Monday, February 14, 2011

Snow Days


Now that the worst of the snow days have passed, it's time for a recap.

Since I checked my emergency food kit last fall and had plenty of groceries for regular daily use, the day before the big storm hit two weeks ago, I looked for what last minute items I'd need to see me through the rest of the week and, not needing anything, decided to be snowed in with a pan pizza from Pizza Hut. The pizza lasted two days.

Although I stayed in for the most part, there were a few times that I went outside just to get out. I've never had problems in fresh snow, but after it melts and refreezes overnight, walking gets dicey. I easily pulled the YakTrax Walkers onto my rain boots for the first time since I bought them in 2009 and really like how they bit into the icy snow and secured my footing. My appreciation tripled after hearing another woman slipped and fell, breaking a leg in two places. She's due to have surgery next week.

After the roads were cleared of the worst, I went to buy a few perishables such as bread, cheese, and bananas. Either I was too early and the store hadn't been restocked or other customers had already purchased the same items I wanted preparatory to the following week's snow storm that turned out to be a lot milder. I lucked out on bread probably only because I wanted wheat; all the white bread was gone.

Another store had bananas so green, I decided to buy grapes instead.

While unloading my few groceries, I visited with a woman who said she and her sister went to the store to stock up the day before the big snow storm hit and found it such a madhouse, they put their children in the shopping carts to protect them from the other customers' pushing and shoving. She said all the bottled water was gone.

I gave my report and was secretly glad I was able to skip buying groceries until after the big storm when the store was a lot calmer.

Being prepared is well worth it!

The only glitch was that a book I want to read is more expensive as an ebook than as a discounted paperback. Since buying the paperback was a spur-of-the-moment impulse, and I wasn't sure of the title, I didn't get it thinking there were enough copies on the rack for me to get it when I returned after the next snow storm if it was the one I hadn't yet read.

Surprise, surprise! Not only was "The Brass Verdict" by Michael Connelly completely sold out when I returned after last week's snow storm, there was only one copy of his "Nine Dragons" left. Obviously, other people had the same idea about reading through the snow storms that I had.

I passed the time during the snow storms and waiting for the roads to reopen by watching TV, downloading an MP3 Bible, reading several ebooks including "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" by Anne Bronte and Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The House of the Seven Gables" and playing Solitaire on my Kindle.


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