Zoo Talk: Riding out the winter storm

It's Friday evening now and there's no way for me to get to work. The roads are simply too icy, and it's been snowing on top of all the ice. This makes for a dangerous driving condition. It's especially dangerous when you think about the steep hills and curves I have to negotiate to get into Town.

Son called earlier to check on me. He wondered if I would be at work, but I told him no. He's not going to his regular store to work, either. I suppose he'll work at my store tonight.

I'm doing ok so far.

The power is still on, although it did flicker off for a second earlier. I went out to my truck, beat the ice off the doors with a broom handle, and fetched in the emergency stove and some of the fuel canisters for it. I also got the wind-up lantern and charged the battery on it by winding it for about a minute. It will give me light for 20 minutes on a charge.

If the power does fail tonight, I'll cover the kitchen doorway with a quilt and keep all the heat I can in the living room/dining area. It's a fairly small area so I think I'll be ok. I'll also keep the bathroom and bedroom doors closed so the heat will stay in here where I am.

If all else fails, I'll hook up the big inverter in my truck and charge my phones and laptop with that, with the truck running. I got extra gasoline last night so I would have enough to run the truck for awhile. It doesn't use much even overnight just sitting and idling.

I've got plenty of coffee, tea, cider, and hot chocolate mix to keep me warm inside. I've also got soups and some frozen leftovers to eat. I figure I'll make a pan of biscuits to do me the rest of the weekend, since it looks like we won't start thawing out until Sunday (which is probably when you'll be reading this!)