The Blast

For days, the weather forecast hasn't been good. Over the past 24 hours, the rhetoric has become more severe. "Potentially catastrophic." "Storm of a lifetime." You get the picture... Central Indiana is to be hit with freezing rain and "considerable icing". Then the snow will hit. (My grandchildren in Zion, IL, are under a blizzard warning with the potential of 16 inches of snow or more.) Ice, wind, heavy snow, and bitter cold temps all make for the possibility of power outages, which is my biggest fear. I have been preparing for several days. *I have three oil lamps, fully loaded, with extra oil and extra wicks, and lots of matches. I have flashlights with relatively new batteries. I have plenty of food and toilet paper. Normally, the water would still work even if the power were out, but I have stockpiled some, just in case. All of the laundry is done. All of the dishes are washed. I have made a pot of chili. I have a gas stove which should work in a power outage as long as I manually light the burners. The snow shovel, sidewalk salt, windshield de-icer, and snowbrush/scraper are by the front door. I purchased a land-line telephone and have it hooked up in the living room. The cell phone is charged. I purchased extra batteries for a portable radio and hand-held amateur radio. Got my hair cut. I have plenty of blankets and a sleeping bag. I bought some yarn for a crochet project, and have both a book to read and a puzzle book to work, by lamplight, if need be. I even got some cash in case some delightful young entrepreneurs show up on my doorstep and want to shovel me out. In short, I've done everything I know how to do to prepare for this mess, which has a lot of hype on the media right now. *Please, God...I can handle deep snow. I can even handle ice. But I REALLY don't want to deal with a power outage! *Freezing rain is occurring in Plainfield right now. Here we go!