Royalty-free images by Mike¹ — No. 100 of over 1200 images

West Central Arkansas – After the early December 2013 ice & snow storm

This photo is from our property.

Ice Storm²

An ice storm is a type of winter storm characterized by freezing rain, also known as a glaze event or, in some parts of the United States, as a silver thaw. The U.S. National Weather Service defines an ice storm as a storm which results in the accumulation of at least 0.25-inch (6.4 mm) of ice on exposed surfaces. From 1982 to 1994, ice storms were more common than blizzards in the U.S., averaging 16 per year. They are generally not violent storms but instead are commonly perceived as gentle rains occurring at temperatures just below freezing.

The formation of ice begins with a layer of above-freezing air above a layer of sub-freezing temperatures closer to the surface. Frozen precipitation melts to rain while falling into the warm air layer, and then begins to refreeze in the cold layer below. If the precipitate refreezes while still in the air, it will land on the ground as sleet. Alternatively, the liquid droplets can continue to fall without freezing, passing through the cold air just above the surface. This thin layer of air then cools the rain to a temperature below freezing (0 °C or 32 °F). However, the drops themselves do not freeze, a phenomenon called supercooling (or forming “supercooled drops”). When the supercooled drops strike ground or anything else below 0 °C (32 °F) (e.g. power lines, tree branches, aircraft), a layer of ice accumulates as the cold water drips off, forming a slowly thickening film of ice, hence freezing rain.

While meteorologists can predict when and where an ice storm will occur, some storms still occur with little or no warning. In the United States, most ice storms are in the northeastern part of the country, but damaging storms have occurred farther south. An ice storm in February 1994 resulted in tremendous ice accumulation as far south as Mississippi, and caused reported damage in nine states. More timber was damaged than that caused by Hurricane Camille. An ice storm in eastern Washington in November 1996 directly followed heavy snowfall. The combined weight of the snow and 25 to 37 millimeters (0.98 to 1.46 in) of ice caused widespread damage and was considered the most severe ice storm in the Spokane area since 1940.

The freezing rain from an ice storm covers everything with heavy, smooth glaze ice. In addition to hazardous driving or walking conditions, branches or even whole trees may break from the weight of ice. Falling branches can block roads, tear down power and telephone lines, and cause other damage. Even without falling trees and tree branches, the weight of the ice itself can easily snap power lines and also break and bring down power/utility poles; even electricity pylons with steel frames. This can leave people without power for anywhere from several days to a month. According to most meteorologists, just one quarter of an inch of ice accumulation can add about 500 pounds (230 kg) of weight per line span. Damage from ice storms is easily capable of shutting down entire metropolitan areas.

1. I am sharing some of my public domain images in periodic blog posts.
2. Ice storm – Wikipedia

Notes:

• This image is also shared as public domain on Pixabay,  Flickr, and Pinterest.
• Images are being shared in the sequence they were accepted by Pixabay, a royalty-free image sharing site.
• Only images specifically identified as such are public domain or creative commons on our pages.
• All other images are copyright protected by me, creative commons, or used under the provisions of fair use.

Royalty-free images by Mike¹ — No. 99 of over 1200 images

Chapel on the Rock (St. Catherine of Siena Chapel), Allenspark, Colorado, September 16, 2011

Chapel on the Rock²

The Chapel on the Rock (officially, Saint Catherine of Siena Chapel) is a functioning Catholic chapel and tourist landmark in Allenspark, Colorado, USA. The chapel is located on the grounds of the Saint Malo Retreat, Conference, and Spiritual Center of the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver. The chapel is open to the public.

In 1916, Monsignor Joseph Bosetti came across a large rock formation just east of Rocky Mountain National Park and inspired by the Biblical phrase “upon this rock I will build my church”, he envisioned a church built on the rock. His lack of funds delayed construction for nearly 20 years and he struggled with the Colorado Highway Department to keep the rock intact. Eventually, land for the church was donated by Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Malo and Denver architect Jacques Benedict designed the chapel, which was completed in 1936. In 1999 Boulder County designated the chapel as a historic site.

Pope John Paul II prayed at the chapel during his visit to Denver for World Youth Day in 1993; he blessed the chapel afterwards.

The pope later hiked in the surrounding woods and spent some time at the Saint Malo Retreat Center.

In November 2011 the Chapel on the Rock was spared from a devastating fire that destroyed a majority of the retreat center, forcing it to close its doors.

During the historic flooding of September 2013 the Chapel on the Rock survived, though much of the surrounding terrain was destroyed.

