"Icemageddon" hits the Ozarks again

This ice-covered feeder was almost empty before I refilled it.

Man, oh man, I hope this ice storm doesn't knock the power out. I've heard it called "Icemageddon," and I'm sure hoping that it doesn't turn out to be as bad as that sounds.

Now, you can read all about the ice storm the National Weather Service has named Jupiter on the internet or in your newspaper. Or you can turn on The Weather Channel or your local TV station. Those sources will tell you a lot more and show you dramatic pictures. I can't add much to that, so I'll just tell you about my day spent watching the ice build up. If you aren't interested, I don't blame you.

My supervisor at my day job called me a little before 6 and told me not to come in because freezing rain was falling, and she worried I might get stranded there in the afternoon. It's 30 miles away in the next county.

Normally, I would have been at work by 6 a.m., but I decided today to wait and go in late after I determined the chances of being stranded. The boss determined that for me.

I've had a full day of doing some of my favorite things: reading, writing, listening to the radio, drinking coffee, talking to my wife, playing with our standard poodles. When you grow up in the hardscrabble Ozarks, it doesn't take much to make you happy.

All morning I would step outside from time to time to check the weather. The rain that started here before 6 a.m. is still falling slowly at 2 p.m., so there is a layer of ice. I went out and replenished the bird feeders, for the birds have been on them all morning. I knocked the ice off the top of one so I could move the latches on the lid.

I measured the thickness of the ice at about 3/8 of an inch. I don't know if that is correct, but it is what I got. Don't consider it official.

I walked around the yard looking at various trees and shurbs. They're all frozen, of course.

I'm just hoping that the ice doesn't do what it did back in January 2007. That knocked our power out here for three nights. Fortunately, we had an office for the magazine we were publishing at that time, so we took an air mattress and spent the nights there, because that building was not affected by the power outage.

After my time outside, my wife and I ate a hot lunch, leftovers from yesterday, a dish of chicken, rice, mushroom soup, peppers, garlic and other tasty vegetables and spices. I added a large side dish of greens seasoned with bacon and a big slap of buttered cornbread. All washed down with strong, hot coffee. Fine, mighty fine.

Not a bad day, and It won't be a bad weekend either, as long as the power doesn't go off.

Look at the ice buildup on our red buckeye bush in the front yard.