[Ben E Lou]

We've been upgraded to a Winter Storm Warning. The forecast looks really bad, and frankly, it seems like it'll be worse than they're saying. NWS is calling for freezing rain and a low of 29 tonight, Weather Underground is saying low of 27. In both cases, it's been trending colder. At those temperatures, we'll get significant ice buildup in a hurry. Worse, there are tons of pine trees around here. If you haven't been through a big ice storm where tightly-packed pine needles turn into big balls of ice, let's just say that's, um, not good.

I'm expecting to lose power some time Thursday late morning/early afternoon, and I'll consider it a win if we have it back by Sunday night. We have 30+ gallons of gas for the generator, two full propane tanks to use the outdoor burner for cooking, and 60+ pounds of charcoal for grilling. We'll eat fine, and have even planned to do a Lowcountry Boil Friday night. Our biggest issue is that we have a super-open floor plan that's great for entertaining, which we love to do, but--I learned last weekend--is absolutely *terrible* for heating the house under these circumstances. My office is the only room downstairs that can be closed off to contain heat, so basically once the house really cools down (probably Thursday night/Friday morning) we're probably all stuck in my office during the day, and in the master bedroom at night.