Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

On top of the several inches of snow that accumulated last week, we now have…wait for it…rain. The potential for a weather-induced problem should be readily apparent. As this stuff freezes tonight the roads will turn into ice rinks. All it takes is frozen rain on the power lines to pull them down, or a car going outta control and slamming into a pole to knock out power to the area.

But, of course, I dont really care.

Why? because, mi amigos, we’re prepared for that sorta thing. Emergency lighting, emergency heating, emergency communications….we’re good to go. And, like some sort of talisman, because we’re ready for that sorta contingency that means it just won’t happen.

We actually had a tremendous ice storm here about, oh, ten or so years ago. It was amazingly dramatic. Ever hear when people say that the sounds of tree limbs snapping was like gunshots? Yeah, it was like that. The amount of deadfall was incredible. The local treeline is still full of gaps where there used to be nice old trees lining the streets. I went out for a walk that night to watch it happen and as I recall you could not walk more than ten or twenty feet before something would come falling outta the sky in front of or behind you. A rare event, but it does happen.

Id like to mention that for those times when the ground is slicker than a Clinton alibi and about as icy as Hillary’s soul I find that the Yak Trax are excellent performers. When not in use, they can be stuffed into a small package or clipped to a carabiner and attached to a pack. Excellent product that takes up little space in your gear. The missus got a pair a few years ago and after examining them I picked up a pair for myself. In typical fashion, I bought them only after I had taken some gymnastically spectacular falls on the ice one winter.