It looks like the first Snowmageddon and Icemageddon of the year are about to hit us (well, maybe the second Icemageddon, if you count the first as being what ICE is up to in Minnesota, Maine and elsewhere). The stores around here are pretty much sold out of anything that looks like ice scrapers, snow brushes, windshield de-icing fluid, and so on. Firewood is at a premium, propane gas cylinders are being refilled until the suppliers run out, and appliances using propane, white fuel or kerosene are in short supply.
I haven't had to buy much, as we're pretty well supplied most of the time. I just have to bring into the house enough firewood for a couple of days, a propane cookstove and small heater in case the power goes out, and charge up our battery power banks, which should give us two days or so of portable electric power if needed. Our generator decided not to start when I tested it, so I picked up the necessary bits and pieces to service it tomorrow. It shouldn't be too hard to get it going.
It does look as if this is going to be a very big, very widespread storm. Those of you in the path of the heaviest predicted ice and snow, which looks to be from southern Oklahoma and north-eastern Texas through to Washington D.C. and surrounding area, please be careful. Ice beneath heavy snow is a really nasty thing to encounter - particularly when the snow turns to slush, but the ice beneath is still frozen. Skid city!
(One of my favorite memories of my time in Louisiana was the New Year of 2000 - or was it 2001? At any rate, I had to drive from Winnfield to Monroe to attend a medical examination for my green card (permanent resident permit), which I couldn't miss because it would knock me out of the process until another could be scheduled. There was an ice storm the day and night before. When I got up next morning, the world was white and sparkly, and the roads were pretty frozen. I had no choice but to drive, so I left two hours early in my rear-wheel-drive pickup and drove the whole way, very gingerly, at about 20-25 mph. The whole way up, I passed four-wheel-drive pickups in the ditch, one every few hundred yards. Louisiana state police were in attendance at many of them, and I learned some new words from some of them about rednecks and Cajuns - or worse, Cajun rednecks! - who thought they could drive on ice as they normally did, so long as they did so in four-wheel-drive. Of course, all that got them was a four-wheel skid! I made it safely to Monroe, albeit with a few scares and slides, and made it back the same way. Not fun!)
Anyway, I hope and pray all of you are (and will continue to be) safe and well, and warmly bundled up against the snow and ice. Power failures are forecast to be widespread, so if this blog doesn't come up for a few days, that'll probably be the reason. (I may have emergency power at home, but the Internet service will probably be down.) I'll see you when I see you.
Peter
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