Wednesday Snap Shot - On Saturday - What a Week it Had Been!

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Wednesday Snap Shot is a quick peek into my week.

If you'd like to join in on my Wednesday Snap Shot.. copy and paste my post, add your answers (you can also copy the pic).. link your post to my blog and then come back and let me know you shared your week. I'll come and visit you and read about your homemaking week!! :)


So Far This Week
What a week it is has been! I've been battling winter here and that is why Wednesday Snap Shot is so late this week.

I had a lot of nice things to say about this last week and was ready to put out my post on Wednesday. But, I woke up to no power and the worst ice storm I've ever seen in 20 years of living here. Everything was covered in a thick coat of ice. Yesterday evening we finally got our power on. It had been almost 3 full days.

The ice was so thick that it brought down tress and branches everywhere. It sounded like I was living in a war zone as I saw and heard branches and trees falling right and left with the weight of the ice. The road in front of our house was impassable due to fallen trees. From our house to the main highway we counted 5 power wires broken. And one big power line so thickly covered in ice that it had drooped down to the level of the road.

On Thursday my husband had been able to clean up our driveway (which is long) and worked on getting his tractor out to clear off the ice and snow and sleet so we could at least get to the road. When he was finally at the road there were two neighbors coming down the road in their tractors with the goal of knocking down trees and branches and clearing a path so cars could get through. Hubby came along behind them cleaning off the ice and the sleet and snow.

We were finally able to get down our road and then the next road, we had to dodge fallen trees and downed power lines to get to the main highway. We headed into town and purchased two inverters and a generator.

We had no idea how long we'd be without power and with a freezer full of food that was not going to make it we felt a generator was a good investment. It was so nice to be able to have lights and run the freezer and fridge.

It was also nice to have internet again. I don't get cell reception where I live, my internet was out and the phone lines were dead for some time as well. I knew my family would be concerned and it was good to be able to reach out and let everyone know we were ok.

Being without power for a few days makes me very appreciative of the modern conveniences we have. Small things we take for granted, like making a cup of coffee for instance, become bigger tasks.


On My To-Do List
I'm catching up on laundry and cooking today.

I was thankful that on Tuesday I had cooked up 2 meals. I had made Cuban sandwich meat and my saucy meatballs. Both of these meals were easy to reheat on my propane camp stove. After we had finished eating those meals I made chili (with canned beans) and hot dogs. Today however it is time to cook up some food.

Projects I'm Working On
Yesterday we finally had the first mail delivery that we'd had in a few days. I was happy to see my yarn had arrived. After I catch up around here I'll start working on my baby blankets.

Prior to losing power I was working on organizing and taking inventory of my freezer and my pantry. It's so easy to have items drop to the bottom of the freezer or get pushed to the back of the pantry shelves and I forget what I have.

I wrote down all my items in my homemaking notebook and color coded them according to what they were, such as, meats, veggies, canned goods, etc. It was very helpful in giving me ideas for what to eat this week (as I mentioned on Menu Monday) and gave me a better idea what to add to my grocery list.



I also labeled my little notebooks. I didn't think I'd need to but found myself having to open them up to see which notebook they were.. that has made them much easier to use.




Today's Weather
High of 37 and a low of 31, more snow is in the forecast


The View from my Deck (or window)
As I write this it is still dark outside. But at the bottom of the blog post I'm sharing some pictures of our storm.


What I'm Reading
My current book that I'm reading is on my Kindle and well with power outages and all.. my Kindle died on me pretty quick like. A reason I can see the value of actual books!! :) I went to my book shelf, needing something to entertain me during this power outage. I found a book that belonged to my daughter Leanne. It was a required reading when she was in college. I had asked her a while back what she thought of it. She said she liked it. So I kept it. I pulled it out and stared reading The Secret Life of Bees. So far I'm enjoying it.

