An NC Ice-storm

(This picture has nothing to do with the ice-storm. It was one I took a few days before.)

North Carolina can be a very strange state, weather-wise. One day we will have 70* beautiful, sunny weather and the next we will be getting snow, sleet, ice and temperatures well below freezing! Last week we had weather like that. It was one of the worse ice storms we'd had in a long time. Huge trees were uprooted by the heavy ice clinging to their already budding branches, falling on what ever happened to be in their path: power lines, houses, barns. We were blessed to get power after 3 days. For many, it wasn't until much later. The morning of the ice, I woke up and looked out my window and gasped! The trees were so beautiful! It was like a fairyland. But so deadly. As the day wore on, the snapping and crashing sounds continued and worsened. It wasn't just one tree that had collapsed to the ground, it was several. But why stay inside when you could be out in the winter wonderland, dodging falling limbs and getting soaked by the drizzling rain? And so we all went out to access the damage. The creek, a usually calm, slightly more than trickling thing, was now rising. It would overflow its banks in a few short hours. Strong, old Leyland Cypress's were toppled like dominoes. Branches were down everywhere. Dad, on his way to work, had to pull heavy trees out of the road with his truck so he could pass by. So much damage. So many huge trees down. The storm was so powerful. And yet God is way more powerful and He was the one who planned this storm even from the beginning of time. He knew where each tree would fall.

Our road before we were trapped.

The creek before it got its highest.

The huge and once beautiful maple that fell.

My house.

The damage seen from the kitchen window.

See! Its supposed to be SPRING!!!

After we got trapped in our house. Notice there is no power-line up.

(If you want to see what the creek usually looks like, you can go to this post. The girls were sitting on the log to the right.)

The sun decided to come out at the end of the day.

Melting.

A gorgeous sunset!

This is a star I found in the oak that fell across the road.

We were so happy to see these guys! 

Raising the power-lines!

The power is on! Now we don't have to eat pop-tarts!

This is along the same creek, just farther down. Do you see how far the water went out?!

Yep.... That's us... trespassing..

The storm is over.

Stone Mountain

Here are some pictures of our recent trip to Stone Mountain. It was a gorgeous day and it was wonderful to be out in it!

Pinto Bean's Piano Playing

This is a song Elisabeth (aka Pinto Bean) made up.... It is for Hannah (aka Peanut Butter.) :)

A Day of History

Yesterday we went to my grandfather's birth-place and several other locations where he grew up. 

Below is where the house that he was born in sat. Now it hosts three aging cars.

Across the street from there is the house his family moved into soon after he was born. This location had a store directly beside it where his father sold anything from gas to groceries.

Just beyond the white house is the elementary school
 that he walked to when he got old enough to go to school.

This is one of the many wild flowers that covered the grave-site of his house. :)

This is the store that now occupies the place behind the old store. In other words, the old store was much closer to the road, with only enough room for a small car to pull into between the hand-pumped gas tank and the road. Granddad said there were only a few cars that passed by each day, but it was enough for it to be worth keeping the gas tank. His family only lived here until the Great Depression, when they lost everything.

Where the old store sat.

After this we went to the Mayo river, where Granddad's father would bring the kids in the summer to cool off. It was amazingly beautiful!

The rock they used to dive off of.

So much nasty graffiti!

Beautiful Elisabeth.

I saw this in the woods and it made me wonder what had happened to Derek DePeau. It is sad. After looking it up, all I could find was that he had died suddenly.

This is the only beach most people in the area ever went to in those days. It's different, yet could it be better?

More wildflowers.

Then we went to see Priddy's General Store, established 1888. They are still open and have live music on Saturdays.

Then we went to the church that my Great-grandfather helped found.

They still had the stained glass inscription in the window.

Great-grandfather was originally buried in a different graveyard in 1930. But when his wife died five years later and was buried here, his brothers dug him up and moved him beside his wife. :)

After that we had lunch/dinner at a country place called the Dan River Family Restaurant. They had THE best hamburgers around, no kidding! And their country fries where Amazing!

All in all, It was a wonderful day!

P.S. This is Saturday's sunset.