I always feel better when I feel a sense of control over events, like the coming nor'easter. Now they're saying 2 to 3 feet!

After Storm Sandy, I actually made a list of steps to do if a power outage looks like a possibility. There are a lot of small things that I could easily forget. So here's what I've done ahead of the storm that's supposed to start around 11 a.m. today:

1. I made the decision to work from home today (and possibly for most of the week). I have my laptop up and running and can do just as much from home as I can at office. I also don't relish driving in snow, which I would be doing if I went in. So, at possible risk of annoying my boss, I've decided to stay home.

2. I have 2 small dinky LED flashlights but am recharging batteries for another flashlight plus my short wave radio.

3. I've filled up a few pitchers with water that would be used for drinking, brushing my teeth or even washing dishes if I lost power for a few days. They say you should have a gallon per person per day, so I will have to scrounge around for more containers to fill.

4. I've turned down the temperature in my freezer more, to make it colder. I haven't adjusted the temp in the fridge becus when I've done that in the past I ruined some salad greens. Honestly, since I've gone vegan, there is not too much in the fridge that would be sacrificed. I'm eating the rest of my salad greens today for lunch and the rest of my perishables, namely almond milk and my workweek lunches for the rest of the week, could be stashed in my cooler, topped off with snow and put on the front stoop.

The freezer has no meats or fish, just frozen veggies and some bean burritos.

5. I've got the phone number for the power company handy should I need to call them to report an outage. Actually, I've got the number memorized.

6. I have my 2 snow shovels outside, 1 at the front porch and 1 down by the garage. If I lose power, rather than let lots of cold air in the house when I go thru the front door, I'll exit out thru the basement into the garage, and that's where the 2nd snow shovel is stationed.

7. Car is safely tucked inside the garage.

8. I didn't really go food shopping this weekend, but i have plenty of canned beans, peanut butter, bread, granola bars and fruit to get by.

9. I am wearing my watch, something I rarely do but it really helps not to have to search for things, possibly in the dark.

10. I'm also prepared to fetch some of my wireless solar garden lights outside to bring inside to the kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and my office where I spend most of my time. It's not bright enough to read by but I won't have to grope around with just the flashlights.

11. Gas tank is filled and I have some cash (as well as checks) should credit card things be not working in event of power outage.

12. I've checked weather.com's hourly forecast and can see that the peak winds will begin late tonight, into the overnight and through Tuesday. So tonight before I go to bed, I will crank up the heat to the never-before-experienced 70 degrees in the house. (As I may have mentioned before, I don't have a fireplace.) The theory being, if I lost power, the somewhat higher temps would keep the house warm that much longer. The cats should love it.

13. My cell phone is fully charged.

14. If I do lose power, once I have the driveway shoveled, and if the roads are sort of passable, I could drive the 2 miles to the town center where they have let people camp out in the large corridor in the past to recharge their electronics and use their portable devices. I could conceivably get some work done there, to help avoid having to use a personal or vacation day if I can't otherwise do work. The local Starbucks is a bit closer, maybe a 25-minute walk without snow, but with the amount they're forecasting, I don't think it's doable. I can't think of any other locales nearby that would have power when I didn't. Maybe the library, but they'd probably be closed.

I suppose a generator would make most of these things unnecessary. I worried a bit about the welfare of one of my next door neighbors, a recently widowed elderly woman, but I know that before her husband died, they installed a generator, so she should be fine.

One other thing I'm a little concerned about is the roof over my family room and attached garage. It's a fairly shallow grade and during other storms with wet, heavy snow, we've had problems with roof cave-ins, mostly of old barns. I have no idea how sturdy this roof is; it was built I believe in the 1990s. After one past heavy storm, I hired some guys to shovel snow off the roof but they damaged the roof shingles, probably becus they weren't roofers. I won't do that again, now that I have a roof I just put on 2 years ago. I do have a roof rake; I can't remember if it's long enough to get to that part of the roof without climbing a step ladder, which is a tough proposition if there are several feet of snow on the ground.

If you can think of anything I've missed, please let me know, no matter how little it may seem. I've weathered two storms where I lost power for I believe 3 days one time, and 5 the other, and it was no picnic.