Thursday, October 29, 2020

I like #187

 Well it's been a very strange week.  I have a huge work deadline looming, and then to top it all off we had the biggest ice storm since 2007 here this week.  Growing up in the dry moutains of Southern New Mexico we had snow and summer thunderstorms but I'd never even heard of an ice storm until moving to Oklahoma.  

It's been pouring rain since Monday morning, and for Monday and Tuesday, temperatures hovered right below freezing.  This is really bad timing because since all the trees still have leaves, the trees get covered with massive quantities of ice, and they all break.  It's just awful to see so many beautiful trees ruined.  More practically, the break onto power lines, so as of Tuesday morning there were ~230,000 people in the OKC metro without power.  And because it's not just a central place where power is down, it can take many many days to get it restored everywhere.  Most people around here have gas furnaces, but they all have electric blowers, so it means no heat either.  Yet in the midst of it; I am definitely grateful for many many things.

The first is that I didn't lose power; my neighborhood has buried power lines so I was blessedly able to stay warm and keep working from home.  I'm also grateful that my friends who have lost power have family to stay with or are healthy enough to hunker in place with blankets.  I'm grateful that it's warming up so hopefully the cold won't be as dire for folks who remain without power.


Sunday I cut all the last of the good dahlias (since we saw the weather forecast)


The cold and ice came on so fast the flowers didn't even have time to wilt.  It's strangely beautiful preserved (temporarily) in a casing of ice.













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I had a good time making Halloween cookies over the weekend!  I haven't made sugar cookies in a couple of years, but I love this recipe.  When I started all I had in terms of food coloring was green, yellow, and blue so I didn't have anything to make orange.  I started with yellow thinking that might be ok, but it was really yellow.  And then I don't know why I thought adding green might make it browner but of course then I got lime.  I decided lime was ok for the ghosts (who-you-gonna-call!) but not the pumpkins.  When I ran out of powdered sugar and had to make a grocery store run anyway, I picked up some more food coloring.  Red added to lime gives that sort of brownish orange-  not quite as bright as I'd have liked but better than wasting icing.  And super tasty!


I got a kick out of the Halloween outhouse in my neighborhood!


And the Halloween decorations the med students put up.


Hope everyone is staying safe!!  Click over to Lee Anna's for more things to like!







12 comments:

  1. Wow! Ice encased flowers. Definitely pretty in a weird sort of way. When they thaw are they then, DONE? I would assume so! That IS a cute yard decoration!

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  2. Hi Shannon! I have family living in OK and they mentioned the storm. My great-niece had just returned to in-person school only to have the second day off due to the storm. We have ice storms up here fairly often - they really do cause a lot of damage. It's even worse followed by a whole bunch of snow - but very common. It's rather early for this type of weather, especially down south!! One more oddity for 2020. ~smile~ Roseanne

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  3. Gosh that ice storm is so cruel. Beautiful in a strange way though too. Love the photos you too-the arcs on the grass one especially is beautiful. So so sad about the trees. I’ve seen that thing when I lived in Alberta and there would be quite often a late May snowstorm yes snow which would be super heavy and wet. Here on Lake Erie, 1100 km further south of Alberta, we get the ice storms in winter usually in Jan/Feb. You’ve given me a great idea to make sugar cookies for Halloween!

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  4. Hi,
    It's amazing something so beautiful...ICE...can be so destructive. Your
    cookies look yummy. Have a great day!

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  5. The ice pictures are amazing. So glad that you didn't lose power. We had a huge snow storm several years ago on the day before Halloween. We lost 90 trees in my community, including the one in my front yard. It was because all the leaves were still on the trees, just like your ice storm.

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  6. Ice storms are nasty. Stay safe (and warm)! Great photos of the aftermath. Mmm... sugar cookies. Those look yummy (even the green ghosts).

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  7. That is such a shame about the ice-covered plants. I've been enjoying all the Halloween decorations in my neighborhood too!

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  8. Oh my goodness, those are wild pictures of the ice on your plants, Shannon! I've been thinking about my blogging friends in Oklahoma this week - glad you didn't lose power, but hope those who did already have it back on. Your cookies are cute and look yummy!

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  9. ICE! ICK! we had snow for a LONG TIme and lost all phone, internet and tv... of all the days to lose entertainment! Cookies... yummmy

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  10. Ice storms are so damaging; so sad to see the trees so bent over or broken. I'll take a snowstorm any day. Those cookies look good!

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  11. Wow, didn't realize OK got all that ice. (We got snow and some ice here in KS.). About 10 years ago we had a horrible ice storm that took out our power for over 5 days, trees down etc. I love winter but ice storms now make me nervous!

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  12. I don't watch the news so I didn't see that OK got ice. But wow. Glad you didn't lose power. Lots of clean up to do. The flowers encased in ice are gorgeous though. Fun Halloween decorations, and your cookies look yummy.

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