It looks like we were in the middle of it, what was headed our way. The day before the storm, the stores were packed. People were buying bread, milk and eggs. Looking down the bread isle reminded me of Covid days when the shelves were all empty. I have never experienced this before.

Growing up in Arizona we never had conditions that caused everyone to head to the nearest grocery store and get in long lines for bread? I was there for bananas. I want to make some banana muffins for everyone this weekend as I heard a big old snowstorm was headed our way. We have a gas range so I hope everything is fine for baking when we are in the middle of it.

Some other items people were buying up like crazy were pop tarts, and soda…actually all the pop tarts were gone. The soda was also just about out. Do people love soda that much too? Sometimes I feel like such an outsider with the things I like. Cocoa, lemonade, oh…and chocolate milk…I love chocolate milk. Is there anyone who doesn’t?There was still a lot of chocolate milk available when I was there picking up some bananas.

All that panic buying made me think I should start stacking up some wood inside our home, maybe store it downstairs in the garage? As soon as I got home I went to work.

I can’t imagine walking all the way to the far back of our yard when the whole yard is inches deep in snow, it’s a pretty long walk from the house to the end of the yard especially in a blizzard…so stacking wood downstairs in the garage was my plan as soon as I was home and I put the bananas away.

“Hey mom…I renewed your library book, the library contacted us and told me they will be closed for a couple days because of the storm coming in” my daughter said when she saw me come inside with a handful of wood.

My husband was outside cutting up Styrofoam. He had found a huge piece of Styrofoam that was so big and thick that it didn’t fully fit in the back of the truck bed when he brought it home. He had to break it some. As soon as I saw it I told him to cut a piece to fit into the bathroom window and the back room windows as well.

It looks ugly but it keeps that window freeze from coming in during extreme blizzards. I’m sure there is some fancy way of making the windows warm, but this is how we are doing it. This is a trick we used when we had a cabin up in the northern part of Arizona. People don’t realize that there are places in Arizona that get very, very cold, dangerously cold if you are not prepared. Arizona is a big state.

And now…all of Arkansas is being hit with a huge Winter storm that everyone is talking about…and I mean everyone. Something that hasn’t been seen for decades.

The day before the storm my husband and I went out to get some errands done and a couple of fun things too. We have our generators and extra propane, water, canned food that my husband has been canning in his glass mason jars for the summer. I told him there was chatter about, a HUGE Winter storm is coming.

” The persimmons are showing spoons this year, you all know what that means” I was told by a local friend.

An old folk tale that means there was going to be a lot of shoveling of snow. My husband didn’t seem to mind when I gave him the news…a big Winter is coming. He loves his hobby of canning…so he went right to it. And he also bought an extra heater generator when they were on sale in the summer.

The day before the storm was to hit we went for a walk by the creek. I wanted to get some before photos before the snow storm comes in. Where we are, we will be getting some heavy snow and lots. In other areas they will be getting ice. At least this is what we are being told.

Before our walk we stopped off to visit an art gallery. It was all paintings of nature. There were a couple there that I really liked. They were all beautiful but I had two that were my favorites.

The art gallery had a vending machine of little prizes, and gifts. I ended up buying a tiny art kit for $2.

Walking outside the gallery with the sun shinning down was just a perfect day, it’s hard to believe that in less than 24 hours a whole lot of snow was headed our way.

During the Winter I have free time to work on art. I’ve been working on coloring pages. I had to go down to our local library to make copies to color. When putting it all together I will need pages that are colored too. I have copies of all my drawings on file and will make copies occasionally to give away in the community.

My whimsical drawings have gone from Arizona nature themes to Ozark nature themes. I started drawing coloring pages when lock downs started with COVID. In Arizona we had a lot of freedom to go where we wanted so my husband and I would go for walks out in the desert and that’s when I started doodling coloring pages from the nature I saw. It’s just fun and relaxing. I’m always encouraging others to just doodle away, it’s a great stress reliever too.

Usually what I do during these snow events is art, read a book, watch a good show or create and sew up a little something. I work on all those little projects that always get put to the side. Then I make some pop corn and cocoa and wait the storm out.

It’s so peaceful and so pretty after a snow storm, everything is white and crunchy when you step down into it. I like going for walks in the snow too. I pray there is no ice and this is just a simple Winter storm…and now the waiting begins. Big prayers for the safety of everyone in this area right now.

Day One.

Stay safe out there everyone. Looks like this Winter is turning out to be a big one. We need the water, this Spring hopefully will be a good one. That can only mean one thing… I will have lots of flowers to doodle.