1. I am sharing some of my public domain images in periodic blog posts.
2. Chapel on the Rock – Wikipedia

Notes:

• This image is also shared as public domain on Pixabay,  Flickr, and Pinterest.
• Images are being shared in the sequence they were accepted by Pixabay, a royalty-free image sharing site.
• Only images specifically identified as such are public domain or creative commons on our pages.
• All other images are copyright protected by me, creative commons, or used under the provisions of fair use.

Royalty-free images by Mike¹ — No. 98 of over 1200 images

American Lady Butterfly on Purple Coneflower, West-Central Arkansas, June 28, 2007

This image was taken on our property in west-central Arkansas.

American lady²

The American painted lady or American lady (Vanessa virginiensis) is a butterfly found throughout North America.

The larvae feed on various Asteraceae, such as the cudweeds (genus Gnaphalium), the pussytoes (Antennaria), and the everlastings (Anaphalis), which all belong to tribe Gnaphalieae.  All stages of the life cycle can be found throughout temperate North America as well as Madeira and the Canary Islands. Occasionally individuals can be found as far as southwest Europe. It has been introduced to Hawaii where it is one of four Vanessa species.

Vanessa virginiensis is most easily distinguishable by its two large eyespots on the ventral side, whereas V. cardui has four small eyespots and V. annabella has none. V. virginiensis also uniquely features a white dot within the forewing subapical field, set in pink on the underside and usually also in the dorsal side’s orange field.

1. I am sharing some of my public domain images in periodic blog posts.
2. American lady – Wikipedia

Notes:

• This image is also shared as public domain on Pixabay,  Flickr, and Pinterest.
• Images are being shared in the sequence they were accepted by Pixabay, a royalty-free image sharing site.
• Only images specifically identified as such are public domain or creative commons on our pages.
• All other images are copyright protected by me, creative commons, or used under the provisions of fair use.

Royalty-free images by Mike¹ — No. 97 of over 1200 images

Sunset from Rock Island KOA, Rock Island, Illinois, September 25, 2012

Rock Island Illinois²

Rock Island is a city in and the county seat of Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. The original Rock Island, from which the city name is derived, is now called Arsenal Island. The population was 39,018 at the 2010 census. Located on the Mississippi River, it is one of the Quad Cities – originally four cities, now five – , along with neighboring Moline, East Moline, and the Iowa cities of Davenport and Bettendorf. The Quad Cities has a population of about 380,000. The city is home to Rock Island Arsenal, the largest government-owned weapons manufacturing arsenal in the US, which employs 6,000 people.

1. I am sharing some of my public domain images in periodic blog posts.
2. Rock Island, Illinois – Wikipedia

Notes:

• This image is also shared as public domain on Pixabay,  Flickr, and Pinterest.
• Images are being shared in the sequence they were accepted by Pixabay, a royalty-free image sharing site.
• Only images specifically identified as such are public domain or creative commons on our pages.
• All other images are copyright protected by me, creative commons, or used under the provisions of fair use.

Royalty-free images by Mike¹ — No. 96 of over 1200 images

Mountain Farm Museum, Great Smokey Mountains National Park, North Carolina, June 15, 2012

Mountain Farm Museum²

The Mountain Farm Museum (in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, near Cherokee, North Carolina) is a unique collection of farm buildings assembled from locations throughout the park. Visitors can explore a log farmhouse, barn, apple house, springhouse, and a working blacksmith shop to get a sense of how families may have lived 100 years ago. Most of the structures were built in the late 19th century and were moved here in the 1950s. The Davis House offers a rare chance to view a log house built from chestnut wood before the chestnut blight decimated the American Chestnut in our forests during the 1930s and early 1940s. The museum is adjacent to the Oconaluftee Visitor Center.

The site also demonstrates historic gardening and agricultural practices, including livestock.

Split-rail fence³

A split-rail fence or log fence (also known as a zigzag fence, worm fence or snake fence historically due to its meandering layout) is a type of fence constructed in the United States and Canada, and is made out of timber logs, usually split lengthwise into rails and typically used for agricultural or decorative fencing. Such fences require much more timber than other types of fences, and so are generally only common in areas where wood is abundant. However, they are very simple in their construction, and can be assembled with few tools even on hard or rocky ground. They also can be built without using any nails or other hardware; such hardware was often scarce in frontier areas. They are particularly popular in very rocky areas where post hole digging is almost impossible. They can even be partially or wholly disassembled if the fence needs to be moved or the wood becomes more useful for other purposes. During the American Civil War, these split rail fences were a major source of firewood for both the Union and Confederate armies.

