Everything is shut down. There's several inches of snow and ice on the ground and more is still falling, yet slowly. The kids have had snowball fights, made sleds from storage containers, and generally worn themselves out. The School's computer has already called to inform us that school will be closed tomorrow as well. We didn't get much snow when I lived in Arkansas so I wasn't expecting this, not in Atlanta. Atlanta, Georgia that is.
Snowstorms were predicted days in advance. Some didn't believe there'd be bad weather while others got prepared. To me, it was like history repeating itself. Weathermen had predicted the ice storm of 2000 days before it hit. Back in 2000 I was one of the skeptics. We'd never had a serious ice storm before so why would we have one now. I was proven wrong. The ice came suddenly, knocked down healthy tree branches, which in turn knocked down power lines. Some people were out of electricity for over a week.
I decided to be prepared in case we lost power. I sent Andrea out to gather more wood. We determined the oven rack could be used in the fireplace as a grate. I inventoried the food we already had that would be easy to cook in a fireplace. I went to the store to buy more food and wood. I felt foolish doing these things because the sun was out and the sky was bright blue. We left most of the food on the table so we could easily find it in the dark if necessary. We were ready so we waited.
The blowing snow finally showed up last night. There was more snow than I'd have expected to get in Atlanta. There was about four or five inches out there. Andrea, a neighbor boy and I went out to play in it. This was good snow. It was almost powder. Snowballs fell apart on contact without hurting when they hit you. I figured it was time for me to go in when Andrea said she was going to go get some more friends. They had a great time and came in cold and wet.
The snow changed to sleet overnight. I could hear the sleet hitting the windows this morning. I turned on the radio to hear the commentary on the storm. I've always enjoyed listening to such things. The announcer talked alot about abandoned cars on the roads and freeways. This is a foreigh concept for me. I don't know if people in Arkansas stayed with their cars or just didn't leave home in the first place. It seems to me if the weather and/or roads are so bad to make you think about leaving your car; you'd think again and decide to stay with it afterall.
So far we still have electricity so I'm happy. I will get comfortable and watch The Walton's tonight. Goodnight everyone.
