This Is Really The Last Picture Of The Famed Icicle
Mostly because it is totally gone. All of it. The icicle and the snow. We are back down to the sidewalk and rocks. I took this right before I left for work. By the time I got home, winter halftime melted almost everything around this majestic beauty. In Chicago, we get a few days every winter, smack dab in the middle, to remind us why we live here or don’t live here, or why we need to get our pneumonia and flu shots every fall. Temps go up, dumbasses walk around in summer clothes, and then can’t figure out why they are deathly ill the next day when the temp drops back into the teen range. Except that it only stays there for a few hours before going back up into the 50’s and raining like it’s springtime. Not raining like you might have. That’s baby rain. That’s amateur hour outside of the Illinois borders. But raining with thunder and lightning and 50 mph winds that are blowing the half melted icy snow across the road to cause some kind of watersleetsnowicefog mix that causes us all to crash into each other on the expressway. And then at night, just a touch more snow, like the icing on the cake. It’s actually more like vanilla powder on a cake that already has icing, flowers, writing, sprinkles, shavings and maybe some glitter. It’s overkill and we are not impressed. Only Indiana can rival us with snow weather. They get a lot. Mostly due to our strategic placement of Lake Michigan. Ha. Suckers. But their biggest problem this year, I hear, is something called “expansion joints.” Apparently they keep popping up in the middle of the roadway and causing a bunch of flat tires and accidents. It’s not funny at all. But it kind of is. How about you all do it like we do it in Illinois (and everywhere else) and just make the road in one long piece? Then all you have to worry about are the giant potholes that can swallow an entire Mini Cooper in one bite! Come on Indiana! Step it up and get all those flat tires the good old fashioned way. By driving into, and out of, a huge hole in the ground! In Illinois you get a 50/50 chance of coming out of it ok. Whereas in Indiana, I don’t think you have even a slim chance of not getting a flat, or worse, when the whole roadway separates into two, non-connected, pieces. It’s probably because our roads go through our state, not over it. Let’s bring it to the ground I-N.
Anyhoo, let me end here. I don’t want to start any wars. Winter blows all over this middle part of America. Every place around here has their own private hell. Sometimes you win, mostly you lose. So it’s a draw. I think I have one ugly pic of the front of the icicle and a blurry pic of the road that I drove home on the next day. (More snow. Can you believe it?) I’m not using them. I want to forget. I’ll just post some of the other random pictures from the camera and phone and call it a wrap for this wave of weather. It’s holding steady around 30-35 degrees. For 2 whole days now! A little melt. A little freeze. I don’t know why I stay here. Later.
Such A Liar
This is with my phone camera. Phone. Camera. I really have a problem. Ya think? Here’s another one:
Also with the phone. I just wanted to see if I could. It did take longer with more blurries, but I ended up with 3 pretty good shots. Only 2 are being shared. Nothing was missed, so you don’t have to scroll through looking like I know you were about to. You are all caught up on icicle water drops. Happy day! Now that I’ve transferred these pics I can clear my phone gallery and get ready for the next wave of nature. I’m about to post the last pics of our giant house icicle. FYI. It reached about 50 degrees a few hours after I took the pic and the icicle is gone now without even a trace of evidence that it was ever there. That’s how we do it in the big city. Later.
The Last Ice Shot. As Promised.
Yes, that is a sun beam. I know. I took about 10 pictures of this too. I may see a pattern on where all my time goes in the days that I don’t physically go to work. Oh well. Don’t care. I like it. And now you can see what I see. Sleep sound. Dream sweet.
The Ice Curtain
This is from the front door. It was really cold when I was taking these pictures. Like, zero cold. But see how clear and blue the sky is? Such a trade off for all that thin atmosphere.
Another angle. The longer you look at these pictures the more they look like ice monsters.
Kind of the front. If I truly wanted to get the “front” angle, I would have to go stand in 2 feet of iced over snow drifts. No thanks. You’ll have to take my word that it’s pretty thick. It really doesn’t look all that impressive here, I will admit. But it goes all the way to the ground. That’s got to be something.
That’s the top. We really can’t even break it off right now, in fear that it might take the whole gutter down with it. I have a lot more but I’m going to stop here because you get the idea. I have been trying to get pictures of other people’s houses with the curtain of ice all the way across, but I haven’t had much luck photographing them. I better hurry though, it’s supposed to warm up to 50 degrees by next Wednesday. Fifty! Degrees. That seems wrong, but this is Chicago, so it will probably get to about 65 and cause a flash flood. In February. You heard it here first. Next post is going to be my own, personal, ode to self-interest, gratuitous icicle glamour shot. Mostly so I have something pretty to look at when I view my site, in case I get caught up in my job tomorrow and have to leave it as the title shot for a few days. I’m on call this weekend so you never know. And blue is my favorite color, tranquil and serene, in case that wasn’t apparent. Thanks for checking in and leaving a kind comment. It’s those small things that really make you feel connected in this big world. Have a great night. Stay warm and toasty wherever you are. Later.
