"I'd rather deal with six inches of snow than a half inch of ice!" I've heard that refrain, or variations of it, quite a bit over the last day or two, mostly when I'm talking to myself. I've mentioned before that snow, being from Wisconsin, is usually not too big a deal, but ice is just plain miserable. So, when the National Weather Service issues an Ice Storm Warning, like it did this morning, it gets everyone's attention. Now, before I go any further, let me put in my two cents about the day's weather. I think there will be some relatively minor ice problems later today into tonight, and we still have a chance of some snow on Thursday, although, as of early Wednesday, it looks like the heaviest will be to our southeast. Stay tuned to KMBC or come back here to thekansascitychannel.com for the latest updates to the forecast. Having said all that, I have to admit, when I hear the phrase "ice storm" I immediately flash back to January of 2002.

I remember driving home after FirstNews on the last Tuesday of that month. It was warm and gray. By afternoon, heavy rain had moved in. I packed a couple suits, some peanut butter sandwiches, emergency chocolate and headed back into downtown. That was the start of nearly four days spent downtown. Now, with an ice storm, once it's here, it's here, so the main reason for being at the station was to make sure you were already at the station. I feel like I am repeating myself by repeating myself.

Back at home, they had a great time. Warm cookies. Hot cocoa. Board games. A cozy fire. When I would call home, I'd tell them all they were lucky to still have power because so many of our fellow ice-stormers were without. Actually, I never got to say that directly to any of them. We have caller ID so they were screening the incoming calls. But, I did leave that message. Several times. Along with pleas for sympathy about how hard I was working. No, they didn't buy that, either.

By Friday of that week, the worst was over and, after the morning show, I drove home. As destructive as the storm was, it did leave behind some beautiful scenes. So, we all got in the car and took a drive ending up at a local bookstore for some treats. It may have taken all week but I was finally enjoying some of nature's handiwork like my family had all week. Then, we got home and all the power had gone out. Remember, all week, while I was gone, they had power and fun. Now, I was home and neither commodity was available. Naturally, they all blamed me.

We all slept in the living room that night. I was in the "flea section," wedged between the two dogs. Living quilts. My oldest son's main worry was not having power to watch the Super Bowl which was coming up on Sunday. Well, by later in the day on Saturday, power was restored. We were certainly much more fortunate than many people who endured the dark and cold for days. From that day on, we made sure we had flashlights with batteries, a transistor radio, cellphones fully charged...all the things we should've had ready before.

Actually, my wife and kids have a different strategy for the next ice storm: make dad, and his obviously bad cheesehead karma, stay away a couple extra days!