Old man winter...I kind of like him~

I wished the recent snowstorm had hit during the day so I could have watched it unfold. Instead, I woke four times in the night and moved from window to window to watch the snow pile up. My husband slept through the excitement—not that he considers a snowstorm exciting.

He doesn’t share my love of storms. Not many do, it seems. They wreak havoc, of this I’m aware, and I don’t want to have people or their homes harmed. But still, I look forward to storms from the moment the TV meteorologists begin their warning hype, and I feel gypped somehow if they fizzle.

When the power went out in a recent storm, my husband gave me a grumpy look, as if my love of storms somehow had the power to stop electrons from flowing through wires.

“And you like this?” he says.

I do!

We shoveled, kept the woodstove burning, lit the gas burners on the kitchen stove with matches, so we were warm and well fed. But by afternoon the power had been out for 12 hours, and it seemed less and less likely that it would be restored before dark with so many outages across the region to be dealt with.

We could live without the Internet and TV for a while, but we decided to brave the slippery roads to get some batteries so we could at least read. Sharing the lantern wouldn’t work, and candles are hard to read by--Abe Lincoln and Laura Ingalls Wilder not withstanding.

Off we went to Home Depot where my husband discovered near the battery display some LED lights on head bands, perfect for reading because there would be no need to hold a flashlight and book at the same time.

We pulled into our driveway, but before we got out of the car, the lights went on in the house.

My husband looked disappointed. He wouldn’t get to try his new light.

Although it seems that this winter we may get several more chances.

Just a minute ago a TV announcer said, “Old Man Winter is showing the Northeast no mercy. Another storm is on the way.”

Then he entreated us to stay tuned to “find out how bad it could be.”

I will!

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There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm. ~Willa Cather

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~Upstream and Down~

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