Snowed in?

Maybe. I'm not sure. It's possible that I could get down my driveway without getting stuck, but I have grave doubts that I would be able to make it back up. Luckily, I don't need to try. Because I have nowhere I need to go!

A classic winter storm has been hammering the Oregon coast for the past few days, with winds gusting over 80 miles an hour and buckets of rain. (Poor Zach lost power in the middle of a game of literati yesterday afternoon, and the power was still out when he got home from work last night.) That same system reached my little corner of the world while I was sleeping. I woke up to five new inches of snow (on top of the three we got yesterday), and a power outage of my own. But I was prepared. I'd filled my lamps with oil, baked bread, and made a big pot of squash and bean soup that I can reheat on the wood stove if necessary. But so far it hasn't come to that. I made my tea on the wood stove and read Sales by lamp light and just as I was starting to think that it was awfully quiet without my usual background of NPR, the power was back. And I stopped reading Sales and got on the internet to check the forecast (and blog).

Of course, I'm not entirely prepared for this storm. I still don't have boots. Or a snow shovel. But I have fresh bread! And lots of books! And now that the power is back, I can make cookies! Who needs a snow shovel when one has cookies and atmospheric mystery novels?