The Ice Storm Cometh

On December 11th, parts of Massachusetts, including our little neck of the woods, Maine, and most all of New Hampshire were hit by high winds and ice. Power outages and fallen trees were, and still are, the norm across the area. The magnitude of the storm can only be expressed by noting the work crews with out of state license plates. On our street alone, we had a crew from Ohio. Another road over, the crew was from Iowa.

We were fortunate that our outage lasted only 28 hours. I say, fortunate, because many people will be without for the next few days. Oh, and right now as I type this, we're at a balmy 18 degrees!

While we were spared any damage to our house, we did lose our favorite tree. A huge mulberry tree that provided us with so much delight.


In the summertime, the branches are so heavy with fruit they nearly touch the ground. When we mowed the yard would nibble mulberries with each pass. On weekend mornings the rising sun would shine so brightly into the tree that you could see the reddish fruit all the way from our back deck.

Birds by the dozens flitted in and out of the tree, providing the ultimate Sunday Brunch. But not only did the birds benefit, we also have a family of woodchucks that would munch the day away eating the fruit that literally covered the ground underneath. At dusk we would see the occasional small herd of deer having their fill.

While we'll tremendously miss our tree, we are very lucky that our other favorite tree survived with only a few small branches tumbling down from the weight of the ice and winds. This tree, our maple, hovers way above our house providing loads of shade in the summer.

We'll take a fallen mulberry out in the back forty over a fallen maple into our home anyday!