The Great Towson Ice Hunt

At 9:15 a.m. Monday, just as I sat down at the to charge my phone and computer—and my sleepy head—my wife texted me: "Can you get some ice and put it in the coolers so our lunch doesn't spoil?"

I asked a friend, Gerry Fey, 38, of Stoneleigh, to watch my computer at the table we were sharing and said: I'll be back in 15 minutes. 

It turned out to be more like an hour and 15 minutes.

Had I told Gerry where I was headed he could have forewarned me. On Sunday, he and his wife went on a futile search for bags of ice to keep the food from their powerless refrigerators from spoiling. They went to Target: no ice. They went to Safeway: no ice. Two : nada. Two gas stations: nope. Two Mars supermakerts: you get the idea.  

I knew none of this as I headed down York. First gast station: no ice. Second gas station. No ice. 

"No worries," I told myself. "The Giant will have ice." 

But as I walked in, three people were walking out pushing carts filled with ice bags. Yikes! 

I ran in with a cart, stood in line behind three other people and grabbed four bags. 

Maureen Todd, 28, of Rodgers Forge, was in the line ahead of me. She grabbed about six bags—causing me some worry that she was going to grab them all. 

We spoke in the parking lot about how she's been handling the heat. Aside from the rotting food in her refrigerator, Maureen appeared to be far more cheerful than most of the people I've encountered who have been .

"I was excited when I saw people walking out with ice," she said. 

But the interview in the steaming parking lot could not go on much longer—not because she didn't want to talk.

But because the ice was beginning to melt. 

Share your stories about finding—or not finding ice—in comments.