Freezing Rain & Pigeons

These pictures don't really go together but whatever. I may have mentioned that, from time to time a few pigeons visit the backyard buffet. Managed to take the picture though, to prove the point. Voila!
The shot below was taken tonight, 16th February and features freezing rain. We had a big snowfall today, a few inches or so, followed by this freezing rain. Freezing rain is not something I ever encountered in Ireland. It is a rather odd expression in fact, as one might be forgiven for thinking that freezing rain is just a strange way of saying 'snow'. However, having encountered substantial amounts of both, I can say with some authority that they are decidedly different. Freezing rain is like little ice chips and it tinkles as it falls. If you are out walking in it, your shoulders get covered completely in a thin layer of ice that cracks when you take off your coat. It can hurt too as it hits your face. Finally and most importantly, if freezing rain falls on a dry footpath, it basically turns it into glass; completely lethal to the pedestrian. Tonight, of course, it is falling on deep snow, so it's all good. (Actually, I see now that the photo looks pathetically like snow...if only our photos had sound..)
I'm going to Quebec city tommorrow, for the weekend, so hopefully I'll have some news and nice photos of that next week...