What in the World Was *THAT*?!

Christmas morning, standing in the kitchen, I heard a loud boom and felt a bit of shaking.  I thought something fell on the roof, but saw nothing when I looked around.  The following day, the Saint Albans Messenger posted a query on their FB page asking if anyone had heard a loud boom Christmas morning.  Many people responded from area towns with different times for the occurrence.  

It turned out to be Cryoseisms, or ice quakes.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryoseism  The water underground freezes and expands, putting pressure on the rock, which is released as an explosion.  There were many all over Vermont, but all of the news articles Google turned up were from Canada.

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Here are some pictures from the ice storm which left us without electricity for just over 60 hours leading up to Christmas and then on the 26th for about fifteen hours.  It's gorgeous out, but I feel just awful to see so many trees bent over and broken.  

I'm worried about the cherries and blueberries.  I didn't realize there would be growth on them at this time of year.  

Here are some shots after the ice storm and after the first snowfall.  We've had more snow since then today.