We've had (by my standards) a terrible ice storm. There are lots of branches and trees down everywhere, but the worst has been the birch tree off the dining room deck. It's going to have to be removed completely. Two large branches have broken and the top of a third trunk is scraping back and forth on the roof of the guest room as it hasn't warmed enough for the ice to melt and the branches to spring back up. Hopefully it will not break before it's safe enough for a tree guy to come and chop it down. Here are thumbnails of our landscape. Click the images to see them full sized (pictures will open in a new window)...

Adobe bird house Complete with icicles!	Ice encrusted Magnolia I hope the branches spring back!	Ice covered Yew Well, it's still green!
Iced Redbud Seems to have held up the best of all the trees	Got game? The net is frozen stiff. I don't think the ball would pass through it.	Squirrel proof bird feeder Yes, it really is squirrel proof, but if it freezes any more, it will also be bird proof
Finch feeder The top froze onto the rope that holds it. I had to defrost it to be able to lift the lid and fill it	Tree attacks house! Film at 11:00! This is our fantastic birch tree. It has the most phenomenal bark. Of all the trees, I love this one the best. Naturally it had to be the one hit the hardest...	Topmost Birch branches They are scraping in the wind on the roof of the guest bedroom. I don't think it's heavy enough to break, but it can do some serious damage to the shingles
The first Birch branch to go Normally this branch towers high above the garage, now it dangles dangerously	The first Birch branch to go-detail Close up of previous showing how thick the ice is on the branches	Second Birch branch This one landed on the cover of the deck making humans and animals jump about a foot. 10 pm at night and we're out there with ropes trying to pull it off the deck as we can hear the roof getting ready to collapse...
Ice covered weed It's below the downspout on one of the barns so it's become quite encrusted with ice as the roof runoff comes down and re-freezes	Ice covered weed-closer Tighter shot of weed under downspout	Macro of icicles on a weed Ultra close up of weed
Berries on ice	Berries on ice-close up	Macro of iced berries
Ice on barbed wire	Icicles on the motorcycle trailer	Roadside weed
More roadside weeds	Still more roadside weeds	Icy treetops
More icy treetops	Still more icy treetops	Icy leaves The oak trees that don't lose their leaves got an extra heavy coating of ice and icicles. Now when the wind blows, it sounds like thousands of wind chimes clinking together
U-turn Oak tree Normally you can walk under this tree and not touch a leaf...	Then came the snow... ...and covered all the ice covered branches	Stair-cicles The stairs to the deck off the sunroom
Stair snow-cicles Did you want sugar on those?	Icicles under the deck It looks like an upside-down bead of nails!	Icicles under the deck Doesn't this just creep you out?

The ice storm was immediately followed by a snow storm:

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