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Snow is something you expect. Dangerous but can be dealt with using common sense and caution. Ice is something you can’t do anything about. The only common sense and caution you have is to stay off of it. And we’re expected to get up to a 3/4 of an inch glaze. According to the weather radar we should start seeing it in about an hour from now. Between 8:00 and 9:00 this morning. So I called in to work. I actually had to. Because our plant CEO decided the plant will be open. Just because everything else is closed doesn’t mean we have to be. Why use common sense. It would be ironic justus if I hear our CEO slides off the road. Not that he’d get hurt. But just so he has that experience. We have employees that travel up to 45 minutes to get to work. There’s no way they’d make it in. Or home if they were to. But enough about work. 

Way back in the 70’s. We had an ice storm that closed everything down for almost a week. We had snow. Then rain paced that snow down to one inch of solid ice. With a good half inch of ice over the top of that. Nothing moved. Except us kids. Our yard was hilly. There was a back way between a friends house and ours. It was a purposed street that never happened. So we all called it an ally. One long down hill slope ending in our yard. It should be known that everyone’s yard was an acre or more. And with a yard between us this was an awesome sleigh ride. We’d start from his back porch. Go all the way down his yard. Make a sharp turn into the ally. Then end up at the bottom of the hill in our back yard. The ice made this sleigh ride impossible. All we would do is slam into the fence that separated that ally from the fields behind our homes. So we would start at the top of the hill in our back yard. Then slide part way up the opposite hill. Then like a pendulum end up in the small ditch between. The hard part was getting back up the hill side. That ice was rock solid. I don’t remember if the power went out. It would not have mattered. We had a wood stove for heat. And kerosene lamps. Kept the house warm and lit. Warm being the room that had the stove in it. That old house had the same insulation rating as a single pair of underwear. And the only heat circulation was the door ways between rooms. As a side note that’s why I love my thermostat. I haven’t kissed it yet. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have those feelings for it. If you’ve ever dealt with a wood stove as your only source of heat you would understand. Through the years I can remember a few really bad snow and ice storms. This one we’re about to have would be the worst. If it’s all they say it should be like the one we had in the 70’s. At least it will be a few days shorter. We didn’t have global warming so our winters used to stay cold. Not this -2 on one day. 70+ a few days later. And now an ice storm. But back up into the 50’s by Monday. Once it got cold it stayed cold. For weeks. Not a few days. So for the next few days I’ll be cabin bound. Hoping the electric stays on. I’ll still love my thermostat. Even if the electric goes out. That would be a small glitch in our relationship. Something that will end as soon and the power is back on. 

I stocked up four days ago. Even then the store shelves were being ravaged. Ended up with three kinds of bread. One Blue Bunny, one Colonial and one Wonder. Guess I can spend the next few days becoming a bread connoisseur. Plan on doing some cooking. Just incase the electric does go on the blink. Can always freeze it later. Really looking forward to everyone here caught in this mess staying warm and safe. 

Keep all good company. Rock on!

Cause the rat.