More Hoar Frost !

We have had this beautiful hoar frost (click to see prof. pictures of it & definition) almost every day for a week! Bill says that sometimes you don't have it at all in a winter. Yesterday, most of the day everything was white with frost, snow and fog - the ground, trees, air and "sky". I did go to Bible study and another apptmt. but several others didn't due to the low visibility for driving.

Today schools all over Iowa are closed. It's 25 degr. and we've had freezing rain coming down since 5 am and wind. We prepare for power outage with this (extra water on hand, laundry done, gas for the generator, groceries) but with our new house and a generator we're in good shape. If there was ever a big ice storm and lots of lines are down, we could be kind of last on the list for repair.

The City of Pocahontas, where Glenn & Amy live, has a whole city generator so they don't have to worry about it much.

Mark Dickey who put our walls and roof up is at Peggy's to fix the machine shed. We're

hoping he can get that done before ice or snow gets heavy on the roof again.

Bill was a little worried this morning about a grain bin that's open. They've been having trouble with one. This one is 3/4 full so he says they'll need to get this corn hauled to town within the next couple of days which may not be easy with this weather.

I love the sun and blue, blue sky we have a lot here. No sun today though.

Raking Snow

(see post below first) This was the beginning of the process of getting the snow off this machine shed. They (Bill, Tim & Carl) started here and cleared off all the snow to the left side of the tractor. This is the older section of the shed and the part that was collapsing. Today they did the right third. Some of you would've loved to see pictures or video of when Tim and Carl were raking & pushing snow too - but some of you wouldn't!!! After this was taken, they were actually ON the roof. I was worried they were going to get the rake or ladder into the power line that's on the left side of the shed (can't see it here)! I should've known they had the power shut off! They try to be safe. :)

(last time one of them was up in the loader on here was Tim when they were cutting down trees - this time it's Bill in the loader and Tim in the tractor)

Bill went to a Fire Board meeting tonight and heard that another shed did collapse today - with milk cows in it.

Heavy Snow on Roofs

There have been several roof collapses in the area including a dairy. Yesterday Bill noticed a problem with the machine shed at Peggy's. 3 out of 5 rafters broken so the raking and pushing of snow began - on several buildings and our houses! Will post a video later tonight or tomorrow.





Bill had raked deep snow off of his mom's roof and decided he better do some on ours too.















This is a big pile of snow in town with Glenn & Amy's old house in the background.

The forecast is for freezing rain or ?? Wed., Thurs., and Fri. or so.

Bill says they've never had to rake snow from roofs before. It's a strange heaviness. We've had the beautiful hoar frost again yesterday and today! I took more pictures today and will post them soon.

Mon. Morning

Diane needed me to be at their house by 7:15 Mon. morning when Todd left for work since she was doing the mail. Lacey slept until 9:45 and then opened her Christmas presents from Bill & me and Grandma Dunk. (we hadn't seen them yet) We gave her this thing she's working on in the picture (like father like daughter! - mechanics) She knew where the screwdrivers were and how to use it! This thing shines a rainbow on the wall and we had to install the batteries. The snowman (below) is in their yard. Lacey & I had lunch at Pizza Ranch (buffet which she said was "very good") and then we waited for her bus to take her to preschool.

On Mon., Bill used his snow blower to clear a path in the cemetery for a funeral today. Yesterday he went to an all day class in Storm Lake for his insurance license. Today he and Tim are at a morning pesticides license class. (farmers go to school in winter!)

I have a long list of people I need to make cards for from sympathy, 50th anniversary, birthday to thank you's so this afternoon I'm making them.

I've also been watching some rescues in Haiti on CNN. What an overwhelming situation there.

Beautiful!

We had this beautiful hoar frost on all the trees today! (click on hoar frost to read about it - scroll down once there) I was wishing that I had time to drive around and take a bunch of pictures! But I started a new Bible study at our church this morning. There were about 30 ladies attending! It's a Beth Moore study (Stepping Up) so we watched her video for about an hour and then broke up into 3 smaller groups for sharing and discussion.

Picked up lunch for Bill & I at the Poky grocery's deli (they have hot food choices for lunch) and then headed to a P.E.O. meeting at 1:00.

Bill and Tim hauled about 6 loads of corn from the grain bins to the elevator today. They've been clearing snow from around the bins this week so that they could get to them.

Winter Grilling in Iowa

just doesn't happen very much! I was hoping that with the new house and a good place to put the grill that I could use it quite a bit this winter. Don't think it's going to happen this year either!

Speaking of grilling, we were going to take Peggy out for her birthday last night but the temps. were going too far below zero (-17 this morning) so we thought we'd wait. I keep calling today and the place we wanted to go for a good steak is not answering and must be closed! Some places here do close for a couple of weeks - they probably head south.

Update - they are open & we're going - to The Fireside in Humboldt. It's not fancy but the food is good - and they do have a fireplace! Last time we did have very good steaks.