I finally got my ice storm pics resized. Here are a couple that I took out in the chicken yard. I like it a lot better in summer. That curly willow lost close to half the top. It is a willow, so it will fill back in at some point, but yikes...what a mess! The ash tree, which shades a large hosta bed, lost most of the south half. I have been trying to get DH to cut off the lower branches, and guess which ones are still there? Yep. Lost the top part, kept the lower branch that I would like to get rid of. Poor tree is going to look might silly for a while, but at least there will be some shade for the hostas. This is one case where I will need to keep looking down instead of up....
Linda P
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And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten.....
Algernon Charles Swinburne
moongirl, we had a nasty ice storm the first weekend in December. The piles of branches are still laying there. At the bottom of the pic of the broken willow are all the branches that used to be on the top of the tree. It's an impenetrable thicket right now that we'll have to cut our way through it. DH says we'll clean it up when the weather warms up. I hate to think of what will happen when the sap comes up in that willow, with all the broken places on it.
Gonna be a yucky, drippy mess.
Linda P
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten.....
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Linda, so sorry to see your pictures of all your broken branches. We had allot of ice. But our trees got trimmed by the ice last February and we didn't lose too many branches this time. Still is sure hard to walk without slipping or falling down. We all have cleats for our boots to do chores. The ice has melted off the trees but still is there under all the snow we have had since them.
I can't wait to see some nice weather. I am tired of winter and it just started. I am already looking forward to Dubuque in June.
Take Care
Sue
Sue...be careful out there on that ice! DH seems to have built in balance...he almost never falls on the ice. I look at it sideways and I'm on my tush. So, I've been staying in the house a lot. I do go out and shovel some, and I've already shoveled more this winter than I have in the last 5 combined. We had over 6 inches of snow today, possibly getting another 1 or 2 on Sun/Mon. The weather guy was talking about the possibility of rain in the long-range outlook. I seriously hope not. That will make a huge mess out in the cowyard! Besides, it would be nice, after all these storms, to at least have the insulation of the snow blanket on the hostas!
Ah, well, we take what we get!
See you in June, Sue!!!!! Only about 5 months to wait. Then we'll be complaining about the heat.
Linda P
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten.....
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Debbie,
Until recently, we missed out on most of the big ice storms.
We've had several big ones in the last couple of years. This one is the worst we've had in recent memory. We were lucky, our power was only out for one day, and we have a generator. After DH was done milking, he loaned it out to a neighbor so he could milk his cows. By the time he was done with it, our power was back on. There were a lot of people around us (including that neighbor) who were out for 3-5 days.
There was a big one last winter, too, but we didn't lose a lot of branches with that. This one came with a lot of high winds, so the poor trees didn't stand a chance.
Linda P
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten.....
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Linda, So sorry to see all the damage to your trees. Ice storms can be so brutal. I've only lived through one, back in 1991( fortunatly this area doesn't get hit with them often) But it was just Amazing to me. Everything just coated in layers of Ice, beautiful but so devastating!
Linda,
I can soo feel your pain. Your trees look just like mine .
It hurts dosn't it? It will take years for them to recover if they do at all. Bless your heart.
Yep, it hurts. I've been worried that the emeral ash borers would get my ash tree, but hadn't thought about losing so much of it to ice and wind. I was thinking last summer that the shade under that tree was getting a little too dense for some of the hostas...guess that won't be a problem this year!
I'm just glad that the big old Siberian Elm didn't come down on the house. We lost about a half ton of dead branches out of that one, but none fell near the house or power lines. That was really amazing. I wish I had a big chipper shredder...WAIT!!! One of my brothers has one! So...when life gives you broken branches, make mulch!! That should be my motto for the new year.
I'm off to email my bro and find out if he still has the thing. When it warms up, I'm going to offer a pizza supper to my 3 brothers with chainsaws, if they'll come and help me clean it up.
Linda P
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten.....
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Linda, I am looking for a chipper also. No sense letting all that wood go to waste when it can become mulch
I however, am going to have to buy or rent one, no relatives to bribe
That curly willow lost close to half the top. It is a willow, so it will fill back in at some point, but yikes...what a mess! The ash tree, which shades a large hosta bed, lost most of the south half. I have been trying to get DH to cut off the lower branches, and guess which ones are still there? Yep. Lost the top part, kept the lower branch that I would like to get rid of. Poor tree is going to look might silly for a while, but at least there will be some shade for the hostas. This is one case where I will need to keep looking down instead of up.... 
I'm glad that your hostas will still have shade as yours are so magnificient.
