I live in Upstate NY - near the Canadian border - yes, WAY upstate - Zone 4a! I wanted to post some pictures of the ice storm that we had around Christmas. Many of our trees were destroyed - seriously. I have a White Pine that I loved - blocked the view of the house - that is basically sheared away in the middle. Still not sure what we are going to do with this. Many trees were just snapped. My Tamarack snapped and the top ten feet of the tree broke off. Three Red Cedars almost done for. Poplars that were sheared. I will be honesty and say it is hard for me to go back and look at these pictures. Almost two months later now we have cut and chipped some limbs (figured we better get started on this early) that are already on the ground. The big Black Cherry we had to skid out with the 4-wheeler and we cut down the remaining truck and skidded that out too. We have had quite a bit of snowfall as of late so getting in there with the chipper is not possible now. When we bought this property it hadn't been maintained all that well in the last few years. We have worked hard the last three years sprucing it up and to see this act of God hurt. It is ironic to me because I know how obsessed, literally, I have been with it and to watch God allow it to be cut down in a matter of days - wow! Maybe He is trying to tell me something - more important things in life???? My DH kept telling me it could have been worse - tree through the roof, etc. - he is right I know but still hard for me to swallow - I loved all the work we had done. If anyone has any suggestions as far as what to do with these - obviously some have to be cut to the ground - I'd appreciate to hear anyone's opinion. White Pine Before/During Ice Storm - entire middle section is pretty much missing. You can see the snapped branches - I couldn't believe how many I hauled out of there that were just snapped off. Tamarack with top ten feet snapped out of it. Next to White Pine in above picture. Three Red Cedars as the ice storm was just starting/and now. Black Cherry Limb snapped off - honestly, this is the only one I really did want gone. Back of the house: You can see the White Birch that is hanging toward the house in the center and over another smaller red cedar. This tree is really three trunks and I imagine we will be cutting it down this Spring. The one limb never went all the way back up and the other two trunks are snapped at the tops.

For you guys who know what I'm up to, an update. My large trachy is now covered for the season, as of this past Sunday. I did go with a version of dln949's method. I've been monitoring temp since it was completed and it seems that this one will be a definite winner! A quick description. Frame built from 2x2 pine posts, 1x4s for supports, all assembled with screws. The 2x2s are driven about a foot into the ground and staked very solid and secure. The enclosure is just high enough for the tree, about 7 feet. It is an odd shape because of the slightly raised triangle planter it is in. It's about 4'x3.5'x4'x3', and about 7' high as stated. It has a supported roof of 3/8" plywood covered with carpet. The enclosure is wrapped in chicken wire stapled down, except for on the roof. Over the chicken wire are two old but good shape bed comforters (bedspreads). They are stapled on, ground to roof. They staple on at the ground on 3 sides directly to the wood borders of the raised planter. Over the comforters is silver bubble wrap insulation which comes in a 4' wide roll. This is tacked on with staples and heavily duct taped at the seems and wrapped round and round with duct tape. All seems are overlapped by about a foot. Also the insulation over-wraps the roof. The thing is air-tight! Over the insulation is a waterproof tarp covering the whole thing, tied on tightly but able to be easily removed if I need to sneak a peek at a spot where I made an access hole which can be opened where I can get at the power strip if needed. Around the outside base of the enclosure are leaf bags packed tight to the bottom and anchored down by bricks and 6x6 timbers. I hand-packed more leaf/grass mulch into the areas between the bags and against the enclosure under the bags. Inside the enclosure: 5" deep cedar mulch as normally is in the planter. Under it is a "rope light" right at the dirt around the trunk right on top of the roots. On top of the cedar mulch is a string of mini outdoor xmas lights zig zagging over the ground/mulch in there and especially around the outer perimeter of the enclosure to keep the ground from freezing. Over the mini lights is a 6" layer of loose leaves and packed a little higher around the outer walls. Wrapped around the trunk and crown area of the tree is another string of mini xmas lights. The 2 strings of mini lights and the rope light are ALWAYS ON. Then zig-zagging throughout the inside of the enclosure frame, but not touching the tree or enclosure walls are 2 more strings of xmas lights, a string of white c-7s and white c-9s connected in series. These are connected to a "thermo cube" which comes on at 35 and off at 45 degrees. Also connected to the power cube is a clamp-on reflector fixture with a very bright CFL bulb in it for a little extra heat if needed. All of this extra heat only comes on if/when needed and has already tested to be very effective. When they come on when it hits 35 or so, which only happened twice that I have observed, it warms to beyond 45 in there within minutes, and they turn off. I believe this will protect it to well below zero for sure! My remote thermometer is mounted on a bracket about midway up the wall inside the enclosure far enough away from any of the xmas lights where it is accurate and transmits to about anywhere inside my house from all the way across the yard. A few more notes: I did not use the "Night Watchman" for this enclosure (thanks Jim for the "cube" tip). The Watchman is sufficient for one large string of xmas lights, but no more wattage than that. Two strings and it does not work right. The Cube is for higher wattage applications and an absolute PERFECT device for our needs here! I will use that Watchman thing for my needle palm which will only need one string of c-7 lights when I do cover it. The needle has a rope light under the mulch at the base/roots right now and the ground is warm to the touch there. I'll leave that on when the large trash can goes over it in a few weeks or when lows dip under the teens at night. The needle is taller than I thought, I might have to mulch it higher so it fits under the plastic trash can. The Watchman will prevent it from overheating under there and it will be easy to check on periodically. Bottom line, this was a pretty easy enclosure to build and assemble. I might not use it next year, maybe I will, depending on how easy it comes down and what condition it is in. I'd say I have about 4 or 5 total hours invested in its assembly and setup. Total cose: About $100. That includes the lights, materials, remote hermometer ($11.95), Thermocube ($8.95), etc. I really need to figure out how to post pictures right here on GW, rather than that outside link thing. I have a ton of pictures from all summer, to every step of the building process of the enclosure. I'd love to post them... So that's my outdoor palm's protection setup. Wish me luck, and good luck to you guys!

