Monday, January 26, 2009

People get ready

Ice has started accumulating on mailboxes, trash cans, fallen leaves, even my umbrella when I folded it up after my walk home. The big winter storm that's socking the middle of the country right now has us right on its icy fringe, teetering between the frozen and the fluffy.

Forecast is for freezing rain starting to accumulate a layer of ice tonight, then getting heavier and thicker tomorrow. I suspect that school will be closed tomorrow for the kids at least, and probably for me as well. That could last into Wednesday, threatening one of my precious film classes -- a course that meets once a week is really disrupted by cancellations.

An ice storm is the worst of all possible worlds. The kids can't go out to make snowmen; they're stuck inside. You can't drive. Power lines tend to go down, and with them, most of the things that make being inside bearable for long periods of time.

This could be a nasty one, but at least the duration is limited; we should be in the clear by Thursday (when I'm supposed to fly out for Atlanta). We'll cross our fingers that the power stays on (or goes out only briefly) and the danger passes. If you don't hear from me at my regularly scheduled blogging times, you'll know that we're gathered around the fire trying to remember what people did before electricity.

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