Toronto Ice Storm 2013 | Pet Photography

Dec 23, 2013

It’s on the lips of everyone you meet today – questions about this weekend’s Ice Storm. “Did you lose power? Have you got back your power? Did you see the trees? How is your car?” It certainly caused havoc, inconvenience and for some who are still waiting for the lights to come back on, at this point, it is far beyond that. To all of the crews who are working feverishly around the clock to get everyone back on the grid and all of those who are still affected and patiently waiting, thank you! (Toronto Hydro is updating their twitter feed regularly as the work progresses. You can follow them here.)

Here at Posh Pets‘ HQ, we lost power for approximately 6 hours yesterday. We consider ourselves one of the fortunate ones. In that time (during daylight hours), our home became uncomfortably cool. We can only imagine what it is like for the people and pets in the homes across the city where they are still without power and have had to go through 2 nights in darkness, no heat and not even the opportunity for a warm cup of tea or a hot meal. We sincerely hope that friends and family have opened their doors and that everyone is safe!

Venturing outside yesterday for about 20 minutes was enough to convince us that we needed to stay inside. Trees were creaking, power lines sparking, branches falling…it was hard to even walk without risking a nasty tumble. However, we did find some beauty amidst the chaos.

The first thing we noticed were the blades of grass poking out from under the snow were each covered in ice. Individually. It made for a very dimpled surface on the grassy areas.

The sheer weight of having every branch, every acorn, every leaf covered in a thick layer of ice was causing trees to split and branches to sheer off. The sound when they fell was incredible!

Nothing was exempt. These railings can take their time to melt and lose their icicles, but people’s cars cannot.

The sight of ice glistening in the daylight does have its own beauty.

Even the animals had to learn to cope.  This little guy had only a frozen dinner for supper last night.

As bad as the weather outside might be, our pets still have to go. This beautiful senior (she’s 13!) and her human were being extra careful on the slippery sidewalks and ‘grass’.

Everywhere you looked, the City was enveloped in a layer of ice and fog.

So, there you have it – a tiny little summary from our part of the world. We hope that wherever you are and whatever you are doing, things are slowly getting back to normal. Everyone, please stay safe (and snuggle with your furry faces)!