Here in
the Tennessee River valley in East Tennessee, we had our usual couple of weeks
of real winter…at least by our experience having moved here from the Chicago
area.
These
are some of our favorite winter photos from our short February winter season…
First
we were hit by an ice storm… This is a glazed over wild rose bush at the front of
our property.
Many
people in our area lost power, some for a week! We were only down for about 6 hours. Up on the Cumberland Plateau, some folks were
without power for more than a week! Yikes!
The
woods were beautiful with the ice coating everything. Unfortunately, hundreds of trees were toppled
or damaged throughout the area. The
cleanup will be underway for some time yet… Our tree service provider stopped by
this week to trim and clean up our minimal damage. He told me that he’s been working
non-stop! One job alone involves over
200 trees…
I love
the ice, snow and red berry contrast on this C.P. Barberry bush. Laurie took the photo.
Our rhododendron
bush was totally iced over…complete with some very dramatic icicles. One of our magnolia trees was ‘topped’ by the
weight of the ice but now that it’s been trimmed it should be fine.
This
was the road in front of our house after the sun came out and the ice began
melting.
Our
neighborhood deer had to work a little to find food, which isn’t normally a big
issue over the winter in our area.
Then
our ‘big snow’ came! This is one of our Little Gem Magnolia trees late at night.
Fortunately the ice had melted before the snow came or the damage would
have even been worse throughout East Tennessee.
We had
about 6 inches overnight. Our total snowfall
for this winter was roughly 9.5 inches…
This
was the view from our 2nd story deck after the snowstorm…
This view
is from our main deck at the back of the house.
The woods
at the side of our home were beautiful…
Fortunately,
snow doesn’t last long in East Tennessee.
Most of snow was melted within two and a half days.
This is the road in front of our home after the snow storm. The Property Owners Association road crew cleared the roads in the area very promptly. I like the contrast between the dark bark of the trees, the asphalt and
the snow…
Yup…
That’s yours truly out in front of our home.
I’d shoveled a path to the mailbox and to our front door. We’d brought a snow shovel with us when we
moved here from Chicago. I’ve used it 3 or 4 times in the 6 winters we’ve lived here.
Yes, I
am wearing shorts in the photo! It wasn’t
very cold out… In this photo I was throwing snowballs at that magnolia tree to
knock some of the heavy snow accumulation off it. The magnolia on the right unfortunetly lost the main branch at the very top due to the heavy ice.
I
thought that it would be appropriate to end our goodbye salute to winter with this
evening view of our neighborhood and the lake and foothills in the distance.
Golf season,
fishing and road trips are right around the corner! Spring is only 6 days away…
Just
click on any of the photos to enlarge them…
Thanks
for stopping by to help us say goodbye to the winter of 2014-2015!
Take
Care, Big Daddy Dave
Great photos and your house is a beauty! Snow still here on the ground in our Chicagoland, but dissipating quickly. Now it's mud season! Here's to Spring!
ReplyDeleteLove the last photo. Winter is pretty to look at but too cold for me anymore. I know a lot of people are looking forward to spring.
ReplyDeleteSam
Hello, Just got home from a nice trip to Arkansas to celebrate George's birthday. I will blog about it tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteNow--it's time to start working in the yard, cleaning up all of the 'junk' from the ice storm. What a mess!!!
Hope you are doing well. Love the pictures of your big SNOW.... The sad thing for us is that I do LOVE snow. And believe it or not, we got VERY little snow up here this winter... It was mostly all ICE and SLEET... Quite a disappointment. Oh Well---we'll just have to wait and see what comes next winter. NOW --I am looking forward to SPRING. We don't have anything blooming up here yet --other than some Crocus blooms. Spring will be late for us this year. BUT--today is SUNNY and WARM. Lovin' it.
Hugs,
Betsy
Great shots Dave and of course you should be in shorts.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post on Oak Alley – it is such a wonderful place. When we were there several years ago they had a bed and breakfast on the grounds. We stayed in it and it was something to be able to walk around before the plantation was opened for tourists. We had a mild winter here, just one day of snow and no ice to speak of. Today was sunny and 74F and tomorrow is supposed to be 78F.
ReplyDeleteThanks for coming to my blog. I answered you because I think I was not clear. Here is what I answered on my blog in case you don’t come back. “David –The pictures of the baby on my post are not of my grand-daughter. May be I was not clear. She is the new baby of my daughter’s brother and sister in law, so she is not really related to me, that is why I said “extended family.” The baby’s grand-parents, from India, are also my daughter’s father and mother in law – I know this gets complicated. I would like to see the National Museum of Quilts – that must be a great place. Thanks for the comment.”
Hi Dave,
ReplyDeleteThis winter was a hard one for many. We got some snow here in Montreal last night and today, so winter isn't finished with us yet here to the north. Your photos are beautiful!