Saturday Afternoon Chat: Major winter storm prep and mischevious cats

What I like about winter is how, when it snows or is icy outside, I have an excuse to stay at home, drink tea or cocoa, and read books or watch movies.

What I don’t like about winter is that sometimes we get a snowstorm that dumps so much snow on us I can’t get out of my driveway for a week, and I am stuck inside and unable to have the choice to go anywhere if I want to.

Tomorrow we are getting a snowstorm that could dump almost two feet of snow on us.

Today we have temps in the single digits.

Neither situation is good and has our family in lockdown mode.

Luckily, today’s boredom should be helped with a Crafternoon zoom call (those are still a thing we do and if you are ever interested in participating, let me or Erin know), and then a zoom art class for Little Miss.

The art class is with Cornell in Ithaca, NY, and was suggested by my sister-in-law who is also attending.

Crafternoon is where a bunch of bloggers hang out on Zoom and chat while doing crafts.

At our vet appointment a couple of weeks ago the vet estimated his age around nine months which means he really is a kitten/child and he shows it a lot.

My cats are going stir crazy with all the cold weather we have been getting and keeping them inside a few more days is not going to be fun. The youngest is especially crazy lately.

He likes to chase our feet and toes for one, but yesterday, after The Husband and The Boy brought in the groceries, he got into the meats before I could get them put up (I was on the phone with my mom). He gnawed the plastic off a beef roast and then gnawed part of the roast as well. While we were putting that up, he stuck his head in another bag and tired to eat some raw chicken. Yes, we do feed him.

I was hoping that the temperature would rise when the snowstorm came in and I could let him back outside to get some of his energy out, but it appears that our high temps during the storm will be 15. That means Little Miss won’t be able to go out and play in the snow like she usually does.

This could definitely mean downed power lines and power outages in this rural area with a lot of trees, which does have me on edge. I am more on edge for my parents than us since we have the benefit of a woodstove to help with heat and they don’t.

But I’ve been working on not focusing on “what ifs” so I will try my best not to worry about all those things for now.

Thursday, the kids and I headed to my parents’ house to help clean up a bit and do some things before they and we get snowed in.

The Boy helped my dad get his generator ready, and I cleaned the kitchen and vacuumed the living room floor.

The Boy also took Zooma the Wonder Dog for a long walk in the cold temps, but at least it was 34 that day verses the 1 degree it was here this morning. It’s 5 now. It’s supposed to get to only 8 today. Three degree warm up! Whoot!

 It’s so cold out there that last night our back porch was snapping and cracking and going off like a gunshot. I wonder if it will explode like the trees might out west. I guess we will find out.

I am preparing a list of movies today that I want to watch during this winter storm event which could last through Tuesday or longer for me, since my driveway is so steep.

They will most likely be classic movies – before 1970.

Making the list is The Public Enemy with James Cagney from 1931 because I can’t find Angels with Dirty Faces streaming anywhere (even YouTube!) and that was the next movie in my James Cagney line up. I really should have double checked if these movies  were streaming before I chose them. You think I’d learn but I never do. I will have to adjust my list yet again.

I also plan to rewatch After the Thin Man.

I hope to be able to watch a John Wayne film too. Or some sort of Western. I’ve been itching for one.

I’m sure there will be some Cagney & Lacey and Murder, She Wrote watched as well.

Maybe even an episode of The Rockford Files since The Husband will be home from work part of the time.

How is the weather where you are? Gross and nasty or fairly pleasant? I always hesitate to ask this because there is always some Southern California resident who is like, “I just went for a walk in my shorts and flip flops and now I’m having a mimosa on the veranda,” and I want to throat punch them (not really!) but I’ll take even that today. I can live vicariously through you. Ha! Seriously, if you live somewhere warm – like Australia or New Zealand or something – feel free to tell me because I actually love knowing there are other parts of the world that are nice and warm when I am cold and trying to light the fire in the woodstove.


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Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.

You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

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18 thoughts on “Saturday Afternoon Chat: Major winter storm prep and mischevious cats

  1. Pingback: Sunday Bookends: The frigid cold, good mysteries, and old mystery shows and movies. | Boondock Ramblings

  2. It has been a couple of decades since I had a kitten. Meaning that our little rescue kitty is a whole new experience. And she loves to chase feet. Stay warm! While we only had a skiff of snow, my gosh it is COLD here in East Texas.

