The Ice Man Cometh

...or rather...cameth.

I know that a large part of the country is deep within the grips of some majorly cold, winter weather. I've heard reports of areas in Colorado with temperatures hovering somewhere around -10 F during the day. That's MINUS 10 (-23 C).

That is colder than my freezer.

Now, here in Texas...on Wednesday this week it was a balmy 78 degrees F (~26 C). By Thursday morning the mercury was plunging and holding around 35 F (2 C). Of course...that was the day Jonathan and I hung the Christmas lights on the house...if only we had done it one day earlier.

Today, I awoke to more than just a "frosty" morning. I awoke to an ice age. The temperature outside today is 16 F (-9 C)

Mom told me to look out the window at the trees in her front yard. They were bent double...touching the ground. They weren't broken...just bent under the weight of a solid shield of ice that had formed, overnight,  on every leaf, every branch, every limb...everything.

I decided to wrap up in my warmest winter garb and brave the cold and snap some pictures of the amazing ice. Forget Jack Frost...we were visited by Mortimer Ice--his second cousin. Mortimer dips everything in a shroud of crystal-clear ice. We're talking > 1/4 inch of crystal ice...on everything.

I'll start out with the Christmas lights that Jonathan and I labored over yesterday...

Puts a whole new meaning on the term "icicle lights" doesn't it? And no...that is not dripping water on the gutter. That is solid ice...and it is totally encasing the wires and bulbs.

The ice encapsulates everything...as though everything was dipped in ice.

The bud-laden limbs of our elm tree

The oak trees

 

The chicken wire trellis in the garden 

The wild grasses and dandelion in the side yard

(every blade of grass in the lawn was individually coated too...and made the most interesting crunchy sound when I walked on it)

The neighbor's shrubs and roses