Ice Storm vs. Tree Farm!

Well, maybe we won't be closing quite so firmly this year! Today was to have been the last day we were open for the year, but there may be a few stragglers who haven't yet picked up their tagged trees. I told one caller that we will be here tomorrow if he wants to wait.

Last night we had an ice/sleet storm, all night long. It's cold enough that the trees are all frozen and the limbs are bent in unnatural poses. It's warm enough that the ground is saturated and covered with mud puddles - or should I say wallows?

A few brave souls are here getting their trees, basically because it is now or never, but what kind of fond memories will this make? On the other hand, the folks that still show up laughing in this weather are the ones who probably WILL remember the day with amusement.
As always, Rudy is prepared to carry on with his "greeting duties" and, most importantly, he'll be certain not to allow the "frogmobile" (the ATV at the left of the picture) to carry his favorite human away without being hot on its heels - err, wheels.Speaking of Rudy's favorite human, there's Bob walking toward Rudy's nemesis now!

See the lovely icy tracery on the trees? I sure hope no one shatters any branches trying to cut a fir or pine! We did lose a rather large tree out back. Luckily it fell away from the house and we didn't even hear it go. It could have been a disaster, but apparently our luck is holding - so far.