Split rail fences were made of easy to split, rot-resistant wood. Traditionally American chestnut was the timber of choice until chestnut blight eliminated this tree. Currently, most split rails are made from cedar. Whether of chestnut or cedar, these logs were cut to a length of 10 to 12 feet (3.0 to 3.7 m) and split down the length of the log. Each half was then split into quarters, then eighths and so on until the rails were of a usable size. A log may produce from four rails from an 8-inch (20 cm) log to over a dozen from larger logs. The rails are stacked on top of one another. Most split rail fences have the rails stacked in an interlocking zig-zag fashion that is self-supporting, easy to create, easy to repair, and easy to disassemble.

Some timber fences have the rails stacked directly on top of each other and secured with double fence posts (one on either side of the rails). This made a more permanent and compact fence but remained easy to repair.

The distance between either the zigs or the zags is generally 16.5 feet (5 m) or one rod. The area of a field can therefore be calculated by counting zigs or zags along the side and end of the field: one hundred sixty square rods is 1-acre (0.40 ha).

1. I am sharing some of my public domain images in periodic blog posts.
2. Mountain Farm Museum – National Park Service
3. Split-rail fence – Wikipedia

Notes:

• This image is also shared as public domain on Pixabay,  Flickr, and Pinterest.
• Images are being shared in the sequence they were accepted by Pixabay, a royalty-free image sharing site.
• Only images specifically identified as such are public domain or creative commons on our pages.
• All other images are copyright protected by me, creative commons, or used under the provisions of fair use.

The outlook seems to continue look grim as the pandemic aggressively worsens across the country.

Reports to the states from the White House coronavirus task force warn, “There is now aggressive, unrelenting, expanding broad community spread across the country, reaching most counties, without evidence of improvement but rather, further deterioration. Current mitigation efforts are inadequate and must be increased to flatten the curve to sustain the health system for both Covid and non-Covid emergencies.”

“The language in the weekly reports, which offer the administration’s most unvarnished picture of the pandemic, has become increasingly dire in recent weeks, matching the severity of the current situation.” CNN

Arkansas’ cases are setting one or more records daily. The number of new total cases per day averaged over the last 30 days reached 1,228 cases/day on Tuesday, an increase of 30 over Monday.  The actual case count increase Tuesday was 1,554.

In a national ranking of new cases per 100,000 people in the United States and District of Columbia, Arkansas ranks 22nd.  This is one of those rankings where high middle of the pack is bad.  Only 3 states have less than 100 cases per 100,000: Maine, Vermont, and Hawaii.

For Arkansas, the task force report said:

• Given the change in the slope in the last two weeks post Halloween, Arkansas is on the precipice of a rapid, accelerating
  increase in cases which will be followed with new hospital admissions.
• Arkansas is in the red zone for cases – 101 or more new cases per 100,000 population –, with the 22nd highest rate in the country.
• Arkansas had 367 new cases per 100,000 population, compared to a national average of 294 per 100,000.
• Arkansas is in the red zone for test positivity, indicating a rate at or above 10.1%, with the 27th highest rate in the country.
• 81% of all counties in Arkansas have moderate or high levels of community transmission (yellow, orange, or red zones), with 55% having high levels of community transmission (red zone).

With the upcoming holidays, the task force says,  “On university campuses, students are letting their guards down with Thanksgiving break less than a week away.”

Happy Holidays… Stay safe.

Royalty-free images by Mike¹ — No. 95 of over 1200 images

Orange Daylily, West-Central Arkansas, June 25, 2011

This image is from our property.

Hemerocallis fulva²

Hemerocallis fulva, the orange day-lily, tawny daylily, corn lily, tiger daylily, fulvous daylily or ditch lily (also railroad daylily, roadside daylily, outhouse lily, and wash-house lily), is a species of daylily native to Asia. It is very widely grown as an ornamental plant in temperate climates for its showy flowers and ease of cultivation. It is not a true lily in the genus Lilium, but gets its name from the superficial similarity of its flowers to Lilium and from the fact that each flower lasts only one day.

It is an herbaceous perennial plant growing from tuberous roots, with stems 40–150 cm (16–59 in) tall. The leaves are linear, 50–90 cm (20-35 in) long and 1–2.8 cm (0.39–1.10 in) broad. The flowers are 5–12 cm (2.0–4.7 in) across, orange-red, with a pale central line on each tepal; they are produced from early summer through late autumn on scapes of ten through twenty flowers, with the individual flowers’ opening successively, each one’s lasting only one day. Its fruit is a three-valved capsule 2–2.5 cm (0.79–0.98 in) long and 1.2–1.5 cm (0.47–0.59 in) broad which splits open at maturity and releases seeds.

