It is feeling a lot like spring, with the pond peepers starting up last evening to sing with the tree frogs, which have been out for about two weeks.
The last two weeks have also included some strange spring weather. We actually had a tornado touch down briefly in Fannin on February 6th. There were a lot of trees down around Hwy 5 and Old Hwy 2, and also over on Hwy 60 in the corresponding place. The officials said that it was an EF-1, which is a weak tornado. But it still had winds up to 120 miles per hour, and my neighbors said it was quite an experience. I was at work, and what we mainly saw in Blue Ridge was lots of rain and very dark skies. That’s the first tornado I remember in the past twenty-five years. Then on February 9th, which was a Saturday, we had a freak midday snow storm. It wasn’t in the forecast, and it came in fast, with the biggest flakes I’ve ever seen here. In ten minutes, there was an inch of snow on the ground and traffic accidents everywhere. It didn’t last long, but it was exciting when it happened. There were something like 33 reported traffic accidents along with many that went unreported. We ended up with about two and a half inches at our place.
The Fire & Ice Festival is this Saturday.That’s ice sculptures and a chili cookoff. If it is done like last year, you pay $5 for a ticket to sample the chili. Last year, there was also a beer tent.