STELLAAAA!

STELLLLLAAAAAAA!!

The afternoon before the storm, the local forecast had people whipped into a frenzy. Schools closed, businesses shut down and the governor declared a state of emergency in anticipation of Stella. All this sent hoards of preppers to the grocery store for the customary storm supplies: milk and bread.  I, however, thought that if I was going to be snowed in for a few days, I was going to need more than milk and bread… I was going to need lots and lots of the most delicious gelato known to mankind – Breyer’s Sea Salt Caramel. So, off to the store I went.

As soon as I turned into the parking lot, I knew it was a bad idea, but I had driven all the way there and the call of the sea salt caramel gelato was too much to resist.

I hit the grocery store entrance at a full sprint, zig-zagging through the isles and darting around carts full of milk and bread like a professional football player at the ten yard line looking to make a touchdown.  I made a beeline for the freezer section, where there was, of course, no shortage of gelato because only lunatics would skip the milk and bread and stock up on gelato in the face of Superstorm Stella.

I grabbed three cartons of gelato and raced to the checkout, hoping to beat the crush of preppers and hoarders, but it was too late. There they were… one woman had most of the bread isle in her cart. Another had five gallons of milk and a half a dozen bags of french fries. The next cart was filled with rotisserie chickens, orange juice and eggs. One man had three snow shovels and the couple behind him had a cart full of toilet paper and soda. I almost expected to see two blue haired ladies engaged in fisticuffs over the last package of English muffins, but no such luck. After waiting 20 minutes in the express line, I was on my way home without the milk and bread, but I had my gelato and that’s all that mattered.

With my “storm supplies” safely home and hidden in the deep freeze, it was time to get ready for Stella.  She was rolling up from the south with a vengeance and had our little town in her sight. Now, in my neck of the woods, twelve inches of snow is just a dusting, two feet is an inconvenience and three feet… well, that’s a snow storm.  The blizzard arrived just after midnight and unleashed its fury, dumping 1-3 inches of snow per hour and crippling the entire area with 33 inches of snow in less than 24 hours. Schools have been closed for three days, some businesses are still shut down, interstates speeds are limited and most of the main roads are still impassable.  I’m completely out of milk and only have a few slices of bread left, but I do have sea salt caramel gelato and that’s all that matters.