    Liked by 1 person

    • They are definitely a challenge when they are this young. Today he found a hole under our bathroom sink that I didn’t even know was there and crawled into it. He’s also rather loud and obnoxious in the middle of the night much of the time too. I am sure he will settle down as he grows.

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  3. Would you believe I went to the grocery store three times the day before the storm was supposed to hit? We needed some basics so I got those (luckily, there were some things on the shelves still). Then, I realized my eggs were months old. According to Ree Drummond, they weren’t any good. So, back to the store I went for eggs because you bake during a winter storm, right? Then, Mike thought we needed taco chips for taco salad…he wasn’t wrong…but, still. As of right now, I think we got around 10 inches, but it’s the cold that is so awful. Jack loves to play in the snow, but he’s trying to poop on two legs so no playing for him! The only good thing about the cold is that we don’t have the ugly dirty snow that comes from thawing. It’s still white and sparkling. I hope your parents kept power. I have a friend in Nashville who still doesn’t have power…they are multi-millionaires and wouldn’t spend $50,000 on a generator! Now, I would never do that, but if I were a multi-millionaire and knew the power grid was iffy, I’d be plunking down those 50 Gs! Priorities, right?

    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

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  4. Oh yes, it is so hard not to feel envious of those that have nice weather this time of year… or those that complain 40/45 is so cold and I’m over here like -5… yep, not going out again today! LOL.

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  5. Well, Southern California here trying not to gloat too much. I just spent some time pulling up weeds under pleasant weather and filtered sunshine. But I also spent 3 winters living on the east coast and all I can say is brrrr! I hope you and your family stay warm, don’t lose power, and weather the storm just fine!

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  6. Pingback: Sunday Bookends: A lot of snow, some cozy reading and watching, and some more snow | Boondock Ramblings

  7. Here in SE WI, we have the cold but not the snow. However, we had a high of -7F yesterday, making today’s high of 8F feel (a little) warm. Kids all had school called off yesterday, though. Monday is supposed to be cold, but we’ll see if it’s call off the schools cold. (I kind of doubt it.)

    I’m just tired.

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  8. It’s cold here in NWA. Already got about 4 inches of snow and 8 more are headed here for the second storm. I have all kinds of firewood piled up to keep the front room warm, our heater is on now and I like that better. Sometimes the fireplace makes my asthma all wonky, not bad, just a little. Stay warm and cozy inside and before you know it Spring will be here and I am hoping all this snow will bring lots and lots of smiling flowers.

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    • The woodstove bothers my asthma a bit too so I do prefer the days we don’t run it but we will need it to help cut down on how much heating oil we use this week since temps will only be in the teens again. Tomorrow we have a high of 11 with a windchill of -20!

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  9. Well, I’m in California, but the Northern part. We are at 65 today and it is quite beautiful. We had some fog the past couple of nights and mornings and overnight we are dipping into high 30s, but we’re very lucky with the weather. I grew up here, so never have lived in snow. And I am very happy with that. Snow makes me nervous if I have to drive in it and I think I would go a bit stir crazy if I knew I couldn’t go outside. There are some days I choose to not go outside, but not having a choice might be hard. I hope there isn’t too much damage during the storm and everyone stays safe and warm. ❤️

    Liked by 1 person

    • I love hearing about the lovely weather. I hope people really knew I was kidding about that. I can see you did at least. Whew! Ha!

      I grew up in an area with a lot of snow (here) and I absolutely hate driving in it. It makes me so nervous! If you had to drive it and were not used to it you might faint! Even I feel faint sometimes if it gets slippery!

      When I was younger I did drive in it some but now I refuse to do it. I would if there was an emergency with someone in my family, though.

      Keep enjoying that beautiful weather!!

      Liked by 1 person

  10. It’s not as cold here as in your parts, but I just looked it up and we are supposed to get 6 inch of snow tomorrow and it’s my last day of shovel duty. Of course. If you hear someone moaning and whining and breathing heavily from afar, it’s me. I’m not amused right now. Hopefully it’s false alarm.
    Stay warm and enjoy your lockdown as much as possible!

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