Disquieting Beauty

It was 7:00AM and I was on my way to feed the horses when I heard gunshots in the distance. Hunting? Maybe. It was barely light out and too early for target practice. Then, another — CRACK! —, closer this time. What the hell was going on?

And then I understood. It wasn’t rifle shots cracking in the crisp morning air. It was trees and large tree branches snapping in half. We were supposed to have a small snow and ice storm overnight. Instead, it only rained, BUT the temperature was close to freezing at ground level and the trees and their branches were becoming encased in ice. When the weight became too much, a large branch broke and fell, or a tree snapped at its base. 

I looked around. Both near and far, it was all beautiful. The trees covered with ice, looked for all the world as if they were encrusted in jewels. 

Walking back from the barn, a branch snapped off a nearby tree with a loud POP. I probably jumped about two feet. A few seconds later, I heard another crack and a branch from an oak tree near our home plummeted to the ground. 

At the house, I realized we’d lost power sometime during the night and our generator was running. The power company had already sent a note saying they knew we were without power. I thought to myself, “Oh yea. I know this kind of storm.  Lots of people are going to be without power. Branches and trees are going to fall everywhere.”

The rain fell all morning.  Although it warmed some, the trees remained encased in ice. We continued hearing the sharp cracks and pops. As the temperature warmed, there would be a boom, as ice melted a bit and fell from a tree onto our house. Cath and I would jump, and Carmen would bark for a good thirty seconds letting us know something was up. “Good dog, Carmen” we’d say.  “It’s OK now.”

It truly was beautiful, but the sudden cracks, pops and booms made it unnerving. What next? Would a tree fall on the house or our fence line?

Yes, we survived it all fine. After walking the property, I found there were several fence boards broken from falling branches in different pastures and paddocks, but those are repairable. Meanwhile, The temperature rose in the afternoon and the ice melted away. 

Nature’s disquieting beauty disappeared as quickly as it came.  

Addendum:

As of the publishing of this blog, we are still without power at Rohan Farm. It’s scheduled to come back on about 4PM on Friday afternoon, about 36 hours after this all started. We shall see. In the meantime, about 12,000 people lost power in rural Fauquier County. Many, but not all have had it restored.