Well, this weekend was fun.

The big 2021 ice storm started doing it’s thing around here on Friday morning, icing up the roads, the trees, the cars, the everything. None of us left the house Friday or Saturday, because the driveway was an ice rink, and we’re still on ‘Rona time anyway. We watched movies, read books, I made a little music, and all the usual things you do when Elsa gets pissed at your neighborhood.

I thought we were going to come through this largely unscathed, though we woke up Sunday morning to no power. The timing of the battery backup on the internet box indicated it went out somewhere between 10pm and 2pm. Those of us who remember history know that when the power goes out in this neighborhood, it takes a while to get things back up and running, as we’re a little spur line between two larger residential subdivisions, and there’s little bang-for-buck in getting us first, because it doesn’t drive up the numbers. We know we’re last, it’s just how it is.

Of course, it was damned cold (barely getting above freezing outside the entire weekend). We did our usual winter power outage thing (it’s actually been a while, thankfully), pulling out extra blankets, grabbing some candles and my camping lantern, wrapping the fish tank in blankets so the poor little guys don’t freeze, etc.

It kinda sucked. We took a calculated risk to go out to the local mexican place for a hot, socially distanced meal, which gave us a little respite, but I was just frather frustrated about the whole thing, as I was looking forward to a relaxing long President’s Day weekend.

Things were still out Monday upon waking. While some of us went to the local library for warming and charging, I set out to just get the hell out of the house, as I was restless, cranky, and wasn’t good company. So, I went to the one local-ish park with a nice paved three mile loop (the close ones are all mud right now), and pounded out the circuit in around 40 minutes, working off some stress, and playing a little Pokemon Go.

Then I stopped at the grocery store for some supplies (like discount candy) and a beer, as one does when one does not want to go home to a dark, freezing house. Luckily, the power had returned by early afternoon, so I came home, and recorded a song about the whole ordeal, in the style of a Sea Shanty, which I hear is very popular among the Tik-Tokkers or whatever.

So, there was that. My fellow FAWM participants seemed to enjoy it anyway. And, none of my fish died, which was also cool.

Otherwise, the weekend kinda sucked, and I’ve dreaded doing the work thing today, but I cranked hard through my first three hours or so, and ended up making a meeting scheduled for an hour only ten minutes long because of my preparation and readiness to throw a bunch of assignments on other people to review.

Nothing in particular on for the rest of the week as far as I’m aware at this point; it’s the usual “life in the time of COVID” existence, which also sucks, but we’re used to it now, I suppose. I’ll probably do the taxes, because it’s that time and all.

Excitement abounds.