Author: Stan Deatherage | Published: January 31st, 2010

    We dodged the bullet. The first ice storm in more than a decade has subsided and we still have our electric power. Thank God for large favors.

    As I walked across the frozen concoction that lay suspended like a crunchy platform of high tensile ice, I contemplated how we narrowly avoided losing the electricity that powers our daily lives. My new found hypothesis: The wind blew just hard enough (but not too hard) to blow just enough of the ice (which was getting very heavy), so that the vast majority of the weakest limbs did not break. The rain that was freezing on all of the limbs all day had let up significantly in the evening, and combined with the perfect wind conditions, the power lines prevailed - we kept our power as the mercury dipped below 20 degrees.

    It was a tough neighborhood in the aftermath of the 24 hour long ice storm: Above. Everything was frozen: Below.



    Our family Samoyed, Darla, is going on fourteen years, has canine diabetes, and is now resorting to relieving herself on our carpets, so on nights when the temperature dips below 25 degrees Fahrenheit, I am called to manage her sleeping arrangements. My worry of how long the power lines would hold up that night was certainly a worthy distraction from my consternation of how to supervise Darla’s geriatric infirmities in light of the harsh weather.

    When Darla was a Middle-aged woman in better times: Above. This camellia was frozen solid the next morning: Below.



    Some outside dogs, and in particular Artic working dogs like Samoyeds, do not cater to doghouses. Darla wishes she could still be outside for a fine winter night, but her thinning fur and declining health will not permit it for the entire night. Therefore, it is necessary that I balance my loosing sleep woth the safety of Darla's health with the santity of the protection of my carpets. My solution is a rotation between the outside for her toilet, the garage with a heating lamp, and a respite inside for her with me on the couch, and one eye open for her possible incontinent moments as she sleeps in front of the woodstove. Understandably, it takes a very cold night for this level of fortitude.

    No image announces ice storm in the South like an ice encrusted group of magnolia leaves: Above. The cypress pond is a very cold spot after a rare ice storm in eastern North Carolina: Below.



    The morning after, I was quite weary, but I found the strength to take a few pictures of the icing of my part of Beaufort County. Sadly, in my drowsy state and after a good bit of indoor shooting, I did not reset my ISO to a higher resolution, and I also neglected to upsize the file to the largest size. Regardless, the images are a visual perspective, and moreover, I am eternally grateful for the melting of all that ice that haunted my previous night as referenced in Beaufort County, and the Coastal Plain, Endures Ice Storm.

    This just in. Meteorologists predict second ice storm on Tuesday, February 2, 2010. We'll stay tuned.

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