Ice storm - Day 4 (continued)

I'm writing this from the relative comfort of my living room with our new generator droning away in the background.

It turns out Lowe's got two truckloads of generators from Memphis just before dawn today. I was among about 50 people queued up at the front door when they took pity on us and let us in 10 minutes ahead of their regular 7 a.m. opening time.

We filed through the store in orderly procession to the Receiving area where employees had scores of the big blue flat handcarts lined up, each with a Briggs & Stratton generator on it. We each grabbed a cart and wheeled it directly to the checkout lanes and were out of the store inside of 15 minutes.

I stopped at a gas station and filled our 5 gallon gasoline can, which turns out to be less than the capacity of the generator's fuel tank. So I'll take the empty can with me when I go into town and fill up again.

The generator was a breeze to set up and it started on the first pull at precisely 9:15 a.m. Since we have no cable/internet connection, I'll have to wait until I get a Wifi connection in town to post this to my blog.

I found a small electric space heater we had used infrequently at our previous home and have that cranked up, giving the kerosene heater a rest.

We woke up about 2:30 a.m. for a little episode of paranoia. Maria thought she heard a suspicious noise. I thought it was probably Pete shifting in his kennel, which we keep in our bedroom. (Ruthie prefers the bedroom carpet for sleeping and Pete likes the kennel.) Failing that, I supposed it was more falling tree debris.

But we also couldn't discount the possibility of an intruder. After all, it's very dark around here at that hour of the morning and there's always the possibility of crackheads or other miscreants looking for dark, empty houses to burglarize.

So I chambered a round in my .45 automatic, grabbed the insanely bright tactical flashlight and cautiously swept the house and the garage. Of course there was nobody there, but I did discover to my chagrin that I had neglected to lock the front door when I went out to check on falling ice and limbs yesterday afternoon.

Even though we just laid out more than $800 for a generator, the idea of spending another $300 or so for a set of Crimson Trace laser grips for my .45 Colt Combat Commander is gaining traction in my thought process.

I had a fleeting thought this morning about how much money we're saving on our electric bill. Then everything snapped into focus - the kerosene heater and fuel, the generator and fuel, the spoiled groceries, the smashed fence, possible roof damage. Suddenly, the biggest electric bill we got last winter - $220 - seems like a hell of a deal.