Pod,
No I don't leave anything in it after spring.
Let us Show the Snow.
Sheila,
Emory is in NE Texas. About an hour east of Dallas. If you know where Canton is (who doesn't?), it is about 20 mi North of Canton. I thinbk the place I was standing was deeper than most places. Don't really know why...
I know the areas north of Fort Worth got 13" plus, I figured you must have been further north of me. That was a big Texas size snow for sure. Don't care to see it get that bad again.
btw, I just spoke with Josephine (Frostweed) and she and Frank are still without electricity today. They have a small generator and are making do with it and a gas fireplace. She is missing getting on DG though.
This message was edited Feb 13, 2010 10:05 AM
Praise the Lord!!! the power just came back on, wow! what a blessing, I hope it stays on, don't want to count my chickens too soon.
Thank you Sheila for keeping track of us, and for doing the Texas Birthdays for me when it was my turn.
Beautiful Pictures Everyone!!!!
Josephine.
Glad to hear that you have your power back, Josephine. From the news reporting, I was afraid we might not be back online until tomorrow.
Glad to see you have power again! Thanks to all the folks working out in the cold to move trees and restore the power.
Welcome back both Dennis & Josephine! We've had our power go out in the dead of summer for many hours. No fun at all!!
I have a co-worker who's a TCU student and she lives in a house near campus. They've been without power for 2 days now. At least they've got warm water since their water heater is a gas one. They have a gas stove, too, so they can cook and wash dishes.
It gets really weird when the power stays off too long! So QUIET! No lights, no TV or internet or anything. When all your life there's been power around when you want, and then it's not there...well, it gets so old...especially when you're freezing! If it goes on for a day or two with ice and cold, you feel like civilization just ceased to exist. All I'm trying to say is I understand, I've been there. Have you ever lived in a third world country? I did...even there we had electricity in the city...but in the country, I stayed with a family that didn't, no bathroom either. It's an experience that will never leave me. Oh...has anyone ever heard of chilblains? I had that a long time ago.
This message was edited Feb 13, 2010 8:31 PM
But even when we know the electricity is out, you do things like flip lights on when you step into a room!
I can't imagine what the teenagers did that keep the phones and text messages going. I am sure they ran the batteries down quickly, forgetting they had no way to recharge. That is the main reason I keep a land line, it usually always works. But I rely on my cell a lot now days for numbers mainly.
Well I hear the wind getting up outside, hope that people listened when the weather people said there may be more tree limbs falling due to unseen breakage.
Our relatives in Georgia posted pictures on fb of the kids riding sleds down the driveway. They have a long 45 degree drive, ideal for that.
Glad to know you and the family are toasty warm tonight Josephine and Dennis.
Old habits are hard to break like turning lights on. When there is a major power outage here, people get out and drive around burning fuel. They don't realize the gas pumps won't work with out electricity. Glad the lights are coming back on for everyone.
We don't expect those that live in the cities to have that problem. In rural areas, we are surprised when we DON'T lose our power. On last Monday before the snow, this area had a power transmission line go down. Without thinking about it, we lit kerosene lamps, kept the fireplace going, cooked dinner on the gas range. The only major inconvenience is our well pump. I keep gallons of water drawn to cook and wash up and use the rain barrel water to flush. The "quiet" is delightful to read or talk but always glad when the power comes back on.
After a sunny day yesterday, there are only a few patches of the white stuff left here.
Silly me I didn't think about the gas pumps not working either. But we didn't get out except to go get a prescription just a half mile away. The quiet was very evident the morning after. We live near a freeway and get used to the steady hum until it isn't there. Another thing the first night it was so light out, we could see houses a block over when it should have been pitch black. It may have been a full moon, didn't go outside and look up.
Glad it is on the way out though.
Someone mentioned an old yaupon tree that had damage from the snow. I talked to a man in the landscaping business yesterday and he said that from what he had seen, some of the worst damage was to yaupons. ( Our oaks and pecans did fine, thank heavens.)
That certainly is the case at my house. We had four areas of really old yaupons-- 50+years old for sure, maybe as much as 75. The trunks had gotten huge and twisted-- really interesting and sculptural looking. In the 12 years since we've lived here, they've lost one limb then another during other ice events and strong winds. It's looking like this record-breaking snow was the last straw. When all the broken limbs are cleared away, there probably won't be enough left to save. Sad, but I am telling myself it's like the death of an extremely old person who has had a great life. Lots of you out there who know what it is to mourn "the passing" of a great old tree.
I'm away from home now, and don't know if we've gotten power back yet.
Oh, I am so sorry about your Yaupons, they are so pretty and have such character.
Many evergreens were damaged, with more leaf surface to hold the snow it was just too much weight.
I think the evergreen corner of my yard is going to have a lot of damage too, I maintain that as shelter for the birds, I will see later today.
New Moon s tonight so there was little to no moon until just before dawn.
I lost a big branch on my cedar elm, but it fortunately was not disfiguring, and two good size branches on my crape myrtle.
My dad's live oak lost over half of its canopy. Can they survive that much damage?
I was going to share the pictures I took on my phone but we lost power friday 8am until 1am sunday and from the looks of it y'all have shared plenty LOL
Yes Dennis, if it did not rip the trunk open. If you can get pictures I can help in how to go about trimming it.
I suppose they can, they won't look very well balanced though.
Live oaks are a very dense growing tree and is always in danger of damage when it comes to ice, snow and wind. To keep this from happening they should be trimmed at least every other year. Live Oaks are a medium growth tree and if trimmed regularly, will grow twice as fast as one that are not trimmed. It often grows so dense that much of their leaves do not get good sunlight because they are shaded by limbs further up.
Phyllis we all like to see pictures...post away.
A lot of the live oaks in the TCU area were severly damaged.
The neighbor's Yupon looked bad with snow still on it, but worse now. At least it seems there was some smaller growth around the bottom and it can be shaped.
Update ...the smaller growth was another limb. The branches are bear what didn't break, looks sad today.
This message was edited Feb 16, 2010 10:15 PM
Grateful for no snow damage here but tired of the cold, including this morning! Was without power for over 48 hours and realized the value of a fire place and a stack of old moldy fire wood. The snow was beautiful and driving was not so bad so my DH and I drove around to see how the hood looked covered in snow and it was very pretty. It made me slightly (ever so slightly) homesick. This morning I sit and look at the boggy back yard with some areas still snowy and wonder...when will it be spring?
C
My dad went out yesterday and cut out the broken branches. I will take pictures the next time I am over there.
I was out cutting up my fallen branches in my yard and some from the park behind my house... I ran out of chainsaw fuel. Hopefully we don't have anything like this again for a very very long time.
Amen to that Dennis, this was too much of a snow event for me.
On a happier note I have gotten a lot of seed and plant catalogs to drool over while I sit inside and wait for all the snow to melt and dry up.
C
What beautiful Winter Wonderland photos!! Now I'm ready for Spring ....
Carla