I've Got Big Plans

By Jane Farrell

We had our first snowfall the other day.

I’m not happy.

Last winter I felt pretty trapped in the house because I didn’t have snow tires, and our sun room is good for only three seasons, so my favorite sofa was off limits for the winter. Then we got 14 inches of snow in April and the only time I managed to get out was to get the groceries on the weekend (my partner drove, of course.)

I am not going to be caught unprepared!

But this winter is different. I have a plan. I got snow tires for my Honda. I’m going to the library every day to get my work done, so I won’t feel trapped in the house. I will have a winter survival kit in the trunk of my car – a blanket, shovel, ice scraper, etc.

I am not going to be caught unprepared!

“You’re a planner,” one of my friends said to me. And it’s true. As much as I never think of myself as especially practical, I do tend to look ahead and get ready for the worst that could happen. Two jugs of water for a 10-mile ride along a deserted country road? Check. The number of an auto-glass repair shop in case the car windows got smashed in the hail storm we were going to get? Check.

OK, so I made it through the ride on that savage country road in Connecticut.  There was no hail storm after all. But I had been ready.

And don’t even talk to me about power outages. I have a few dozen flashlights and flameless candles. I haven’t needed them more than once so far, and I’m hoping the record holds.

I think that’s about all the planning I need for now. But if I’ve overlooked anything, let me know.