Like much of the country, we're supposed to get an enormous winter storm starting Friday. They've warned us it might be the next Wednesday before the roads are passable.
The one bit of good news is they seem to have reduced the amount of ice we are likely to get - 1/4" or more will take down power lines, and while I have gas heat and hot water, both those things have electric starters rather than the old school pilot light (and of course the furnace needs an operational blower).
So if the power goes out, especially given how cold it's supposed to be, I'm in a world of hurt. (I will have to run the taps, in case. Frozen pipes would be even worse).
My plan, if the power DOES go out, is to get into bed, with heavy pajamas and socks on, and several blankets. I have a headlamp that's battery powered (and I know where it is, so I can run it) so at least I could read.
I have a battery radio but whoof, our over the air stations are terrible. Perhaps the BEST one is the sports chat station, that's how dire they are - we don't have NPR, we don't have a decent oldies station, I can't pick up the one "just the news, no unhinged commentary" station out of Dallas in my house, it's not powerful enough.
This is not great, if we lose power, because since the pandemic, I have found that abject silence - no news, no voices - is not good for me.
I will say the battery/solar/handcrank radio has a flashlight and also supposedly will charge a cell phone from a USB port. I admit I'd be anxious about frying my phone with it, if I'm desperate enough, I might try (though without wifi, I'm not sure how much I could do)
Yes, I have food, but I might see if I can buy another carton of milk tomorrow just in case.
I did run to the walmart today on my lunch break for emergency food (that doesn't need to be cooked) and bottled water (back in 2021 we had a freeze that broke a water main and we had no water for a day or so. I want to at least be able to drink water (though flushing would be nice, too, though if there's a lot of snow....then again, it takes so long to melt in a cold house that's not viable).
Anyway, I really hope we don't get ice.
I can put up with things being shut down due to snow if I have heat and light and water, I can stay home and knit or read.
(I am still trying to finish the blanket, I probably won't get it done before the storm, these things take forever, but it is very warm and would be good to have if the power got cut)
Anyway, the walmart was kind of a nightmare. Not really shortages yet, but there was much less choice in the milk fridge than there normally is. But people were really on edge, it was crowded, and loud (they were playing a local radio station loudly - complete with ads - and several people were listening to their phones broadcast stuff on speaker as they went down the aisles). One woman was walking along loudly talking, I think to herself (it was disjointed, and I could not see a phone or earpiece). At one point I had to stop in a nearly empty aisle and just close my eyes for a moment; I felt like I was melting down a little and I needed a moment of peace.
Another thing I noticed - and I am SURE this is pandering to RFK jr and what he's pushing - many of the foods (including the highly-processed foods that he's going to war against) feature PROTEIN! yes, they add extra protein, I'm not sure from what. There were high protein crackers and bread and even Pop-Tarts, for goodness' sake. And I wondered what happens to the people who have to limit protein intake - I knew someone with a congenital kidney problem who had to do so. What do they do when almost all the food in the store has that stuffed into it?
Anyway, I hate bandwagonism.
And it seems like a lot of people are struggling a bit now. I had three interactions with different faculty - reassuring one about the weather (that was the shortest and simplest). The most important one, and the one where I might have done some good, another colleague came to me right after I got out of class (it was fine, it was my office hours) and told me she "needed to talk to someone" and went on that "I needed to try to find someone who is the same kind of Christian as I am, and I know you are." It turns out a relative of hers, she has had to go no contact with them (not a parent or sibling, but....someone she had been close to). Apparently this person has gone all in on the nationalism-Christian stuff and was telling her she was "following Jesus wrong" for her more politically-liberal positions, and for working as a college professor, and on and on. And yeah, that kind of thing is hard to deal with. I don't even remember all I said other than that it sounded like it was a "them" problem and not a "her" problem, and the fact that they are talking about not loving ALL God's children suggests that they're being a bit blinkered in what they're doing and.....it's hard. I hope I could reassure her. I think she felt better after talking.
Then at the end of the day another colleague came to me to complain about another person calling a meeting at a certain time when that person wanted to be out of town. I admit I was less soothing and conciliatory there, because I could remember the time I postponed the ONE fun thing I was going to do during exam week in favor of some interviews (and in fact, interviews THIS person called for). And I also object to it when people come to me to air their beef with a third party, where I am in no way involved. But I finally kind of pacified them (or at least enough that they went away).
But man, I'm tired, along with all the bizarre and unhinged stuff going on in the world.
I did also wind up deciding to order tickets for Spring Break, on the grounds that you never know how long you'll have older relatives, and it would be nice to see my mom, and I can work starting my spring research around it anyway. It's expensive but unless something happens to prevent the trip*, I have something to look forward to.
(*and in the world the way it is now? I would not be entirely surprised if it did. I will prepare myself emotionally so I won't be too upset, and yet, at the same time, I hate that, I hate that I have to remind myself "even the small good things you might arrange for could be taken from you through no fault of your own")
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