Drop Picture With Brick
I always say, if you are going to do it, over do it. Words, pictures, icicles. We have a big one hanging off the corner of the house. This is a small part of the large object. The tip of the iceberg, so to speak. Believe me, I got pictures of that too. No worries. I’m doling it out slow, so as not to cause a mass influx of views to this site, thereby potentially shutting down the system with all the people crazily clicking and scrolling, hungry for snow and dripping ice pics in the dead of winter. In the Midwest. From a stranger. Especially since most people in this general area of the world can look outside and see it for themselves in real time and feel the cold that comes along with all this natural beauty. Blabbity blab. There I go again. Let me filter and sift through more pics and be back. Later.
Only Took 24 Tries
This is with the camera. And since winter is apparently here for a while longer, including more snowfall Sunday night/Monday morning, I thought I’d take this weekend to download all the snow pics I took and mad-post them before the 40 degree thaw I hear is supposed to come sometime next week and melt the mountains and piles that are building up on our corners and grassy areas. It’s cold now, but sunny. The girl had her first driving experience today and she wants to drive more. So here we go. Below is another water drop pic. More greatness to be had, later.
Winter! Illinois! 2014! When Will It Be Over??
Good for pictures. Bad for driving. Above is a “snow” picture. Below is a “sub-zero” picture. I really wasn’t kidding. The temp was a balmy 23ish yesterday, but it snowed another 2 inches. Today, no snow, but the temp only climbed to about, mmmm, zero. And the thing is, I don’t even care anymore about the negative temps. I’m fine with the cold as long as the roads are clean and dry. If the snowflakes would just fall all over the grass and sidewalks, and avoid the actual driving surfaces, I say bring on 20 more inches. 50. 100! Makes no difference to me. My car can’t even get over medians in the middle of the roads if they have more than 2 inches of snow anyway without getting stuck, so more snow on the “sides” doesn’t bother me at all. I can’t make it into my own driveway when the plows come and push it all in front of where I have to drive across. I’m not kidding. I’ve been stuck 2 times already coming home from work. My son had to give the car a push while I rocked it back and forth to get out of the snow ruts. Once those front tires dig in and spin, I’m done for. Anyway I have to go to bed. I never mean to type so much. But this is meant to be the start of the many many, many, pictures I have taken thus far. We will see just how many actually make it into an already over saturated market of “Winter Snow” pictures. Remember, my pictures always come with at least 300 words of rambling nonsense to lull you into a peaceful slumber on these cold and snowy eve’s. Goodnight fair reader. Sleep sweet and sleep warm and cozy. At the tone, the time and temp will be: 11:58 PM and Negative One degrees Fahrenheit. Beeeeeep.
101 Birds
101 visible birds. I counted them. At least I tried to count them. I may not be exact, because if you click it and enlarge it, there are a lot of spots and smudgy parts that look like birds but could be part of another bird or a camera flaw or a picture defect. I used my best judgement. Plus, they were already pretty far away when I had the genius idea to take the picture. There were SO many I couldn’t believe it. This is just one shot that I finally thought to take. I just stood there in awe of nature and the flight of the weather bound. They were loud too. Geese ya know. Flying south. And truthfully I was thinking that with so many flying over my head, what if one, or 10, pooped on me? Would that still be considered good luck? I was paralyzed by the sound and sheer numbers. I was doomed until I shook myself out of the bird haze to grab my phone. Anyway that’s my rough count of what I captured in the frame. Feel free to waste just as much time as I did counting them over if you feel strongly about this number issue and send me your best estimate. There’s no wrong answer. Here’s the small wave that flew by right after. Late to the party, but just as loud. 18 more. Later.
Random Sunday Butterfly
I’m going to go babysit my brother’s new baby for the first time today! Although technically since he’s 6 months old now, he’s not all that new. So expect the random pictures, I promised, plus new and updated baby pictures, throughout the day as I add this new thing into my Sunday of football, work, and posting. Our dinner was very nice except we forgot that they had the lighting/parade/Christmas thing downtown (in Chicago–in case you want to look it up) and we got caught in a million people’s attendance and traffic. No joke. I heard the news last night, they said one million people were estimated to have attended. If I research and confirm this factoid, I will let you know. But I probably won’t. I won’t research. I won’t confirm. Or refute. Heck, I probably won’t even ever speak of it again. If you want to keep it real, feel free to comment with the correct number and facts, otherwise, let’s just all agree we were downtown with a million other people last night and leave it at that! I will post pictures of anything food/fun related the kids took as soon as they send it to me. I am also planning on a lot less words to go with the rest of the posts I put up here today. Consider this all the reading you need to do for the day! I have to shower and gather my things. Time is a ticking. The kids are going to their dad’s and I think the BF is staying home. It’s individual Sunday. That can totally be our new thing! Later.
just shy of pretty 