After my morning workout I noticed that the area around the barge was iced in and the circulator wasn't running even though the running light was on.

Investigation found that a big tumble weed had been sucked into the circulator, stalling the motor. This must have happened on Monday when the pond was ice free. The ice was 2 inches thick around the Barge like everywhere else. I got out my trusty sledge hammer and cleared the ice around the circulator and pulled out the blockage.

Thankfully, there must be a fairly sophisticated sensor or breaker inside the motor that cuts off the power when the motor isn't turning. Everything is back to normal.

Whew! 2" so soon?

I got word from Cecil that they had 7" of snow and I'm here 140 miles away above freezing and blue skies.

Heck, when I saw the weather the other day, Arkansas/Missouri was getting snow when I was in the upper 40's! Weird weather......

When nightly lows are in the teens and there is no wind ice grows about an inch per day in these parts.

True. I keep forgetting that you're North of here a ways. When we were deer hunting in Northern Wi. the ponds were icing over then.

Chance of rain and sleet for Oklahoma for the weekend. This is more typical in January.