Icy Leon!

Ken's truck ... covered in ice!

As I wrote my last post about the "winter storm" in Louisiana this past Saturday, I thought the unseasonably cold weather was a thing of the past.  This past weekend was jacket weather, and the threat of  ice and road closures was long gone ... or so I thought.  While watching the news on Monday morning, I got my first hint that perhaps things were fixin' to shut down again.  It seemed that a winter storm by the name of "Leon" would be passing through.  By mid-day, our office decided to close Tuesday and Wednesday after learning that once again the schools, government offices, and roads would be closed those days.  By that evening, Ken reluctantly came to the realization that he wouldn't be able to work either.

I know ... you're thinking us Southerners are a bunch of wimps.  We just don't have the snow plows and equipment to keep our roads safe.  A friend of ours hit a parked eighteen-wheeler Friday night when the roads were icy.  Thankfully she's just a little beat up and not dead.  Have you seen the mess in Atlanta?!  Vehicles ran into each other like bumper cars and some poor folks had to either leave their cars and walk miles in the cold or sleep in their cars overnight.  Sitting there without a bathroom, food or heat has gotta be pure hell.

While I wasn't happy about the lack of work (or money) for two days, this couch potato was looking forward to hiding out in my pajamas for two days and catching up on our taxes and other things I've been falling behind on.  Had I mentioned that we still hadn't taken down our Christmas tree?  Ken, on the other hand, wasn't exactly looking forward to hunkering down for two days.  He doesn't like staying inside for too long and starts getting antsy after a couple of hours.  I assured him that we had plenty of little projects to work on, and plenty of movies to watch on our new Roku.

On Tuesday morning, we made one last drive out around 11:00 before the roads became too icy.  What was our final outing before two days of being a hermit?  A trip down the road to Walgreens ... exciting stuff, I know.  With practically everything else being closed and the local ad showing great deals on chips and candy, we figured we'd get out the house a bit and stock up on the good sales.  We had real food in the house, but a person needs junk food when stuck inside during a winter storm!  It wasn't a totally unhealthy trip ... I got a flu shot too.  I've been getting this shot for many years now, and (knock on wood) I've never gotten the flu so why stop now?  Ken ... he just watched.  He's allergic to eggs, so he always passes. 

All of this for less than $12 bucks!  Who could pass up on all of this artery-clogging, high calorie stuff?!

This morning the bridges, schools and government offices are closed again.  It's seventeen degrees right now!  But, I'm headed back to work and Ken was able to find a couple of small indoor jobs to make a buck or two.  To be honest, if it wasn't for the money I wouldn't mind just one more day off.  We got a lot done around the house including wiping down everything, washing a ton of laundry, making a few calls regarding bills that our health insurance should have paid (errors are always in their favor), looking into credit cards with perks (we love getting those miles), balancing the checkbook, taking down the Christmas tree, and starting our income taxes.  But, I still didn't get to finish our taxes and I didn't have a chance to watch one movie ... not one!  I was hoping to finally watch "Into The Wild", but it just didn't happen.  I guess if we were night owls that stayed up late we would have found the time.  I didn't even get to catch up on other sailing blogs either.  I sure do miss being able to read them on a regular basis and I look forward to catching up on them soon.

I must admit that it wasn't all work around the house those two days.  By mid-day yesterday we realized that the interstates and bridges were icy, but the main roads around town were fine to drive on.  Most of the businesses were still closed, but "Olive Garden" was open.  Unlimited soup and bread sticks sounded like the perfect lunch for a wintry day.  Plus, I knew Ken would start going stir-crazy if he didn't get out for a while.  After lunch we stopped at Target and then on the way home we stopped at my mom and step-dad's to hook up their new television ... before I knew it the 5 o'clock news was on when we got home.  So much for hunkering down for two days ... at least we didn't eat all those snacks!

Needless to say, we're beyond ready for Spring.  It doesn't help when your friend that lives on his sailboat just minutes away sends pictures from his vacation to Marathon, Florida!  Like us, he'd never been to Marathon and thought he'd drive there and check it out.  We're looking forward to hearing about his trip, as we can't wait to get to Marathon in our sailboat someday soon.  Here's one of the pics he sent us ... 

Hasta luego ... until then.  Mid-Life Cruising!