Welcome to JOYFUL REFLECTIONS. Also welcome to MARCH!!!! My header picture this month is a photo I took of the pretty Crocus blooms in our yard... The Crocuses and Daffodils are the first signs of spring here in Tennessee. I am definitely ready for SPRING...

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Arkansas ICE Storm


We are home from a wonderful---and very different---week at Mt. Nebo, Arkansas. As I've mentioned before, this was our FIFTH visit to that cute little cabin on the top of the mountain. This time the weather played a HUGE part in our week. The first couple of days, the temperature got up to over 80 degrees. Then came the horrible thunderstorms (which were quite scary up there on that mountain). Then the temperature dropped QUICKLY and we had ice on Wed. morning.. The ice turned to rain on Wed.--so that day wasn't too bad. But-- we had an ICE Storm all day on Thursday.


Mt. Nebo sustained MUCH damage from that last horrible ice storm which effected several states in January. The folks up there said that the area looked like a tornado had blown through there. They lost lots of trees and tree limbs then. There was still alot of evidence of the damage when we got there this past week, although they said that most had been cleaned up. HOWEVER---after Thursdays storm, there were even more limbs down. It's so sad to see all of those beautiful pine trees on the ground. Mother Nature can be so cruel, can't she????


The other big difference this week was because it was SO cloudy (along with the rain and ice), we only got to see one (and it wasn't a good one) sunset, and NO sunrises. I'm glad that we have lots of sunset and sunrise pictures from previous visits.


With that being said, we really did have a wonderful week. One reason was, due to all of the rain, we saw some gorgeous waterfalls. We saw nine waterfalls ---and of these nine, FOUR are new ones. And on Monday, before all of the rain, we visited some gorgeous gardens (Garvan Gardens) near Hot Springs. AND--the best joy was celebrating George's birthday with him on that Monday!!!!


We'll share many pictures I'm sure over the next several days/weeks. Today I'll share some of the Ice Storm pictures. The picture above shows the ice on the mountain ---with a view of the valley below. There are more pictures below. Be sure to click on the photos to see larger views.









Mrs. P (our Toyota Prius) was VERY unhappy with us. With at least 1/4th of an inch of ice ALL over her, she was crying and begging us to take her home to her nice, warm garage!







Icicles were hanging down from the eaves all around our cabin.







Late in the afternoon on that icy Thursday, George walked down to check out the Mt. Nebo waterfall. The picture above was taken near the top of the cascades as they flow down that mountain. I especially like this photo due to the ice all around on the nearby trees.







This picture was taken from our back porch--looking at the big yard next to our cabin. The trees were glistening.







This was a close-up view of some of the ice on the trees.







Here is one more photo of the trees ---filled with ice.







Finally, here is another picture taken at the waterfall. As in all of the pictures, ice is so pretty to look at--but can be so dangerous.


I hope all of you had a wonderful week. George says to say THANKS for all of his birthday wishes. It really was a GREAT week.
Hugs,