Orange daylily is native to Asia from the Caucasus east through the Himalaya through China, Japan, and Korea. Orange daylily persists where planted, making them a very good garden plant.

Hemerocallis fulva var. fulva has escaped from cultivation across much of the United States and parts of Canada and has become a weedy or invasive species. It persists also where dumped and spreads more or less rapidly by vegetative increase into woods and fields and along roadsides and ditches, hence its common name ditch lily. It forms dense stands that exclude native vegetation, and is often mistaken for a native species.

1. I am sharing some of my public domain images in periodic blog posts.
2. Hemerocallis fulva – Wikipedia

Notes:

• This image is also shared as public domain on Pixabay,  Flickr, and Pinterest.
• Images are being shared in the sequence they were accepted by Pixabay, a royalty-free image sharing site.
• Only images specifically identified as such are public domain or creative commons on our pages.
• All other images are copyright protected by me, creative commons, or used under the provisions of fair use.

Royalty-free images by Mike¹ — No. 94 of over 1200 images

Redbud tree blossoms, West Central Arkansas, April 10, 2013

This image is from one of the redbud trees on our property.

Cercis canadensis²

Cercis canadensis, the eastern redbud, is a large deciduous shrub or small tree, native to eastern North America from southern Michigan south to central Mexico but able to thrive as far west as California and as far north as southern Ontario.^[2] It is the state tree of Oklahoma.

The eastern redbud typically grows to 6–9 m (20–30 ft) tall with an 8–10 m (26–33 ft) spread. It generally has a short, often twisted trunk and spreading branches. A 10-year-old tree will generally be around 5 m (16 ft) tall. The bark is dark in color, smooth, later scaly with ridges somewhat apparent, sometimes with maroon patches. The twigs are slender and zigzag, nearly black in color, spotted with lighter lenticels. The winter buds are tiny, rounded and dark red to chestnut in color. The leaves are alternate, simple, and heart shaped with an entire margin, 7–12 cm (3–4.5 in) long and wide, thin and papery, and may be slightly hairy below.

The flowers are showy, light to dark magenta pink in color, 1.5 cm (1⁄2 in) long, appearing in clusters from spring to early summer, on bare stems before the leaves, sometimes on the trunk itself. There are cultivars with white flowers. The flowers are pollinated by long-tongued bees such as blueberry bees and carpenter bees. Short-tongued bees cannot reach the nectaries. The fruit are flattened, dry, brown, pea-like pods, 5–10 cm (2–4 in) long that contain flat, elliptical, brown seeds 6 mm (1⁄4 in) long, maturing in August to October.

1. I am sharing some of my public domain images in periodic blog posts.
2. Cercis canadensis – Wikipedia

Notes:

• This image is also shared as public domain on Pixabay,  Flickr, and Pinterest.
• Images are being shared in the sequence they were accepted by Pixabay, a royalty-free image sharing site.
• Only images specifically identified as such are public domain or creative commons on our pages.
• All other images are copyright protected by me, creative commons, or used under the provisions of fair use.

Royalty-free images by Mike¹ — No. 93 of over 1200 images

Coleus, Little Norway, Wisconsin, September 17, 2012

Coleus²

Coleus is a genus of annual or perennial herbs or shrubs, sometimes succulent, sometimes with a fleshy or tuberous rootstock, found in the Old World tropics and subtropics.

Coleus are cultivated as ornamental plants, particularly Coleus scutellarioides (syns. Coleus blumei, Plectranthus scutellarioides), which is popular as a garden plant for its brightly colored foliage. This plant prefers bright, but indirect sunlight. If direct sunlight touches the plant’s leaves, the colors become less brightly colored. Outside this plant needs total shade or only the most mild morning sunlight.

Little Norway³

Little Norway was a living museum of a Norwegian village located in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin. Little Norway consisted of a fully restored farm dating to the mid-19th century. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Little Norway closed in late 2012.

Our visit to Little Norway was late in it’s final year of operation. After nearly 80 years, the museum closed permanently with operating costs and taxes exceeding revenues. Many museum artifacts have been sold to museums and private collectors to pay annual property taxes.

1. I am sharing some of my public domain images in periodic blog posts.
2. Coleus – Wikipedia
3. Little Norway, Wisconsin – Wikipedia

Notes:

• This image is also shared as public domain on Pixabay,  Flickr, and Pinterest.
• Images are being shared in the sequence they were accepted by Pixabay, a royalty-free image sharing site.
• Only images specifically identified as such are public domain or creative commons on our pages.
• All other images are copyright protected by me, creative commons, or used under the provisions of fair use.