If, like me, you lived through 1991 ice storm in these parts — it crippled the Rochester, New York area for weeks — you can appreciate the trepidation I feel in waking up and seeing this.

That’s a river birch in my front yard. I took the picture three hours ago. Rain is still falling, and the ice is building up. Birches are particularly susceptible to permanent damage from this stuff. The only downside to using them as an ornamental.

They are dragged to the withered bracken by the load,
And they seem not to break; though once they are bowed
So low for long, they never right themselves;
You may see their trunks arching in the woods
Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground
Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair
Before them over their heads to dry in the sun.

Birches, Robert Frost.

The morning’s paper says we could get as much as 3/4 inches of ice before it’s over.

Let’s hope it warms up or switches to snow.