This picture says it all. It’s what our cars outside look like. The same can be said for our driveway, our roof—the trees look amazingly beautiful, but we’re starting to hear those cracks and crashes as limbs weighted down with ice begin to break!

I live in South-ish Central Arkansas. For days, forecasters have been warning us about a cold front that would dump ice-sleet-snow on our region and that there would be power outages across the state. Already 14,000 are without power in this region.

Well, the rains started last night. Early this a.m., the temps were at 32 degrees, and that’s the high for the day. Already, we’re below freezing, and it’s supposed to wind up in the teens before the end of the day. Some of y’all who live up north think that’s not a big deal. But here, where we’re not winter-hardened, it’s an ice-pocalypse! My daughter and I drew up a plan early yesterday to get ready, which included:

1. Buy propane for the outside grill
2. Buy food which doesn’t need refrigeration (Of course, that included lots of snacks!)
3. Buy paper plates and cups (Who wants dirty dishes to pile up on the counter?!)
4. Buy straw for the goat’s hut
5. Buy extra horse and goat feed
6. Board up the window in the barn so the horse will stay warm in the lean-to
7. Pre-position the generator and purchase gas to run it (that will power only our refrigerator and our cellphone chargers!)
8. Run pool so the pipes and the pool water don’t freeze
9. Gather all flashlights and lanterns and make sure they don’t need batteries.

Check, check, check, the effing-check… We’re ready.

My dd and I were up early this morning because power was still on, so the priority was COFFEE.

The power flickered off around an hour ago. We saw power company trucks drive by, half an hour later, the power is back on. We made more coffee.

We expect power to go off and stay off sometime today because conditions are expected to worsen.

So, I’m typing this as fast as I can—while I still can!

Y’all stay safe! Stay warm. Know what you have to do in case of an emergency! We’ll be roasting weanies over the firepit or the gas grill. We’re all good. Love you! ~DD