshine this morning, a very good thing, because they have not been able to inspect lines from the air. There is another serious problem in the western part of the state: AT&T's fiber optic lines have been damaged, and I have no clue what that means.
Lucy, it sounds as if north Logan and all of Muhlenberg are in serious trouble. I'm sure they need flashlights, batteries, propane fuel, hand warmers, anything to keep them warm. And some of those places are really remote, so the power repair crews may be weeks before they can get there.
Damaged ATT fiber optic lines means reduced or severed phone and internet service for some.
This "Ice Storm" post wins the award for the most comments, 23 so far! I think we love to talk about the weather.
Isn't there a country song about old people liking to talk about the weather?
Guess I'll have to enter the conversation at this point. I have been following the news concerning Southern Kentucky's ice and snow storm. Sounds rather serious in some areas. I too am glad that you, Lucy, are in better circumstances than some. That Tennessee blizzard you've mentioned in the 90's is one I'll always remember. We took in my mother, Earl's sister who is wheel chair bound, my son and two of his working friends. We happen to have had two working wood-burning fireplaces with plenty of wood on hand. We cooked on a camp stove and had plenty of home canned food in the pantry and freezer. I forgot to say that one of the young guys had an Iguana which needed to be kept at room temperature. That was a fun week!!
The song you were thinking of is one by Randy Travis. That line refers to old men talking 'bout the weather and old women talking 'bout old men. I've really enjoyed following all the blogging.
Betty Hicks McLean needs to join in this discussion. When they reached the Tennessee line yesterday, the snow and ice disappeared. What a relief. I am so sorry for the folks facing weeks of no power and poor phone service and internet service, too. Keith, thanks for explaining some things to us. Glad to hear from Tommye, too. I would hate to be bunking with an iguana. It has been bad enough to bunk with the kids when they were little and an ill tempered calico named Moishe who lived to be 21 ruling the roost her whole life. She was a desperado of the first order and took no prisoners. When she got old, she had to be shaved with only a bit at the end of her tail and a ruff around her neck. She resembled a pathetic lion but still held herself regally.
Ann P.
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