Not again.....

Our ice storm was bad, but not catastrophic. We did not lose power, although it flickered enough to make it seem likely. 

The following morning, the sleet had stopped, but it was quite icy. The main roads were clear, salted and gritted. We had to go into town. One of the rentals had a kitchen faucet problem.

We also were due at Tim's daughter's to celebrate with his kids and the grandsons and we were worried about being late, but luckily, the repair was small and required just one trip to Lowe's. Nobody fell on the ice, which almost seemed worse in town. We got where we needed to be at the time we were supposed to be there. His son was late. His truck was iced over. 

It was a nice afternoon. The visiting was easy. The meal was nice. Everyone seemed to enjoy their gifts. But we didn't dare to stay long. The temperature was starting to drop once again. 

We did one last quick stop and took advantage of the post Christmas sales. I bought a half dozen rolls of wrapping. I bought 3 boxes of Christmss cards for next year. I bought replacement gift boxes, 25 of them, for the ones that invariably wind up going out the door or getting damaged during the great unwrap. I picked up the mega pack of scotch tape. I spent about $40, but I was picking up about half of that wrap for my sister. What did not occur to me is that she is retired now and was able to do her own post Christmas shopping. I have just bought myself nearly 700 feet of wrapping paper. I told Tim that I probably will not need to buy wrapping paper for 2 or 3 years.

We got home safely and skated the things into the house. It was 31 degrees, but overnight, the temps were supposed to rise. It was supposed to begin raining, 3 inches during the day, the temperatures reaching a startling 55 degrees. 

So far they've been right. The rain has been torrential. Tim's church was canceled due to the ice under all that standing water. 

I am about to head for bed. While we are sleeping. the wind is supposed to pick up considerably, with 65 mph gusts. The winds will last through untul Tuesday night. Coming with that is a 15° temperature drop and a for day snow event event is predicted on top of everything else.

I am grateful for our snug little house and the fact that the regulator Tim installed on the gas seems to have done the trick. We haven't lost heat for nearly 2 weeks. (Andrew, our heating stove works like a radiator. The gas warms ceramic plates which hold the heat and radiate it. It has a thermostat so that the temperature can be adjusted. Once the ambient air reaches the desired temperature, the flames that heats the plates switch off. The pilot will automatically telight them when the house cools down. No electricity is needed, so even if the power goes out, the house stays warm. The stove is in the basement, so the heat radiates through the floor and up the basement stairwell.)

Now, we are just settled in to see what mother nature serves up. It looks like another baddy. I am grateful that our freezer and pantry are well stocked and that we have no place we need to be.