Beautiful Devastation

The Ice Storm of 2009 is gone, but its effects will linger for weeks, probably months to come.

I have to say this, though. I have never seen something so beautiful that was so dangerous and completely devastating. Even with all the downed limbs and toppled trees; covered in ice, it was a beautiful winter wonderland.

But with the ice gone, it's just ugly. The piles of broken limbs and snapped trees make you feel like a wrecking ball has come thru and spared nothing. There are many still without electricity, and still others who have no cable, Internet, or phone.

The sunshine has been a welcome sight. Even with all the nastiness and stress of the past week, it gives you a feeling of hope and faith. That everything will be ok. Because no matter how rough things have been and are right now, God is in control.

He set this storm in motion. He knew it was coming. Many of us were surprised by its severity, but He wasn't. He's never caught off guard.

And though we've heard a million times that everything happens for a reason, sometimes it's hard to remember that in the midst of the yuck. So the least we can do is look for the beauty in it and appreciate it for what it is. Even when the power is out, we're inconvenienced and a bit cold, and there's a long road of recovery for our community.
This was Tuesday morning, early on in the storm.
These are our back neighbor's trees. The middle one broke and fell over into our yard. The one on the far right never broke, but the top branches were touching the ground on our side of the fence.
The rest of these are at Mom & Dad's on Thursday morning. There was much more ice, a dusting of snow, and frozen fog.
The little "spinedys" (thanks to StrongBad for that term) are from fog freezing to the icecicles.




Fidget took C out for a romp in the cold. They had a blast. Apparently Max, Titan, and Oz had fun too.