The ice storm made it onto BBC.  We did not have any power outage. And not many broken tree limbs.  But them we haven't been outside except to clear off our cars.  That was more exercise than we wanted or are used to.  We are fairly smart old birds though and did not overdo it.  Slow and steady.  The ice here was about an inch thick.  I heard it cracking loudly when I spread salt on the patio to start the melting process so I could shovel it away.  I did try chopping through it with the shovel first but that was some very hard s#$t.  My car looked like the more difficult chore with the ice covering the snow from the last system but Mom's car was the more difficult challenge.  All I had to do to clear most of mine was get the scraper under the ice into the snow and pop up large blocks of the ice.  The worst was the driver's side door where the ice completely covered the surface and freezing the door shut.  I had to go in from the passenger side (almost completely clear) to start the car and let the heater thaw the other door and finish clearing the windows.  Mom spent most of her time tapping the ice with her scraper as though it was a boiled egg and then brushing off the shards.  We had cleared it out so we could get to her doctor's appointment just after the last snow.  Luckily both cars started like a charm.

It has been cold.  We got visual confirmation when we opened the bedroom curtains this morning.  Moisture had condensed on the plastic we installed over the windows to cut the cold drafts.  We have covered the windows for three years now and this is the first time moisture formed.

Right now we have some welcome sun and last night's snow did not come up to forecast levels.  For which we are very thankful.  Now we await the next system.

Here is a little post that falls into the intriguing category.  Alexis Madrigal at The Lost History of American Clean Tech writes about intensive solar agriculture.  Reading it also brought back memories of the time I lived in Colorado and used 'walls of water' to start my tomatoes and peppers really early; like, February early.  For those who don't remember or have never seen them (I haven't seen them in a very long time) the 'wall of water' was a tube of heavy plastic made up of smaller tubes around the circumference which were filled with water.  The filled wall was placed around the seedling and warmed the ground around it keeping it from freezing.  It worked beautifully.

Well, that is enough for a lazy Sunday.  Keep warm and safe.