Celebrate!

Happy winter solstice! It's officially winter now, in case you had any doubts.

With three days to go until Christmas, the weather guys are forecasting, well, a mess for the rest of the week. Rain, freezing rain with ice accumulation and heavy snow all appear to be headed our way as a monster storm system stomps across the Midwest.

I hate ice. I hate ice like Indiana Jones hates snakes.

"Ice. Why does it have to be ice?" Sorry, Indy.

Tonight I'll be in full storm prep mode. Snow storms don't bother me. Ice storms bother me. I'm still in therapy from the ice storm that knocked out our power for a week in February 2007. I really don't want to do that again.

So my theory is, if we're prepared, it won't happen. That means making a grocery store run tonight after work, stocking up on batteries and food that doesn't need cooking, digging out the lanterns and candles (yippee, camping in the house!), finding extra blankets for the bed and yeah, my stocking cap and Carhartts to wear around the house if we lose power. The Carhartts are NOT overkill. Ever sit around in a 40 degree house for a week? Body fat is not a bad thing.

At least now we have rural water at our place so we're not dependent on an electric well pump for running water. Granted, it will be cold water if the power stays out very long but I can heat it up on the grill if it comes to that. I can also grill a pizza! Oh, the things I learned in '07 . . .

Hopefully, the whole system will fizzle or turn to snow and skip the ice part totally. What are the odds?

By the way, the new header pic is the last of the Christmas card picture outtakes. The Santa hat is no longer with us.