A day of worry, and Fat Tuesday

Monday, February 16, 2015
Tuesday, February 17, 2015

2/16
President's Day.  Mostly a holiday for schools, banks, and the post office, but not all.  However, thanks to Mother Nature, it become a holiday for this part of the United States.  Everything came to a standstill around here (except Rumpke, of course), thanks to a Winter Storm Warning that started at 5am on Monday and was supposed to last until 5am on Tuesday, dropping anywhere from a projected 3" to 12" on the ground - and more to the SOUTH this time.  This is one storm that isn't going to go north on us!  Once the snow starts, it's not supposed to stop - at all.
Believe it or not, the weather people got this one pretty much right.  It started, Ron said, around 6am, and didn't stop.  It got nasty real quick.  Schools that were supposed to be open closed.  Colleges closed.  Adult education classes closed.  Businesses closed their second and third shifts.  It was B.A.D.
And I worried all day, not just for Ron, but for everyone else I knew who went to work but still had to drive home, as well as people whose work did not call off (think c-stores and restaurants).  I said a little prayer every time I thought to, and I like to think it helped a little.

After I got up, I did up all the dishes from the weekend, and then I just sat in my recliner and worried.  I did get up and do my standing-up exercises, but I spent most of the time walking over to the front door and peering out, or looking out the kitchen window, checking the depth of the snow on the picnic table.  I did have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for my lunch.

Ron finally got home around 4 and said that it had taken him just over an hour to drive home.  That's a drive that usually only takes 20-25 minutes.  I was very glad that I hadn't known he was on the road, or I would have been even more worried, if that was possible!
After he got warm between a shower and sitting under blankets, we discussed supper.  We finally decided on Hamburger Helper, and he went to get it out of the cabinet while I went to get the hamburger out of the freezer.  As I carried it in, he says, "Guess what?  It's not Hamburger Helper up here, there're both Tuna Helper."  Oh, great!  So...we had Tuna Helper instead.  Good thing I keep plenty of tuna around here!

After that, it was TV - mostly dead guys - for the rest of the evening.
Ron will have to go back out in this storm in the morning, although they have moved the end of the Warning to 1am, and that's a good thing.  I really didn't like the idea of him going back out in the midst of the Warning!


2/17
Fat Tuesday!
Not much different today, although the roads were a LOT clearer than they were yesterday.  With the snow stopping last night, the crews had time to get the roads ready for traffic today, and it sure showed.

After I did my usual morning thing (waking up 10ish, getting up noonish), I did a load of laundry (regular clothes) and stacked the dishes that we had used last night.  I put on a pot of beans for our supper tonight.
I took a shower kinda early in the afternoon, getting ready to go to my TOPS meeting tonight, but then I got a call.  The TOPS meeting is canceled for tonight!  Too many people have to come too far on too bad roads, and with the temps the way they are (teens dropping to single digits), it's just not safe.
Hooray!  Now I can celebrate Fat Tuesday all day, instead of waiting until after my meeting!  I first celebrated by cooking myself a bacon sandwich for my lunch.  I got a pound of bacon out of the freezer, cut it in half, saving half to cut into pieces to put in the beans later, and fried up the other half for myself.  Oh, was it ever good!!
I did some Wii Fit exercises, even getting on the board on a couple of them, which made me feel pretty good.  I then just spent the rest of the day in my recliner, even though I knew, and kept telling myself, that I really should get up and go do my exercises.  I just didn't do it, though.  I was a slacker in that department.

I did enjoy two or three different snacks during the day.  I don't remember what now, but I don't have that much stuff here in the house, so it wasn't something too very bad for me.  A slice of cheese, stuff like that, but since I don't usually eat snacks, it sure seemed like I was stuffing my face all day!
When Ron got home, around 5:30, after he warmed up, we ate supper while watching our dead guys.  I had cooked the bacon to add to the beans (and burned it by not paying attention) at 4, but added it anyway.  The beans still tasted good - if you can call beans tasting good - even with the burned bacon in them.  I guess adding it to the pot kinda diluted the burn or something.  They didn't taste burned at all!  I was glad.

We spent the evening watching dead guys, NCIS, NCIS:NO, and then more dead guys and game shows.  Yee-haw!!

Tomorrow, there may be more snow.  We shall see.  Since they got these 2 days right, I'm not holding my breath.