Tuesday, January 27

Since predictions were for an ice storm this morning, we slept late and awoke to ice laden trees and power lines. Right after a breakfast of hot Cream of Wheat, I hopped on the treadmill.

Hubbie helped Mother come over, though her porch and the yard weren't slick. We didn't accomplish much this morning. We watched weather reports, while Mother completed a birthday card she started yesterday, and I browsed through a new scrapbook magazine.

After lunch, Mother and I, in no mood to start a project, decided to watch the musical movie, "Annie," starring Carol Burnett and Albert Finney, that I bought in another town last Saturday. We got about half way through the movie when the power went off. It was 2:30 p.m.

Hubbie called the power company, and after an hour passed and there was still no electricity, he went out to the shed to get the kerosene heater. But when he tried to light it, he found that it was inoperable. So he went out to the camper to turn the heat on, but found that the 12-volt batteries were dead.

Since the roads were clear, Hubbie went around town searching for another kerosene heater. None to be found anywhere. At one store, he was told they had received about 300 calls for heaters today.

So he stopped by an auto parts store to purchase two new batteries. The store owner came by and helped Hubbie change out the batteries. Finally, around 4:30 p.m., we had heat and lights in the camper. I gathered our supper, a battery-operated radio, and card games, and then we helped Mother and Shih Tzu get to the camper.

The corn chowder that I'd had the foresight to cook last night tasted good, served with the banana muffins Mother had made. For dessert, we had canned pear halves, topped with cottage cheese and marichino cherries.

Around 6 p.m., the power came back on. But we stayed in the camper and played a couple of games of Skipbo while we waited for ours and Mother's houses to warm up after three and a half hours without power. I made a batch of trail mix (Cheerios, walnuts, Craisins, stick pretzles, and chocolate chips) for us to snack on as we played. I won both games, and then Mother was ready to go to her house.

The steps on the camper were very slick, and while Mother had no problem going up them, her feet slid on the way down, and I had to grab her under her arms to steady her. She was afraid I'd injure my back helping her, but I squatted down and used only my legs and arms to hold her. It's times like this that I'm glad I stick with my treadmill schedule to strengthen my legs, and use weights and an elastic band to strengthen my arms.

However, we should have bought boxes of ice cream salt to de-ice steps. That'll definitly be on my next shopping list. It seems as though no matter how prepared we try to be, we are never prepared enough...for ice storms, or for tornado weather.

Tomorrow is predicted to be even worse than today, with more ice forming overnight, along with the possibility of snow. Snow we don't mind nearly as much as ice, because ice breaks the trees and downs power lines. Today, we could hear the shotgun sounds of limbs cracking and falling. A few small limbs fell on the roof. What we fear, though, are large limbs crashing on top of the house, possibly causing damage.

I didn't take my camera outside today, though I might in the morning.