The End of the World as we Know it; and it's Damn Damn Cold

So I figured I'd post some photos of what the fabulous ice storm did to my parents' yard.  Thankfully we got the power back on Sunday night, as it was 36 degrees in the house and none of us wanted to freeze to death while we slept.  My father, in a constant quest to prove he is strong and save money refuses to own a generator.  He also refuses to own a snow blower or fix our cracked chimney.  This is in part due to his overwhelming cheapness.  I would say frugality, but I myself am fairly frugal, but I am not obsessive about necessary spending.  This would probably be okay if we didn't live in an area of the country prone to hurricanes, ice storms, blizzards and all other power outage inducing natural disasters.   You can see where the chimney may have perhaps made this an almost bearable experience, but alas they was none, as my parents instead choose to spend what money could have been used to repair the chimney on replacement windows.  Let me tell you, once the temperature goes below 50 in your house, it doesn't much matter if you have double panes of glass on the windows.  Then you're considering burning the curtains for warmth.

This one is of our side lawn.  Please forgive the dates at the bottom.  I usually crop then out as it's not my camera, so I don't feel I should reset the settings, although I could and my parents would unlikely be able to restore them.
This is next to the side door.  On the bottom you can see the mat my father stands on while using his grill.
This is our back yard.  Note the clothes line.  You may find it to be somewhat different in the subsequent pictures, as contrary to my belief, the limbs were not done falling at this point.  Please do me the favor of ignoring all the clutter, as since this is not my house I couldn't, lets say on a weekend, get a giant dumpster and throw all the random piles of wood, rusted out pieces of metal, and car tires (seriously) away.  Not that I've though about it mind you.  Not at all.
This one is the front yard.  I think it truly captures the quantity and quality of stuff that fell upon us.  You can also see the house across the street.  Before this storm I had frequently commented on how horrible his front yard looked because he cut down all the trees.  Somehow I don't feel that way anymore.
This is the limb that fell on the deck while simultaneously smiting my mother's clothesline.  I can honestly say we weren't planning to hang many clothes out to dry until spring came back along anyway.  All told this was one of the only two things that actually sustained any damage.

This is my bother and my car.  You see the offending limb had the common decency to fall between the two cars, instead of on top of one or the other.  For that I am grateful.
My brother's car did not escape totally unscathed, but it wasn't as scathed as it could have been.  Now this does not mean that his world didn't go into full crisis mode, but hangnails and stubbed toes often cause similar reactions.
This is some of the ice on part of a fallen limb.  You can see it more than double the circumference of the smaller branches.  And that made the branches exponentially heavier than they were used to being.
  Which cause otherwise healthy trees to snap like rotten wood.  I do have more pictures, but eventually it's just like, oh look another broken limb.  It gets old pretty fast.

Those of you that know me, know I am an introvert.  I can honestly say that the worst part of this ordeal was the constant togetherness that ensued as a result.  Now that it is over, I am ecstatic not to have to spend so much quality time with my family.  They are the type of people that I imagine even extroverts would only be able to take in small doses.  Praise god I am finally able to be alone again.

Comments

[Erica]

Wow, it's pretty. I realize you were forced into a confined space with non-introverted people, but it was pretty.