Ice Storm: yep, it's a big one

The trees around our house glisten and glitter, bow low and creak under the weight of half an inch (I think) of ice coating every twig, branch, limb, old leaf, and future leaf bud. Our river birches are bowed very low, and the lower branches of our stiff, young oak have been pulled down so they actually touch the driveway and sidewalk. Branches are down and trees are broken or completely fallen throughout our block... neighborhood... town... state. It is a beautiful, awful sight.

And I feel very lucky to have power. Half a million people in Oklahoma are without power. And more than half of our town. And most of the friends I've heard from and heard news of today. This is the biggest-ever outage in our state, according to the electric company.

We're also very lucky as a town that our roads are bare and wet, not covered with more ice and not likely to be. That means we can get places if need be. It means the boys and I can leave home and do something else for a while tomorrow afternoon if we want to, yay.

I'm guessing that pretty much everyone is wondering what will happen to the remaining trees overnight and as the ice begins to melt tomorrow. Dear husband and I are thankful that no trees are threatening our house, and that our car is safely in our garage. We personally know several people whose luck has already run out in that regard, and we have a third of a neighbor's tree (in the form of large limbs), fallen, in our backyard.