Wintry Mix

About 98% of the time I have no patience for people who live here and complain about the winters. For one thing, I have lived in a darker, snowier, nastier, generally much wintrier place — the Salt City knows when I’m talking about it — and when I moved back here from the Land Where Your Feet Are Never Dry, this felt like paradise. For another, if you hate it so much, don’t just sit in the locker room griping about it — move! Millions of others have debarked for warmer climes.

But there is a tiny percentage of the time when I have had enough of the place, too — during ice storms. Trapped in the house, watching ice build up on the trees and powerlines, waiting for something to come crashing down and (best case) plunge us into darkness. We removed several threats to health and home in the form of giant maples trees last spring, but the neighbors all have disasters waiting to happen wrapped around the power lines. got through the night safely, though our one remaining tree did donate a major limb to the garage roof just as I was about to step outside and start hacking the ice from the driveway. I don’t need a second warning, and just stepped right back inside. Today, much nicer and the first sun in a week, but not enough to melt the ice from the trees.