Another storm is coming. This one sounds messy. Ice, freezing rain and power outages. I don’t know where the plowman is going to put the snow and slush.

l have, just in case, made a couple of meals that should feed us for the duration of any power failures we may have – mac & cheese (the enhanced version) and a big pot of Border Chili. The latter is always enhanced. I’ll also make a pan of cornbread muffins which can be a meal in and of themselves. I have even considered a bowl of red potato salad but enough is enough. If I had only a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter for the next few days I would not starve and would feel moderately nourished as well. Any 12 year old boy knows this.

I also have the generator out and ready to bring online. I hope that’s not necessary. Other preparations include charging up all my electronic devices: iPod, iPhone, Laptop and my Nook that is full of enough reading material to get me through an entire week or more. It glows in the dark!

I have this library book that looked quite good right at the checkout counter and so I brought it home. It’s by a Maine author and it involves a mysterious plane crash decades ago, a suitcase of money, a puzzling list of names and numbers and a bunch of dark characters who seem to be up to no good and who turn out to be – are you ready for this? Fallen angels. Fallen angels? Give me a break. I’ve been tricked. I thought this was just a plain old mystery. Well I am a third into the thing and I will finish the thing. I mean, fallen angels?

You see, these two old codgers go into the woods hunting and stumble on this airplane half subsumed into the sod by this viscous black water pond. Inside they find nearly a quarter million dollars in cash and a strange list of names and numbers. Not only that but there are seats, including the pilot’s seat with handcuffs attached to an arm that has been torn loose. You see what I mean? And right at the center of all this are these characters who have been kicked out of heaven for some celestial infraction, probably smoking in the throne room of God, or whacking off behind the Dormitory of the Saints.

So, this investigator has been engaged to find out what’s up and that’s where I am. It is kind of fun reading about places I actually know from my own experience. Who knows, by the time the power comes back on and the chili is gone, I might be a fan of this guy. I’ll let you know.

OK, now to locate batteries and lamp oil. I see the wind has picked up but so far no precipitation to amount to much. Welcome to Maine in February. The way life should be.

And….Here….We….Go!