Here's what's hanging out at my front door, today

[Siwsan]

ICY FINGERS OF DEATH!!!!

[Laelth]

1. Great photograph. n/t

-Laelth

[Demovictory9]

2. Wow

[LakeArenal]

3. Beautiful icy fingers of death.

Don’t shoot your eye out.....

[Irish_Dem]

4. When my daughter was young she would knock these big icicles off and insist I store in the freezer.

And then she would take them out in August.

They are so beautiful and unique.

[Shermann]

6. How did they look in August?

Brown and wilted and nasty?

Sublimation is an ice thief!

[Irish_Dem]

8. They looked great in August.

Pretty, sparkly, still shaped like an icicle.
It was neat to take them out in August.

[Pobeka]

5. We had icicles hang off a shed just beyond our attached garage with a side door.

Spent many an hour with a B-B gun and having fun with target practice.

No Dad, I don't know how that fascia board on the shed got those little peck marks, must've been my brother.

[StClone]

9. B-B Gun, Icicles...do you wear glasses?

Don't shoot your eye out!

[Pobeka]

11. It was about 15 ft away, the B-B guns weren't powerful enough to ricochet back.

But of course we could shoot our eyes out, it was a DAISY after all!

[Grey5]

7. You need to add lots more insulation,

losing heat through your roof is not good. It also helps with heat in summer.
I went for R-45 in our roof and it stopped the snow melt which then forms ice.
I have had people complain about how cold our house is in august ands we don't have AC. I know people complain about spending money on stuff you can't see but I've yet to hear anyone complain about cutting your heat and cooling bill in half. Just something to think about, it also helps your roof last longer if you don't have the ice build up.

[Siwsan]

10. I notice that the snow melt off of this metal roof is VERY different from the old shingle one

Just had it installed in late December and it's a dark brown so I think it's just a bit 'better' at absorbing the heat from the sun. We finally heated up into the 30's today, with lots of sunshine. This is the south face of the house. I don't have anything like this on the north side.

Last time we checked the insulation it was good, but I am going to have them check it, again. In fact, we were just talking about it, the other day.

I'm in the process of doing a whole lot of upgrading - I've replaced the roof, windows, doors, furnace/AC, well pump, well tank, water heater, and water softener. Whew! Come Spring I start on the inside aesthetics and also plan to have the aluminum siding painted. So what's another expense???

[Grey5]

12. Sounds like you are on the right track and making good decisions,

I agree with the metal roof. Best of luck.
Cheers.

[llmart]

17. I have those this year also, but not in prior years.

I've been in my house nine winters and only had icicles (not as spectacular as yours) one other year besides this one. For what it's worth, I insulated my house up the wazoo - attic, basement, rim joists, caulked everything I could find, stuffed insulation in other places, still I have some icicles. Our winter has been unusual in Michigan this year. January had very mild temps for us and more sunny days than I remember here. Then we had really cold nights. Every house I've ever owned the first thing I do is insulate to the hilt. Yes, it's expensive but worth it. I have two bump out areas in my house and I even paid a company to do the blown in foam in the rim joists under those bump outs. That was the most expensive part. I spent a lot of time in January down my basement checking everything for drafts and leaks and was on a ladder caulking, adding extra insulation. Every time I thought I was finished, I'd find another place to check and insulate and this was after I'd already done the basement the second winter I was here. Now that I "know" my house better, I recognized that I could have done things better. One of my houses had the electrical wire you place in the gutters.

My point is that even with all that I have icicles in the front of the house, but only over the front door area and the back of the house at one corner where the sun hits it most. I've concluded that I've done about as much as I can do and that this is just an anomaly. You could also get a roof rake since it looks like you have a ranch. I have done that in another house and you only have to get about the first foot or two or whatever you can reach. Just make sure you don't pull mountains of snow down on tender shrubs.

[Siwsan]

18. This has been a weird winter in Michigan.

I anticipate a lot of falling ice and snow, in the near future.

[yellowdogintexas]

13. Snoopy See below

http://snoopyandthegang.weebly.com/page-14.html

[Xipe Totec]

14. I had icicles hanging from my bougainvillea blooms a few days ago

Didn't get a chance to take a picture.

[Marcuse]

15. Throw some of these onto your roof.

[Siwsan]

16. I'll look into that

Our temperatures will be in the upper 30's by Monday.