The Great Ice Storm of 2010

Without seeing the models on the computer, I had no idea what we were really in for, so I had to watch the news on 3 different channels...I know what time they come on and when to switch them over to get the best info out of them. On Thursday, we were told that we were going to be looking at an ice/snow/sleet/freezing rain combination, but they would be in better agreement by Friday Morning. By late Thursday night we were under a Winter Storm Watch, and they were saying were maybe going to get 1-3" of snow with 1/4" ice accumulations. Friday morning came and along with it a Winter Storm Warning, but the snow was upped to 3-6" of snow and ice from 1/4"- 1/2". School was let out at 1:00, so Amber and I walked to pick up the truck a little over a mile away. The rain was supposed to come first, then quickly go to sleet, then to freezing rain, then to snow, at around 6 that evening....NOT! Amber and I started walking at 12:45 and at 12:50 we saw the first flakes...started coming down harder and harder...then came the freezing rain, then the snow, then the freezing rain...by the time we were 1/4 mile away, my whole right side was white with the heavy snow, and I thought to myself, WOW...we're gonna get really hammered if it keeps it up. It kept it up until 3:00, when it turned to rain, with freezing rain mixed in. By 6 that night they had upped our snow totals to 7-9" of snow and that it would start around 8, 10 at the latest. My 11:17 they had upped the totals to 8-12" of snow, with isolated areas getting 12+"....we were happy, but looking outside, there was only a coating on the ground, and a mist/light rain in the air. By 12:35 was still raining hard, I could hear it, and the same at 4:26 when I came out to get a drink of water....didn't want to look, but I did, and it was wet on the porch, with still the same little white as I had seen when I went to bed. Danny got up at 7:30, closed his eyes as he walked to the window, hoping for the huge piles of snow, opened his eyes and then closed them in disappointment... Oh we had white all over the place....white from ice covering the trees, car, trucks, cages, you name it, it was iced. It was beautiful, don't get me wrong. Amber, Danny, and I ended up driving into Franklin, NC, about a 20 mile trip, to see their snowfall and it started coming down at a good clip...and we ended up getting about 1/8" on the ground, over the ice. The ice melted yesterday completely....trees are looking normal again, no longer bent over with the weight. Patrick had today off school because some secondary roads were still iced over, so he was happy. The brunt of the storm ended up 50 miles North of where they were claiming was going to get it. Pop ended up with 5-6", Aunt Karen ended up with 8", we ended up with 1/2" ice and 1/4" snow. This weekend and next weekend are looking good for snowstorms too....will we get that or ice, still a long ways off.