Iced In

In Michigan, "Iced in," is something you hear in the late fall or early winter. It means the local lakes are iced over and ice fishing and ice boating are not far off.

In the spring you hear, "Ice out," which means the lakes are clear of ice and fishing, sailing, and swimming are not far off.

I'm using "Iced In" today to describe the effects of Wednesday night's ice storm.

The rain began in the late afternoon and continued into the night. As the temperatures dropped, ice formed on the trees. We wondered about losing electrical power but weren't too concerned because we have a generator.

Wednesday night was loud. The wind came up and ice blown off the trees rattled against the house. It was not a restful night.

The power went out sometime after 4:30 (the last time I looked at the clock) so our coffee was not ready when we woke up. This may have been the worst part of the day…

For reasons I haven't figured out, the generator would not start - no matter what or how often I tried. So we read and napped as we waited it out.

No power means no cooking, no water (we are on a well), no lights, not much of anything. No working in the shop or in the Boat Cave. We did get to watch several branches break off and fall out of our trees - and one very large elm limb that broke but did not fall to the ground.

Power came on in the early afternoon but the "wintery mix" continued on into the night.

This morning was brilliant: clear skies and sunshine. And ice raining out of the trees. Driving into town was interesting as we tried to dodge ice and small branches falling from the trees lining the roadway.

Today's boat work consisted of trying to figure out which sail specs I should be using. I know, it is getting late in the build for that sort of issue, but I've got, apparently, specs for three different main sails on two different drawings.