the week ahead

 First, a little knitting: I am not quite half done with the Krummholz hat; I added a few rounds tonight. It's a leaf-lace pattern worked in a worsted weight yarn. I'm using an older Paton's "Classic Wool" in a dark brown with tweed flecks. 

But I have some preparation to do tomorrow. We're predicted to get very cold weather and ice. I don't like ice. Snow is one thing, but ice will cut off power, and they're also warning of possibly water issues - and I remember last year when I tried melting snow to wash and flush with when extremely cold weather broke a water main (on a weekend) and led to us not having water for a day, and having to boil water for a day or two after. 

I'm mostly worried about power; there's no way for me to heat the house without it (the furnace is gas but has an electric starter and blower) and literally the only thing I could do would be to load up blankets on the bed and count on body heat (and run the faucets on a slow drip so the pipes don't freeze). 

I WOULD like to see if I could get my hands on one of those auxiliary battery-chargers for a smartphone - I do have a charger off the battery in my car but if the power's out there's no way to get in there (the garage door won't open, I can't force it manually (not strong enough) and there's no back way in because of the wall of shelves a former owner had put in. So I would run down the charge on my phone fast IF I had to make calls and if the power were out for a couple days. 

I do have a battery powered radio and there's exactly one news-only channel out of Dallas I regard as acceptable (And I guess the sports talk would be somewhat okay if it was simply that I needed human voices) - no we don't get NPR or similar here, and the music channels are basically

I find more and more in the pandemic I need background noise when I'm alone in my house and without power there wouldn't be any. 

I should also check my battery powered lantern. I think it takes C batteries, which I have, but I want to be sure.

I do also have candles and matches and also battery-operated candles so I probably could read during an extended power outage but....yeah.

So I need:

bottled water

AA and C batteries (or whatever the lantern takes)

food that can be eaten without being heated or cooked (I have SOME but I might want a couple more items)

ideally, an auxiliary battery charger for the cell phone in case of an extended outage

But I don't like this. I'd rather have a snow day, I'd rather have just-cold-and-have-to-go-to-work-in-it-but-maybe-deal-with-people-not-being-able-to-commute-in, but I do not like ice. 

I really hope it turns out to be nothing. 

(National Weather Service is now saying "mainly sleet," which is MUCH more tolerable as it's unlikely to have power cuts. I don't WANT a snow day - I have stuff to do - but being stuck at home with heat and lights and the ability to cook is better than being stuck at home in the cold and the dark)