Brrrr...Baby It Is Cold Outside

I'm sure none of you are aware of this, but those of us located in North Texas have been hit by a bit of a winter. I'm sure if you are from the Great White North (any place north of the Red River) you can't understand how a little snow and ice can pretty much shut a state down, but it can.

It has been quite the learning experience for me. First, I get a call from my Dad (and Mom) last night wanting to remind me that I needed to open up my bathroom cabinets and let air get to the pipes as well as set them to drip to keep the pipes from freezing and bursting (luckily, I already knew to cover up my faucets outside and unhook my water hose...unlike my next door neighbor). I then learned about power outages.... This morning, I'm working away and suddenly every light goes off and I realize that I have no power. First thing I do is get my flashlight, which I have a number of, throw on some clothes because I really didn't want to have to address this grown up situation in my flannel jammies. Next, I call my Dad.... Yes, step one in handling things as a grown up is to call my Daddy..... Since he is an hour and a half away with no traffic there really isn't much he can do for me aside from instructing me to call the power company. I call them and find out that I'm not alone.... I then check Facebook and learn from The Queen that there are rolling power outages (she later instructed me that I should ALWAYS check Facebook first). So, I hang up with the power company and decide to hunker down with my flashlight/headlamp and a good book but then the power comes back on and dang it all....I have to go back to work.

I did take a break this afternoon, to try and clean off my front stoop as it is a total sheet of ice (as is my driveway, yard, back porch, and all points in between). Turns out that I really can't do a whole lot of ice removal from a porch when all I have is my car's ice-scraper.... As you can see from the below picture, I did manage to dig out my door mat so there is a single spot where I can see the concrete and stand without sliding away....

I admit, I love being home....I may have mentioned in the past that I'm a bit of a hermit....but I also don't like being quite this stranded. I hope all the rest of you are staying safe and warm.