Rain that freezes

...is also known as freezing rain and it arrived here last night.

At first it came down as snow, but in a short while it turned to freezing rain and when we woke up this morning, everything was encased in a thin layer of ice:

The normally dark green evergreens had a grayish cast to them now from their new coats of ice:

Icicles and round little ice balls, like crystal peppercorns, decorated the bird feeders:

So pretty were the frozen heavenly bamboo berries:

and the ice-enveloped lichen on a Japanese maple branch:

Icy Spanish moss on a different branch of the same Japanese maple also caught my eye:

You can see the weight of the ice by how the branches of the Douglas Firs were pointing down:

Although very pretty, I was glad that the temperature had already started to warm and no further ice was expected. Lots of damage happens from severe ice storms. They are no fun.

Today was, and I don't say this lightly, one of the few days that I did not look forward to going outside to feed the animals. I do not like drippy-slushy-icy-melty. Melting ice falling from the branches and plopping on my head is something I try to avoid. Yuck.

The branches that line the barn path were hanging heavy from the ice and as I bent to walk under them, they dripped on my exposed neck. ((shiver)):

If I'd had some fruit juice with me, I could've made a barn post slushie with these little ice balls:

See? Yuck. Ice *and* mud:

A piece of straw hanging off the barn fence became a horizontal straw-cicle:

I'm not sure why I always think the garden deer netting will survive our "mild" Oregon winters. It never does:

It's hard to imagine right now that it's supposed to reach 50 degrees tomorrow:

Oooooh, then it's going to get really muddy.