Yep, it’s that time again…. we finally took down our Christmas lights 😉 I wonder if our neighbors look out their window and think, “geez, it’s almost February. When are they taking down those lights??”. I like to think they are actually thinking “I love the glow of lights, even if it is January 31st”, because I do! I removed the Christmas stuff, but the lights stayed up until February 2nd due to the crazy cold temps we had, and the fact that the glow makes me happy!

The weather also makes a cool phenomenon at the river – ice jams!

The Maumee river was frozen when we went to see it, but it’s getting ready to break up again because our temperatures are supposed to be in the 50’s for the next few days. Compare that to the sub zero polar vortex of last week! We were able to walk across the river to the little islands in the middle.

The freezing made layers of ice, some of which was a bit fragile. Imagine our surprise when we fell into these holes!!

Some of the ice was amazingly clear.

You can see by these “rings” on the trees how high the water flooded in the river. Crazy!!

Speaking of the Polar Vortex, it was so cold that my kids only went to school on Monday. School was closed on Tuesday and they also reported the school would be closed on Wednesday and Thursday too! What? They have never closed that far in advance!

When Friday rolled around, we had a little bit of new snow which made the roads slippery, so they closed on Friday too. It was a “6 day weekend”. The kids were so excited! When the temperatures finally rose on Saturday, it was great to get out of the house.

I’m hoping we’ll have at least one snowy day around here in February. We haven’t made it to the sledding hill yet!

Q: Did the schools close in your area due to cold temps last week?

Q: Was there anyone in your neighborhood with their xmas lights on still? (was it you?? 🙂 )

Q: Do you decorate your house for Spring or Easter at this time of the year, or give it a break for right now?

3 thoughts on “Ice jams and it’s time”
  1. I only decorate for Christmas, but I do have a fall wreath for the door as well as one I put out for spring and summer. 🙂 That’s a lot of days off! Will they have to make them up? We had one full day off for the cold and a couple delays and early dismissals for snow. Last week was WEIRD. I can’t believe you walked across the river. Weren’t you scared? I feel like some people had white lights up past Christmas but they were down by mid Jan. I took my stuff down QUICK this year. I didn’t even feel like putting it up in the first place!

    1. I was pretty nervous on the river at first, but then we saw other people doing, so why not! I was freaked when my leg went into the layers of ice on the shore though… but it was dry at the bottom. So far the school system has enough hours scheduled for class to cover these days off. The system switched over to hours, instead of days, so it’s kind of hard to figure out. They can also assign work to take home which could cover some of the hours too.
      Our lights were mostly white, and had a few colored strands. It was funny because it was just us, and the neighbors across the street with lights on! They took theirs down at the same time. I’m not sure if it was a competition or what, but I’m pretty sure we won. LOL!!

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