A Lemony Snicket/Series of Unfortunate Events End of the Year.....

 Two lane roads reduced to one slick side with trees down on each side.

The two lane road in back of my house.....same thing...down to one lane...with numerous trees down.

Well....what a couple of weeks....I was diligently working on all my parents stuff in that PODS unit on the driveway....and gettin' a little crazy with dealing day in and day out with stuff....WHEN....we had rain that turned to ice which turned to snow.  

That's a big no no in the South....we aren't equipped....most folks don't know how to drive on it....and our trees and vegetation aren't suited to this type of abuse...and they get their revenge on us by falling over and talking out the power.

Which is exactly what happened.  Xmas day....we were lucky....we ate a nice warm breakfast....but the snow piling up outside and the weatherman shouting about "historic" snowfall gave everyone a bad feeling. ( We actually thought of starting a drinking game based on the idea that every time the weatherman said it was a "historic" snowfall we had to chug a lug.)

 Little by little....the TV was filled with local broadcasts of trees falling down and transformers blowing up.  Since we live in a relatively new development in our city down South our utilities are underground.  This has saved us during many a weather crisis.  But by evening of Xmas day.....our lights started blinking.  We ate dinner early....to make sure we could have a warm dinner.....and watched a DVD....but each time the power blinked....our first thought was "Oh No....are we next?"

Shortly after midnight...with the power and heat still on....we saw a bluish flash outside.....There's a huge transformer station about a mile away....and pooof!  there went the power.  Geez...it gets cold quickly....outside temps were about 25 degrees and the heat didn't stay around too long.   

But hub and I didn't get to freeze in the house too long...because by morning I got sick....very sick.....and said to my hub....."I think I need to go to the ER".....which was, of course, not an easy task....since there was about 8 inches of snow/ice on very iffy roads....plus we live on top of a small hill in a hilly area of town.  

But....we bravely hopped into the Subaru....and made it to the ER....where after an 9 hour wait...I was given three shots plus antibiotics to go home on.  By now it was dark.....everything had frozen over again....so we had a rather slow and wild ride home.  But we were able to get up our hill....and I immediately crashed into bed.  Fortunately our power came back on...I think if I had to stay in a frozen house....we would have had to pack up and head a couple hours out of town to find a hotel (they were all packed in the city) so I could keep warm. 

As the ice somewhat melted over the next few days....we could see the damage to our own leafy environment.....one massive pine tree down which fortunately fell onto the street versus the house....two beautiful evergreens split in half...and several other trees in need of help.  Sad....I love the greenness of our landscape and the abundance of plants but they really took a hit.

So New Years Eve...found me with a toe mending from a break....a serious infection finally waning....a broken landscape....boxes that I couldn't attend to sitting in my kitchen.....and a prohibition against alcohol... till I'm off my antibiotics .....that's a lot of Snickety events in a few short weeks.

But it could have been worse...I have friends that have gone with power for 6 days....(and almost lost their minds).....I see other homes where tree damage is worse.....I wasn't hospitalized....the kids are okay......the dogs settled down (they went berserk during the ice and snow storm for some reason)...and in the next day or two...we will send out our holiday cards....I'll start my resolutions a little later.....and I'll make myself a BIG drink to toast the December of Unfortunate Events....now all ...thankfully.....gone.

   
 

It's here.

The ice arrived around 6:15am....actually it arrived earlier in the night....but I knew it was here when our home phone rung.

My hub works for the state and when they shut down departments/agencies/offices....a robo caller phones us to say basically....wake up so I can tell you to go back to sleep because you have the day off because of bad weather.

That's what happened this morning.... except I left the portable phone somewhere down the hall ....which meant hub heard the phone ringing....got out of bed and starting wandering around and muttering things....probably about me not putting the phone back in the cradle. The robo caller is not very patient and within another minute his cell starting ringing. He got back in bed....but then the cell phone rang again and again and again....as different employees wanted to clarify how to proceed. By the 5th call....I just groaned to him..."Do you want to make coffee or should I?"

As we sipped our coffee, the next problem confronted us. I knew this storm was coming and like any good Southerner....I went to the store to stock up on milk and bread.

Stocking up on milk and bread is a Southern tradition and I give the routine a Midwestern spin by including cookie dough and cereal.

God forbid we should run out of Raisin Bran cause if there is one thing you do have time to do on an ice storm day...it's poop.

But obviously I had forgotten something......I tried to ignore her....but that wasn't going to work.

Meow Meow Meow Meow Meow.

Oh there was dry cat food......but we were all out of canned cat food....and the obligatory life-sustaining lump of salmon pate did not arrive in kitty's bowl this morning.

Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow.

I read the newspaper on line, I opened the mail, but as soon as kitty saw me.....she let me have it.

Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow.

Finally at noon, when the sleet stopped ( the pellets of ice made a sizzling sound....like bacon frying in pan), I declared I would drive to grocery store a couple miles away and get some cat food.

In one second, the men folks were all lined up and ready to leave too. Wait...Wait...I'm just going for cat food....I protested.

But the men folks declared they had been cooped up all day ( which means about 4 hours) and needed air.

So we all drove down to the store....where I bought 14 cans of canned cat food and decided I was dangerously low on chocolate.

After a warm cozy lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.....the men folks retreated to various nooks in the house while I became glued to the season's ending of Storm Chasers on the Weather Channel. Will the tornado chasers have an "intervention" with a tornado allowing them to film the funnel cloud as they pass through it...or will they have to wait for another season?

Oh the drama .....and I couldn't turn away.....2 hours later.....the answer was clear. They sort of got what they needed....but not enough..... so by golly they will have to film another series next year.

All this ambivalent goal achievement allowed me to wander off.....without purpose. I did a little of this and a little of that.....and time flew by and I'm not sure what I really accomplished....outside of giving the Raisin Bran a quiet day to work in my intestines.

Tomorrow though... will bring new challenges ... ...

it's snowing now....and an ice and snow combo will cause most of us Southerners to feel so faint ....only an intravenous infusion of milk and bread could revive us.
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Waiting for the Ice Storm to Arrive.

Winter in the South....

I don't know why I try and save the geraniums.

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They're cheap... replaceable... just ordinary flowers.

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They sit in old clay pots with cracks and nicks and white lines etched by hard water.

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As the temperature started to drop yesterday, I passed them by and shrugged.

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So die this year....I'm too busy to fuss over you.

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But this afternoon, when the first ping of sleet pellets hit the window, I threw open the front

door.....and hauled them into the foyer.

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Leaves....dirt.....mulch....scattered on the oriental rug.

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I placed a couple of plastic bags on the carpet in the living room.....and moved them over...

their leggy arms reaching for the door and their former life.

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The ice thickens on the sidewalk tonight, the house is cold and feels dark

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the heater hums and we are all huddled together

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dogs....plants....people

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perhaps I am superstitious

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or prone to magical thinking

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but I am just an ordinary person too

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in a flawed and weather shell

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and like everyone

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I hope my presence

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in the lives of people I know and have been connected to

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is valuable enough

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to be saved.

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