This is NOT normal Winter weather in Oklahoma! This storm was considered the worst weather catastrophe in the States' history and we have been declared a Federal Disaster Area. There were 29 deaths attributed to the storm and over 650,000 people lost electricity. It took over 2 weeks to restore power to most residents.
The first thing we did was to move the vehichles to the end of the driveway. Before we could do that, a large branch broke off of the Cottonwood tree and went throygh the roof of the carport and landed on top of my car. Luckily, there was no damage to my car!
The limbs literally shattered when they hit the ground! It was very dangerous to walk around the fallen limbs - like walking on ice cubes.
Here is a good shot of Pete holding up a branch so you can see how thick that ice was!
One limb fell on our fence and broke it.
Here are a coupe of shots showing where that branch went through the roof of the car port.
View from the front porch.
This is what is left of the Cottonwood tree. We are VERY lucky that it did not fall on our house!
This is the West end of our house. My Crepe Myrtles are flat!
This is a close-up of the grass! It was also very difficult to walk on.
My little Redbud Tree! Luckily, it did not break.
Another shot showing how thick the ice was on a stick.
Looking up into one of the Oak trees.
The Martin House in the front yard. If there were any birds inside, they weren't able to get out until that ice melted!
Forgot to dump that last load of manure before the storm.
This is the Oak tree that fell on our gate to the back yard loaded with ice and broken branches before and after it was trimmed and cleaned up. The tree in the background is in the center pony pen and will have to be completely removed.
Cowboy and Warrior were in the center pen and were terrified that morning from the branches of the tree breaking and falling around them all night! (They were not injured in any way!) The picture below shows the tree after the ice melted off and Pete was just beginning to clean up the mess. This tree will have to be completely removed.
This is our back yard dog pen (with Beau in the foreground). That big limb almost took out our back steps! My studio is on the right side.
A few more views of the broken trees in the dog pen.
This is another view of the back of the house showing those limbs that fell in the dog pen after the ice had melted My studio is on the left side.
This is looking from the front porch to the East across our front pasture before and after the ice melted.
Some more views of the front pasture before and after the ice melted.
Another veiw of our broken front fence.
The Donkey's shed on the North side of the front pasture. The Hickory tree on the left side has a few broken branches in it. Meanwhile, the Donkeys were busy stripping the bark off of all of the downed limbs.
Below are some views of the damaged trees in the back pasture.
My poor Mulberry tree!!!
Virtually every tree in the pastures has been broken. It is going to take us MONTHS to clean up the mess!
©2007 Chris Nandell