I'm sitting here in Southeast PA, and friends from around the USA are asking me via IM if I'm ready for the "snow hurricane" that's supposedly coming.

First of all, I cringe at the term "snow hurricane" as it's such a deeply wrong definition of something (it's about as sensible as the term "meat fountain") but also, I'm looking at the actual forecast and observations, and yeah, the weather is going to suck for a few days. There's nothing that incredible in the forecast. It's winter! Winter sucks.

But then I recalled a phone call with my parents a couple of weeks ago, when they had a LOT of snow where they live and the power went out. They are fairly new to rural-ish living, so they didn't really get the implications of a long-term power outage. With no generator, the house was losing heat, and they have no fireplace or woodstove. I explained that if they were without heat for long they risked pipes freezing and then explained that without power, they would be out of water. So they were melting snow on the gas stove, and eventually they had to leave the house (after draining the pipes) and stay elsewhere. Oh, and they should not flush the toilet unless they are sure their septic field isn't a pump-up system (like mine). Oh, and if you put food outside to keep it cold, you'll need to container-ize it because critters will snack on it all night long. Oh, and the fire department won't be able to get to your house, so be careful with candles and have a fire extinguisher visible and handy. Oh and (this) and (that).

And that's why I think about the upcoming "snow hurricane" and the ensuing panic it's causing. Being prepared is making my life simpler. A lot simpler. Yes, I have some added stuff to manage - auxiliary power, fuel supply, water supply, food supply - but as I sat here in the basement typing this, I turned on some streaming video from a local station and it's utter PANIC at the stores. They have theme music for the storm on the news. And the paranoid conspiracy theorist in me thinks that the whole thing is theater to drive unnecessary consumption, nothing more. Anyway, I hope that the storm does not drop any trees on my house because I don't really want to be out in the weather with a chainsaw and The Big Tarp which I keep for just such an emergency. And that's it. That's my only worry. It's easier to be simply prepared than to be reacting to the machinations of those who are trying to convince you the world is ending.