Hell Froze Over

So I am sure that we have all heard the phrase "...when hell freezes over."

When we first moved to Iowa I remember unloading our moving truck, sweating my guts out and thinking that somehow Sterling and I had just arrived in hell. Sterling had to keep drinking water or Gatorade in order to keep himself hydrated and alive. As for me, I had to simply keep moving in order to keep myself from either sitting down in the apartment and refusing Sterling further help or from getting in that truck and driving back to a dry climate.

It took a good five months before Iowa froze over and I do mean this literally.

I kept hearing rumors of horrible ice storms that knocked down power lines leaving people without power for up to a week. I couldn't imagine what the Iowans were talking about but I had to trust their stories until I could witness it for myself. Well I didn't have to wait long before our first ice storm was announced and found out that the rumors were actually true.

On December 1, 2007 at 7:45 am Sterling and I headed out to do some shopping and other errands for the day. It didn't seem like the ice storm was going to be too bad since at that time there was no ice falling from the sky nor was it raining both of which I thought necessary for a proper ice storm. I soon came to understand that it doesn't take more than a few minutes in the grocery store for an ice storm to go from non-existent to full-on ice storm.

Once we got home from our morning errands we didn't leave the house for the rest of the day and though the ice was outside I could feel it chilling my bones even while I was inside.

So when someone says "...when hell freezes over[.]" you can actually tell the person that it has basically happened and I am living proof that Iowa, on occasion, freezes over.

So if you are wondering what the first picture on the page is of then let me explain. The picture is taken from the passenger seat of the car. I rolled down the window and the sheet of ice remained in place while the window willing rolled down. You can't just scrape off 1/4" sheet of ice that happens to form on the car during a "mild" ice storm.

Supposedly the storms will worsen right before spring and so we would ask each of you to enjoy the weather that you experience because it could be worse, you could live in Iowa.