Ice!

Now that the snow from the back roof is melting, flowing across the gutters at any exit point possible, and dripping down on the concrete that runs along the back of the house, to prevent the back concrete from being an ice slick John set up a series of 5-gal buckets to collect the dripping water. As the buckets fill, he drains them away from the concrete. What he found after removing the water from the buckets are fragile layers of ice crystals that when touched, collapse. This photo is of the ice crystals after draining the water and before touching the ice. A nudge with the finger sends them tinkling to the bottom like glass.
If you look closely, you can see that John is holding a large icicle that was attached to the back guttering. There are plenty more of these large icicles growing from the edges of our house.