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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Holy Snowballs!!!

What?

.

My son is talking on his cellphone at 630am. Is there school???....why shouldn't there be school??

.

Look out window.

.

What?

.

It lightening and thundered last night....when and how and where did this stuff come from? Here in the south.....we haven't had a single ice or snow storm all year.

.

Alas...my stupid little prized geraniums I kept in the garage all winter and watched over. I put them out last night to catch the rain.....not two inches of snow. They may be goners. How's that for ironic?

My son....a senior in high school....but still wanting to be the first one to make tracks in the snow.

Damn....I just put the pillows out on the lawn furnture.

~~~~