Friday, January 12, 2007

Ice, Ice Baby . . . Winter Blast 2007

Anyone who has ever been to the Great State of Oklahoma knows that if you don't like the weather, just wait a minute and it will change. This is so true! Yesterday it was 71 degrees and very windy. Today I am sitting at home because a major ice storm is upon us. I had planned to go into work for a while to get some things done, but the storm is moving faster than expected and the roads will be freezing soon. I did manage to drop MissDub off at school before returning home. I did my grocery shopping on Thursday morning before work to stock up on the necessities (which was 4 boxes of SpecialK Red Berries). I've become addicted to cereal and want to eat it at every meal. I guess their slogan is correct that if you replace 2 meals a day with SpecialK, you will lose up to 8 lbs in 2 weeks. Worked for me, I've lost 8 lbs, 1" from my waist and 1 1/2" from my hips. Only problem now is that MissDub is also eating it, so we're going through a box a day. I guess they're are worse things we could be eating. Back to my storm update . . . I had to go to 2 stores this morning to find milk and bread. I grabbed the last loaf of bread off the shelf at Homeland. Yikes, I guess this is going to be serious. They are predicting that we will have freezing rain, sleet and high winds (which will cause power lines to snap). We could possibly be without power over the weekend. Although we use propane for our heat, oven and hot water tank, everything else is electric. We have a water well, but it has an electric well pump. It's times like this that the generation gap becomes apparent. So far, during my 40+ years on earth, things have been pretty convenient. I've always enjoyed color TV (although I was the remote for my dad -- thank goodness there were only 3 channels). We always had air conditioning and indoor plumbing. I do remember a time before microwaves, CDs, cell phones and believe it or not, the Internet!!! I guess that makes me old. My point is that I've never learned to be prepared for "what if". Living in Oklahoma, we've had our fair share of disasters (natural and otherwise), and through them all, I've managed to be okay. We've been inconvenienced by not having power for a few hours or no phone service, but never anything serious (thankfulness inserted here). I got really upset at my mother last night when she called to ask me if I had taken care of groceries, batteries, flashlight, water, matches, etc., and then she proceeded to go through every possible doomsday scenario with me. Yes mother, I bought groceries, no mother, I don't have a generator, yes mother, I realize it would be much easier to just pack our bags and come and stay at your house, but we can't always do that. I've got responsibilities that force me to stick close to home. Yes, in a perfect world, SgtDub wouldn't be 7000 miles away fighting in a war zone, but he is, and he's not here to protect us at the moment. If he was here, we would have everything necessary to make it through the storm. At least we have a home to protect us from the elements, we currently have heat, clothing, food and running water. If that does not continue to be the case, then I believe we'll survive (at least for a couple of days anyway). SgtDub left some yummy MRE (meals ready to eat) in the garage, and I've got plenty of bottled water. So folks, if you don't hear from me in a few days, you'll know that I'm sitting in the dark, in the boonedocks, freezing my butt off. I think next time I'll be prepared for "what if". P.S. Mom I'm sorry I barked at you, and I love you (and I would rather be curled up at your house)

2 comments:

Lee Ann aka Dixie said...

You can just keep that snow and ice right there in Oklahoma... don't want that here in Tennessee. Have a good weekend... it's suppose to rain all weekend here and then turn cold on Monday.

Sarge Charlie said...

Ice is the worst of storms, every thing just snaps off