Not as weird as I thought...

[olivermoss]

* I went and got a second heater tonight for the upcoming cold snap, so if the power goes out I'll be starting out with the place toasty. I ordered a Lyft to go buy it. I told him that I was preparing for the coming week and he was like 'the cold snap? Yeah I pulled out extra heaters' and then I was said "Guess what I am off to buy?"

It's not going to be as bad here as other places, just 10 or 12 degrees, but with the state of our energy grid we might lose power, and maybe for several days. If that happens, I want to start out with the place toasty.

I can take serious cold. I went through upstate NY winters with no heat, and the house I grew up in was, uh... there's a lot to unpack there. Anyway, I made a resolution before this winter started that I'm going to be a wimp about the cold. I am not going to just tank it.

I still need to pick up a candle just in case we do lose power for a while.

* Tesla stock is in a big sell off, Fortnight has been fined half a billion for invading kids' privacy and other stuff is happening. There are some things I both do want to post about but also, don't want my posts to be mostly that.

* Masking has sharply increased here this past week and the changing rooms were closed at Freddies, so I bought a shirt that may be a little tight on me... and oh fuck the inventory control tag is still on it sunnuva....

[edit]

Kitchen shears and bloody-mindedness have defeated the inventory control tag

Comments

[oracne]

I'm glad masking has increased! Here's hoping you don't lose power.

[olivermoss]

Yeah, here's hoping! I'm spooked by how bad it was in winter 2020 with the outage, grocery stores closed, etc.

[dine]

congrats on defeating the inventory control tag!

I'll be digging out candles and my flashlights, just in case. and plan to keep my phone fully charged, just in case. I anticipate spending lots of time in bed if we do lose power for extended periods, as there's no real way to close off any other room

[olivermoss]

Thanks! I have thermal layers for snowshoeing and being out in severe cold. I can have that, my kindle and be in bed. But I would rather not!

[writedragon]

I bought some additional warm layers for family members who were heretofore lacking them, put the gardens "to bed", covered the outdoor faucets, and am trying to stay on top of laundry and dishes in case our grid fails. Like you, I plan to turn up the heat a little right before so that we're not starting off cold; I'm also going to fill the bathtub because water treatment needs power too and I remember being without for an entire week. I still have trauma from that. Hang in there and stay warm.

[olivermoss]

Thanks, you too. How bad the snap and outage was in 2020 still feels like a dream or like I fell into a pocket dimension for a little bit. I have a few sealed gallons of water for earthquake preparedness.

[mistressofmuses]

Congratulations on defeating the inventory control tag!

Losing power is my biggest worry for our upcoming awful cold. Our apartment has been fairly lucky in terms of reliability of our section of the grid, but we did lose power for 10 or so hours during a snowstorm a few years ago, which makes it a thing I do worry about. We've hauled down some extra blankets, and may kick the thermostat up a couple degrees to start from a better temp if it comes to that.

I've noticed a small-but-obvious uptick in masking here, which surprises me, because people haven't been masking at all for so long.

[olivermoss]

Here the forecast is up from 10 to 20, so I am a little less worried. But I am also seeing people freak out because we had loooong outages after the 2021 ice storm and people were pretty much trapped because nothing was cleared. I think I was okay in that and it was 2020 when I was effected... or I am wrong? What is time?

I bought a bunch of protein bars so I have food that needs no cooking or refrigeration.

I hope you stay safe and warm, or warm-ish, through it

[mistressofmuses]

I definitely hope for no power outages - being stuck in a warm house with power and the stuff you need is way different than being stuck anywhere without power. I hope the forecast there stays less-bad!

And good planning, having some definite sustenance.

Thank you!