
This past week Virginia was in the bulls-eye of what was to be a major ice storm. I can tell you I don’t mind snow, but ice? That means one thing. Power loss.
I don’t like losing power. It’s not just because the lights are off, and I can’t use my stove. It’s because my home is heated by electricity, and we have no fireplace or wood stove (much to my chagrin), so when we lose power, it gets freakin’ cold in my house.
About 10 years back, we had a major snowstorm…I’m talking a foot or more of snow…and for my region of VA, it made life come to a complete standstill. And, we lost power. FOR 3 DAYS. I learned how to boil water for tea on my grill, I cooked soup on my grill. We ate a lot of ham sandwiches. And it dropped to 45° INSIDE my house. The entire family slept together on our pull-out sofa to keep warm, and on Super Bowl Sunday, at halftime, our power came back on.
The next spring we purchased a grill with a side burner. Just in case.
So, when the Weather Channel was calling for an inch or more of ice, I began to dread being stuck in my icebox of a house. As the storm hit, and freezing rain continued to fall, I kept my fingers crossed. Noon had come and gone, and we still had power. I made some soup for lunch. Then dinner came and we still had power, and I turned to my husband and said, “I think we dodged a bullet.”
He agreed. The storm was way less impactful than predicted, and I was one warm, happy clam about it. I’m glad it’s almost March.