JANUARY 2014

January went out with an ICY bang.   Do we say this about January, or is it March?    Anyway, on the 28th the sky rained sleet (ICE) all afternoon.   We were able to walk up to the clubhouse to play cards at 6 pm and home again without gettting wet, but the gravel driveway was slippery to walk on.  In the morning we saw the effects of the ICE, though we had hoped to see some snow flurries.

ICE on the flags



ICE on the car

ICE on the slideout of the motorhome



I know that many of you are experiencing a worse winter than this, but the ice was something NOT seen on the Gulf Coast in the last 50 years!   News videos showed kids and a reporter sitting on cardboard OR rubbermaid lids and sliding downhill on driveways or streets.   There really aren't many HILLS around to try sledding, but then no one here has a sled either!   It reminded me that back in WI I always took a saucer sled to slide down Tronnes' hill after a snowfall.   Didn't care if the girls were still at home or not.   I WANTED to slide down the hill!

On the 30th we drove to Pensacola and got stuck in all the traffic near I-10 which was CLOSED all the way to Tallahassee - 200 miles!   Traffic was being routed off and it took us an hour to get under the bridge and go 5 miles!   Came home on US 98 and there was no traffic congestion on that bridge over Perdido Bay.   By the 31st we were in sunshine and enjoying 70F temperatures.    What a winter!