Arkansas Ice Storm

There has been a lot of freaky weather lately all over the country it seems. Arkansas did not escape unscathed. While it does manage to snow every winter (for a day or two here and there) our winters are generally pretty mild compared to northern states. When it comes to ice storms, however, Arkansas reigns supreme. A few weeks ago we were hit with an ice storm that knocked our power out for about 3 days. We were VERY lucky though, as many people lost their power for 2-3 weeks at a time. We had several inches of ice layered over our driveway and all of our plants were killed in the storm (my fault for leaving them out there!) I put two brand new gallons of milk outside so they wouldn't spoil, along with the rest of the contents of the fridge, and the darn things froze solid! Two gallons of milk, frozen solid! I wasn't expecting that, as I had only put them out on the back deck AFTER the ice storm was over. I didn't even bury them in the snow or put them in the shade....they were right out in the Arkansas sunshine! It took several days for them to thaw out in the fridge. On top of that, there was not a bag of salt to be found anywhere.....three counties completely sold out of salt! It got to the point where we were out there with the Morton's table salt, as well as the last 2 boxes of ice cream salt that we were able to find at Wal-Mart. That was definitely *NOT* fun! And then when we lost our power and when I realized we were going to be out of power for quite awhile, the hunt was on for "D" batteries. Normally I keep batteries on hand, but I had used the last of them for one of Annabelle's toys and completely forgot to replace them. Sooooooo, my search for 6 batteries took me to 4 different stores where, I am firmly convinced, I purchased the last 6 "D" batteries in this town. During the last ice storm, I swore I would be more prepared for the next one. That didn't happen and I can only hope that I have learned my lesson and will be better prepared for the next ice storm!