Here we go again! Freezing rain began early in the morning the other day, accompanied by lightening and loud thunder. I don’t ever remember a thunderstorm in early April! Our cats were terrified of the house-shaking booms of thunder and ran downstairs to hide. The wind was also pretty wicked. By early afternoon, the ice rain coated everything in site.
The first tree to lose its battle with Mother Nature was a neighbours tree just over the property line. This tree had a bad lean over our yard and was already dead. I was going to ask our neighbour in the spring if we could cut it down because it posed a threat to me every time I went down that side of the yard. Mother Nature took care of everything and this tree fell over onto my white picket fence and landed on my precious lawn swing. Because of its soft-fall, the lawn swing wasn’t completely destroyed and can be repaired. The fence will require repair as well.
Both of these seemingly insignificant things are very meaningful to me. Chris bought me the lawn swing after an exhaustive search for one in our area. I’d always loved the lawn swings my relatives had Down Home. Having my own makes me feel like I have a part of the Gaspe with me here. Kristi spotted one while on the school bus into her city high school one day. It didn’t take Chris long to buy it and bring it home for me. The fence is another thing that shows how thoughtful Chris was. I dreamed it would be nice to have a white picket fence…… so he made every single picket by hand and created my fence in 8 foot sections. He was irreplaceable. I have some spare pickets he made so repairing the fence won’t be difficult.
After the first tree fell, 6 or 7 other mature trees came crashing down due to the weight of the accumulating ice – 38.5 mm (1 1/2 inches). Many large branches fell too. The “playhouse” was damaged but we can fix it I’m sure – Chris built it by hand like a brick sh*thouse. Now my yard looks like a tornado went through with trees and branches everywhere! When the temperature rose above zero, the ice dangerously fell off all the trees.
Last fall, we cut down several huge trees (The 3 Climbing Trees) and raked/burned the branches and twigs that littered the yard then. Well THAT was for not! The yard is covered in downed trees and branches again!
At this time of year, the river begins to melt and open up. The Channel opened up last week. Spring has been a slow melt with cold temperatures and little rain. Until now. The river is rising and now past the firepit in the backyard. The freezing rain and rain have filled the yard with swimming pool size puddles. The ground is mostly frozen so there’s nowhere for the water to go. And now Mother Nature has blessed us with a Flood Warning.
Of course, a good Storm wouldn’t be complete without a power outage. People from all over had no electricity for days. Some are still waiting for the power to come back on. After a few hours, we decided to start our generator to empty the water in our sump pit in the basement to prevent flooding. We were able to plug in the fridge, freezer, and just started the pellet stove when the power came back on after 28 hours. I also have a small 200 Watt solar generator to run our internet exclusively – heaven forbid if we don’t have internet! Our cookstove keeps us warm all winter. I knew there was an ice storm coming so I filled up several 5 gallon buckets with water for flushing the toilet. I also filled up several jugs of water because no electricity = no well water pump.
The yard is a real mess! We have weeks of cleanup outside AFTER the flood water subsides. Oh spring, how I love your promises…..
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