Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[frustratedearthmother]

Well crapola! I've already had a broken pipe - argh! Not directly due to the freeze though.... I was about to put a cover on a faucet and couldn't get the hose off. DH has a tendency to put hoses on with pliers because his hands are weak. I decided to get pliers to get it off. Snapped the dang pipe! ARGH!!! I ran out to the pump and turned the water off and started looking for the box of spare plumbing parts. Had a small panic, but finally found 'em. Cut off the pipe so that I could fit a cap on it, glued that sucker up, waited on pins and needles and then turned the water back on. It held! Whoop - back in business. I hope that's the worst thing that happens in this mess.

Tree limbs on the pines are starting to get iced over. Hope they don't break...

 

[baymule]

I hope your old buck doesn’t succumb to the cold. Hang in there old fella!

Sleet and ice here. I busted ice in water buckets and it froze back while I was feeding. I’m going out at 3 to feed and then I’ll carry boiling water so they can get a drink. Sheep are staying huddled in shelters. Lambs are too. Sentry and Sheba are in shelter, curled up and warm. Buford comes out, runs around the field, clearly confused. WHERE IS EVERYONE?

 

[baymule]

Well crapola! I've already had a broken pipe - argh! Not directly due to the freeze though.... I was about to put a cover on a faucet and couldn't get the hose off. DH has a tendency to put hoses on with pliers because his hands are weak. I decided to get pliers to get it off. Snapped the dang pipe! ARGH!!! I ran out to the pump and turned the water off and started looking for the box of spare plumbing parts. Had a small panic, but finally found 'em. Cut off the pipe so that I could fit a cap on it, glued that sucker up, waited on pins and needles and then turned the water back on. It held! Whoop - back in business. I hope that's the worst thing that happens in this mess.

Tree limbs on the pines are starting to get iced over. Hope they don't break...

Super Woman! Heck yeah!

 

[flowerbug]

Super Woman! Heck yeah!

i know! i'm amazed when people just do stuff and it works out. i'm so used to getting plan in place and then having it partly done and then someone else comes along and changes it or cancels it all together.

i wimped out this morning when faced with the simple task of removing a faucet from a sink. called my brother who has plumbers he likes to have them come and replace both the faucet and the sink (which is cracked). so they will call and then show up and do it all and send a bill to us and it will be done. after nearly 30 years that faucet was so caked shut with scale and rust that i could not budge it to get it open but i also don't have the right tools and my left shoulder is really not able to work in such places with certain reaches and that situation under that sink was just one of those moments when i decided that money wasn't worth the aggravation i was going to face with dealing with that whole thang...

 

[baymule]

Tomorrow it’s supposed to get above freezing so I’ll turn water back on, check for leaks and take a shower. Then turn water back off, it’s going back down to 14F.

Ok Winter, you can leave now.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Tomorrow it’s supposed to get above freezing so I’ll turn water back on, check for leaks and take a shower.

I can't wait! One day of this and I'm ready to move south. Oh wait - I AM south. It was 20 when I got out of bed this morning, but I didn't get out of bed until after 8. My morning routine is to look out my bathroom window before I even brush my teeth. I can see the barn and the critters from there - but dang - it's frozen shut. Oh, and the screen is covered with ice so I couldn't see through it anyway. How do people live this way?

Barely a speck of sleep last night. I found myself listening for the sound of the water I left dripping in my bathroom. The master bath is the end of the water line so I left it dripping. I left the door open so I could hear the drips. I'm a little obsessive. I hate losing water - and I really need to shower, lol.

To add to the "no sleep saga" -

DH had several low blood sugar issues during the night. PSA - never trust someone with low blood sugar! Their brain is running on empty and they know not what they say, lol. I kept hearing his low blood sugar alarm and kept nudging him. He finally sat up on the side of the bed to eat a snack. (discovered later that he never ate the snack - just had it in his hand and a few minutes later he's back asleep) I hear his alarm again. I nudge him again. He assures me he had his snack. Just to make things more confusing his blood sugar alarm goes off anytime it's under the setpoint. So, even though his BS may be going back up the alarm is going to sound off until he gets above that setpoint. Five or six alarms later I asked him if he was sure his BS was going up. Yep, he says. I ask him to check the number and let me know what it is. He spouts off that his BS is 143. Uh no! First - he never moved in the bed so I know he didn't check anything. Second - if his BS was 143 the alarm wouldn't be going off. ARGH! I jump out of bed and go around to his side to get his phone. Punch in the code and read that his BS is actually below 60. Geeze Louise! This time I made sure he was awake and watched him eat his snack and drink his juice. All is well and we go back to sleep. Until it happened again a few hours later. Time for another adjustment to his pump.

Physical therapy just texted that they can do a session with today if we want. They had previously canceled until tomorrow but I guess they feel the roads are safe enough today. Now I get to do a quick house clean up - it's a bit of a mess. Several loads of laundry on the couch that need to be processed. Washing was part of my storm preps, lol. Need clothes! Other than that - haven't done any major cleaning for several days because I've been outside working or driving DH to appts. ARGH! I need a couple clones!

 

[tortoise]

Wow. You are literally a lifesaver

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Wow. You are literally a lifesaver

I have saved that man more times than I can count, lol. Thank goodness I'm a light sleeper. Before he got the pump with the alarm system we had some seriously close calls. Lowest he ever had was 28. That's critically low and scary as he//.

It's a beautiful day. Pure blue sky and the temp is up to 30! Whoop! Guess I should go check the critters water. I'm not as nice as Bay - I broke the ice but I'm not hauling boiling water out there if I don't have to. Hope it gets above freezing tomorrow so I can turn the water to the pasture/barns back on or I might be forced to haul some out there.

 

[baymule]

Breaking ice isn’t enough, it just freezes back. Pouring cold water in just adds more to freeze. Sigh…… So hauling boiling water it is!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Breaking ice isn’t enough, it just freezes back.

They need to learn to drink fast, lol! I had some 5 gallon buckets inside the barn that barely froze - just a light layer of ice. They drank out of that as soon as I broke the ice. But, they weren't interested in dunking their faces into the big trough. I'd be afraid to pour boiling water in the big trough because I have fish in there, lol. Don't wanna cook my fish!