I just finished 1st Samuel and am ready to move onto 2nd Samuel. One part (of several) that has always been stuck with me is when little Samuel was in bed and thought he heard Eli calling him. This happened several times and finally Eli realized it was the Lord calling him. Sometimes we just have stop and listen for the Lord is speaking to us in many ways.


What I'm Listening To
Right now, the washer and dryer going. I'm already starting on laundry catch up.


Something Frugal I've Done This Week
I guess not using any electricity for a few days is frugal! Ha, ha!! :)


Fitness and Health for the Week
This has been another challenging week for me. Seems a lot of my time has just been keeping things going in the home and fitness has not been a thought. I think the biggest challenge I have dealt with is snacking. I'm not usually a snack type person. But all this time inside has made hard to not to do!

Now that I have power back, I'll work on getting food prepared ahead of time to make health options more readily available.

I'm very ready for this winter to be over and to be able to get out and walk again. I'm missing it terribly.


Below are some pics of our winter world over the last few days..


 
The white color on the trees is not snow, it's ice
 
 
 
 
The road in front of our house, cleared enough so we could make it down to the highway
 
 

Comments

  1. MeliaJanuary 21, 2017 at 9:27 AM

    I know ice storms and no power are no fun after a couple of days. But the beauty of the world around you with all that snow and the trees and the silence just takes my breath away!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CrystalJanuary 22, 2017 at 5:44 AM

      Thank you.. yes it is beautiful here.. and treacherous at the same time! :) .. I'll be happy to get past this winter and just have the memory.. LOL.. :D

      Delete
  2. Cozy Thyme CottageJanuary 21, 2017 at 6:27 PM

    Your storm is beautiful but very inconvenient. I wondered what small appliances you plugged into the inverters or what you used them for?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CrystalJanuary 22, 2017 at 5:49 AM

      We were replacing the 2 inverters we had that decided to go out this storm... :) We use them to power a few lights, internet, computers, etc. But mostly we use them for a circulation pump. My husband has copper pipe running through our wood stove from out hot water tanks (we have 2 of them).. we heat our hot water with our wood stove. But, the water has to move through the pipes or it would cause some serious issues. So we have a pump that moves the water through as it heats up. We run them off of our car batteries.. and then run the cars to recharge the batteries.

      Delete
    2. Cozy Thyme CottageJanuary 22, 2017 at 8:04 PM

      Thanks for that information. What type of batteries do you plug the inverters into. Trying to learn more how to deal with power outages if they should happen. Nancy

      Delete
    3. CrystalJanuary 22, 2017 at 8:56 PM

      Inverters are connected to car batteries. We charge the batteries by running the cars. Or the batteries can be charged with the generator when it is running. The inverters won't run freezers, fridges and that type of thing..

      Delete
    4. Cozy Thyme CottageJanuary 23, 2017 at 5:47 PM

      Thanks. I still think we need one for computer or little things. We do not have a generator. Thanks for sharing your information. Nancy

      Delete
    5. CrystalJanuary 23, 2017 at 6:03 PM

      When the power goes out.. it is so nice to just have a couple lights on.. and the modem working.. :) it's the little things that can make a big difference!

      Delete
  3. Jagoda SmithJanuary 22, 2017 at 1:26 AM

    Sending you some warm thoughts. It must have been hard to keep everything going.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CrystalJanuary 22, 2017 at 5:50 AM

      Thank you! Can definitely use those warm thoughts! :) It is always a challenge when the power goes out, for sure..

      Delete
  4. AnonymousJanuary 23, 2017 at 11:24 AM

    Wondered where you had gone to. Glad you're back and weathered the storm. It's funny - an ice storm years ago was what started me on my 'prepping'. I was newly relocated from CA to the Pacific Northwest and was terrified of driving in ice. I lived in a hilly area in a city that did not normally get snow or ice. And, I was clueless about the advantages of having snow tires. It was probably a good thing I stayed home. Anyway, I was housebound for two weeks. I scraped by but decided then and there to start stocking a pantry. I never looked back. Cheers, SJ in Vancouver BC

    ReplyDelete

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