let the storm rage on in 2013-2014

Icedoom is upon us.

The exact numbers keep changing, but a few inches to half a foot of snow, and between half an inch and an inch of ice are on deck. It sleeted most of the morning and early afternoon, and stuck. It's still accumulated on leaves and on my windshield wipers. We had a snow day today and another one tomorrow. I wouldn't be surprised to have one Thursday, or at the VERY least, a delayed start. We're being warned of widespread, long-lasting power outages. The word 'catastrophic' is being thrown around. I took Sheppy out in the sleet when I got up today and he hated it. It collected on his back, and by the end of the walk, he was shaking.

I'm not all too concerned. I've gone through at least a dozen hurricanes. This ice storm might take out my power, but it won't demolish my house and everything in it. Worst case scenario, a tree falls on my rented two-story townhouse. There's no flood surge. I won't drown in my room. There's no wind to rip my roof off and send razor-sharp street signs through my windows. No tornadoes hiding beneath the roar of a constant wind. This doesn't scare me. It won't even get bitterly cold; just maybe 5 degrees or so below freezing. And this city is way too snotty and hipster'd to riot properly. (Looters? I have a German Shepherd, a gun, and a brick of ammo.)

I went shopping last week, before the panic set in. I'm stocked with potatoes, loaves of bread, beer, soda, juice, wine, all sorts of things to keep me hydrated. I have sandwich stuff, cereal stuff, junk food, My freezer is packed to retain cold better and most of the stuff in my fridge will live, as my milk isn't even dairy. I have 40 lbs of cat litter and full bags of dog and cat food. There's a blanket over my bedroom window. I've cleaned the tub and it's ready to fill with water. I found what's maybe the last tub of salt in Athens and it's ready to deploy tonight. I have a PILE of blankets and coats, and all my sweatshirts and warm clothes are clean now. Probably tomorrow I'll start filling containers with drinking water and packing the leftover casserole for the freezer. I have paper plates and paper towels, everything has a charger, and my car with its full tank of gas has adapters if I need them. I ran out earlier for Oreos and white cheddar popcorn (because WHY NOT) and that's when I found the salt. There was no salt to be found anywhere yesterday and the turn-lane for Walmart was backed up 100 meters. Publix is sneaky.

I've been talking with Kacy. We think I've hit everything. I'll make the box fort tomorrow. I'm still sorting out how to engineer that properly. So now I'm sitting under my reptile heat light (you read that right) drinking a beer. I've also ducted the waste heat from my desktop computer to my feet, so I'm pretty comfortable right now. Might even paint my nails, since the hard work is done.

(Heat light, ducting, ducting tape: Under $30 total. Natch.)

So now I'm... just waiting. And grateful for everyone who gave me blankets three years in a row for Christmas! And equally thankful for hurricane experience, which is the best natural disaster training imaginable. You don't realize how important it is to have the laundry and dishes and everything clean until you can't do them and you're starting out with 3 days' worth of backup. I don't have a camping stove because they're like $50 and everything will melt by the weekend (60 degrees Sunday?!), but I have an LED camping lantern. (No candles. They're a fire hazard and Lena already burned half her whiskers off on one.)

I wish I had Aaron around as a heater, but we'll be okay. He's potentially icy, too, but not nearly as bad as inland areas.

In other words, LOL FLORIDA TRAINED ME FOR AN ICE STORM.