Friday, December 27, 2013

ice

last weekend we had an ice storm.


IMG_4634in terms of damage it was a minimal event. there were only -and that's a big "only" ten thousand power outages in my state, and most of them got fixed within a day. up in maine some people are STILL without power and had to go to warming shelters for christmas.

out here it's mostly unpleasant for the trees, many of whom are still falling on a daily basis, because immediately following the two days of freezing rain, we went into deep freeze and we haven't seen temperatures north of 20 since then, so there's been very little melt and while a tree can hang on all bent like that for a while, sometimes it just gives up.

sometimes after a prolonged bending like that, the tree never straightens up, which is kind of how bentwood furniture gets made.

IMG_4635deciduous trees are mostly doing all right (if they're still standing) but the evergreens are having the worst time of it. because they keep their needles all winter, they continue to BREATHE all winter and they breathe through those needles, so being coated in ice interferes with that respiration thing they'd prefer to be doing unimpeded.

IMG_4639it's not like they die if they get iced over winter, but you look sometime at the difference between fir trees that can breathe and aren't weighted down by ice in winter and the fir trees that sit up in hoar frost all winter and you'll notice which are decidedly scrubbier.

it's a hard life, being coated in ice.








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1 comment:

Friko said...

Poor trees, poor animals, and even poor people.
Wintertime is cruel and every living creature needs a great deal of fortitude to survive.

Happy New Year, flask. At least we’re over the big hump and sometime soon the days will start to lengthen. Let there be light.

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