Dallas got whacked with a bit of a winter storm as of yesterday, and today we woke up to this.

That’s not snow, by the way. That’s ice. Apparently we had freezing sleet come down this morning according to the Brit (even got thunder sleet in some areas of Collin County), and the back yard is currently a winter wonderland. I can hear the crows arguing out there and I’m tempted to toss out a batch of peanuts for them.

Luckily for us the power and heat has stayed on (not always a guarantee in Texas as we learned in February 2021) and the temps will slowly start going up tomorrow afternoon until we get rain and temps in the 40s on Thursday. A sunny day on Friday with temps in the 50s should clear away any last traces of ice. We’re stocked up with pretty much everything we need (although I wish I’d picked up more bread flour) so technically we don’t have to go out until Friday if we don’t want to.

In the meantime, I’ve got books to write and chicken curry Chelsea buns to make tonight, so I’m set.

So I found out that a family member died this morning (it was expected, the family member was surrounded by loved ones and had lived a good long life so while I’m sad this isn’t sudden or a tragedy). And all of a sudden I was hit with the strongest urge to clean. I mean, it’s like I have a voice in the back of my head saying, “Go clean. Go clean. Go clean.”

I don’t know if this is something buried in my epigenetics where you clean your house after someone dies so that you can have guests for the wake and funeral or what. But it’s gotten to the point where I’m about to go strip the bed, wash the bedding, and completely dust and vacuum our bedroom (already did the master bath this morning), then vacuum my office and what I can reach of the media room and the hallway outside our offices, then vacuum the downstairs because what the hell, why not.

There’s also a certain odor of cat pee downstairs that may also be driving this. I’ve already washed everything on the futon but the Brit and I are afraid that J.J. has taken to tinkling a couple of drops on the carpet every now and then, and other than shampooing the entire carpet the only way we can handle that is to find the damned UV flashlight, identify any spots, and hit them with My Pet Peed.

In any case I’m going to bow to the wishes of the ancestors and do a good solid clean of the place. If nothing else, we’ll sleep well tonight in beautifully clean bedding.

The Brit had headed off for his weeky D&D game and I was sewing and listening to episodes of Pod is my Copilot, as you do, when Taylor mentioned the training he was doing for a 5K and how much walking he had been doing.

And suddenly I got the strongest urge to go for a walk. So I got up, put on my Skechers, plugged in my earbuds and walked around the block. Now, these are suburban blocks so they’re not quite as big as city blocks but they’re still sizeable and it took me eighteen minutes to make a full circult of the block.

Allow me to point out that when I was walking on the treadmill before the motor went boom I used to hang onto the handrails (because I’m still a little scared of falling and because I’m kind of lazy, don’t @ me). But yesterday was real world walking where I had to control my core and stand up straight as I strode along the extremely uneven sidewalk. And I did it. I was sweating by the time I got home and the muscles around my new knee were complaining like anything but by God I did it.

I want to get to the point where I can walk anywhere without limping or being exhausted or in pain. So if walking around the block every day will get me there, by God I’ll do it.

Apparently someone asked the Bodacious Brit this morning on a business call if Dallas was handling the snow well. “What snow?” he asked, bewildered. It’s raining here today, yes, and the temperature is starting to drop, but the only snow we’ll see are a couple of possible flurries between 7 and 9 PM before the precipitation stops. And it’s going to be 48°F tomorrow, and the ground is too warm for anything to accumulate anyway so we’re fine.

Parts of Arkansas, on the other hand, are supposed to get whacked by Snowmageddon today. I’ve got family up in Mountain Home who are looking at a possible 9 inches of heavy, wet stuff, which is problematic because one family member requires home care and this will make that challenging. So for all of you in Arkansas, I hope that you’re all stocked up and staying home warm, dry, and safe.

As for me, I made two store runs this morning, took Jessie to the vet for her shots, then went back to the store for additional items for dinner (shepherd’s pie, perfect for the weather and it gives us lunch for tomorrow). Grandma here is now inside for the rest of the night, tra la.

So I’ve been listening to old episodes of Pod is My Copilot for the last six weeks or so while they were on hiatus for the holiday (they just dropped a new ep tonight, whee!) and just for giggles I went through my iTunes and found episodes of the podcast I did with my BFF Patrick, my friend Jerry, and my sister Stacy.

My God, we were funny. We had the Don’t Quit Your Day Job Players and did skits all the time, Stacy was our newsgirl and would write news flashes for us, and we had a lot of cool people on as guests. Which got me to thinking that maybe, just maybe, if all the stars align and I can talk the usual suspects into it, we might be able to do DQYDJ: The Next Generation.

Must think on this some more…