Coeur d'Alene had 127 inches of snow by yesterday and then a little more fell. This was a new seasonal record and nearly double normal. Seems like when I lived right in town about 30 years ago, there was more snow to deal with. I think that might be true but with a certain amount of melting, some drifting, and days of shoveling - it's real hard to make much sense out of the landscape. I'm considering "burrowing" next. There were winds of 35 - 40 mph with gusts near 50, today. Lots of roads in and out of communities in the Columbia Basin are closed because of drifting and white-out conditions. I think it is now going to turn to rain except for up where you are, Margaret. And, even western MT may get rain by Sunday. Hopefully, there won't be very much. digitS'

Katie Kitty is safely back home! My neighbor was so upset (she is in her 70's) and she cried when she asked me to send out a mass email to everyone asking them to help find her cat, so I'm very happy to report that Katie Kitty found her way home! Cyn, my husband is a federal type as well and won't get any snow days because he telecommutes so they don't get to take snow days. He doesn't mind though, he'd rather be able to work from home most days then to get a snow day. Are you a teacher? We know several teachers in NoVa, one in Centreville and one out in Haymarket. Our schools are canceled for the week also! LOL Newhomebuilder, I feel like that often with my posts, I wish there was an edit feature on here! The couple who showed up said they thought about calling us to see if the party was canceled but I guess they just decided to forge ahead! I sent them an email apologizing again for making them come out in the cold and ice and they said they had a wonderful time, so it all worked out in the end. I sent them back home with their fruitcake and plate and they said they had a meatloaf in the oven for their daughter and grandson who live with them, so they were fine. Cooperbailey, we have not one but two 95+ year olds on our street! They are both in great shape. The 95 year old woman lives with her daughter, SIL, and grandchildren but she still comes to every event and is just a little hard of hearing, but otherwise doing really well. The other 96 year old is a man and lives on his own, but right next door to his son and his family. He is truly amazing! He still drives, and seems to be fine, has a beautiful garden which he dutifully tends and I think he even has a computer! He also takes his Dachshund to obedience training!!! I hope I'm just like him as I continue to get older, I'm 46 now. A funny story about him when we first moved in and he was a mere 94. One day we drove past and he was laying on his side in the ditch near his mailbox. We drove past and I said to my husband "GO BACK George has fallen!!!" and my husband said that he thought George was just pulling weeds or something. I said "honey, clearly he has fallen, look at him he's on his side, you don't pull weeds like that!" so he agreed and began backing up. When we got beside him I rolled down the window and said are you ok George? He looked puzzled, he didn't really know us since we'd just moved in, and said "I'm fine, I'm trimming" and sure enough he had those old handheld trimming shears that everyone used to have that looked like giant scissors! We left and he went back to trimming. My guess is that one day George will be helping us up rather than the other way around, he's my hero! Here are some pictures of our pups playing in the snow. They look so fierce when they play, yet they love one another dearly! Quinn, he's fast, but not quite as fast as our nearly 10 yr old BC, she is still faster! Quinn giving his "mom" some love! Kat :)