Well, I had received a preflight briefing. No mention of T Storms or
ice. I was below the freezing level. Now you see, if I had KNOWN what
was going to happen to me BEFORE I went into that cloud, I would not
have done it. But I didn't KNOW ahead of time that I would get ice. I
thought it would just be rain and maybe a little bumpy.

Also, I was on my flight plan. My route took me through the cloud.
Flying through clouds is what IFR flying is all about. I didn't see any
lightning. It was a towering cumulus. I'd never had one of those in my
path before. The preflight briefer said it was "just rain".

If I encountered one of those now, assuming I could see it ahead of
time, I'd request a diversion around it. That decision is based on
experience. My experience made me wiser than I was previous to this
event.

It is possible to be ignorant even though one is intellegent, by the
way. Ignorance means one just does not know, is not informed on the
subject on hand. Not that one is stupid or unable to understand the
subject. And the fact that I was ignorant on this subject does not mean
I was ignorant of the entire subject of weather. I was never told not
to fly into towering cumulus clouds. I was told not to fly into
thunderstorms. I believed and still believe there is a difference.

The whole reason I posted was to share my experience with others. Not
to set myself up for ridicule because of my ignorance. I am sorry you
took it that way.