Lorihadams-- hi guys...been busy!

[lorihadams]

Okay, who's bright idea was it to send us all the ice and snow???

We didn't think it was supposed to start until late tonight and apparantly we missed the memo that it was earlier in the day. We took the kids to the science museum this afternoon and the further west we got (closer to home) the rain changed to ice and then in a matter of minutes changes to snow. We get 10 minutes from the house and my husband hits a patch of ice under the snow, slides into the ditch, wrecks the front end of our brand new Durango, and has evidently done something to the engine or radiator cause we got it out of the ditch and limped it home and it overheated at 15 mph. The front bumper will have to be replaced and we will have to have some sort of engine work done. We already have 6 inches of snow on the ground and it shows no signs of stopping.

On a lighter note, I went to check on the chickens tonight and give them some water and knock the snow and ice off of the tarp on the run and couldn't find them except for Big Mama. Apparantly she is the only smart one in the bunch...she was in the pen with her food and water. The other 7 were hiding under the back deck afraid to go out in the snow.

It took us 15 minutes to wrangle them all up and get them into the pen so that they could go in the coop tonight and get some water and food. Craziness, I tell you. I have to admit though, that it was fun running around in the snow with my husband...we haven't had enough snow lately to go out and play in it before it melts. When we were dating I went to his house to watch a movie and got snowed in. We got a foot of snow and I couldn't get my car dug out of the driveway.......and there goes the power... It keeps going on and off...if it keeps this up the transformer will blow. Gotta go...

 

[lorihadams]

Okay, so it is now Wednesday and a foot of snow later we are all comfy in the house again. We "camped out" in the house Sunday night and Monday night. It got down to 44 before we finally called it quits and went to my BF's house so we could warm up and shower...ick. My husband decided to build a snow fort Monday while the kids were down for their naps and I'll post a pic later to show how it turned out. It was really cool...the kids were scared to go in at first but once they realized it wouldn't fall on their heads they were all gung ho!

This power outtage made me realize that we definitely need some alternate heat source. We have a kerosene heater that we put on the porch and cooked on...slowly...but we were able to make scrambled eggs, oatmeal, and heat up some soup with crackers and heat up snow for water for the animals...we have well water and no power=no water. We went up to the rescue squad a few miles up the road and got several gallons of water and that lasted us for a while. I cleaned out the fridge and packed everything in a cooler outside with some snow and the only thing we lost was a package of chicken breasts in the freezer so I took that and a dozen eggs to BF's house as a thank you and cooked her dinner. She was excited...and happy for some company, so was her daughter...I think they were getting on each other's nerves after being snowed in for 2 days

We made out alright but my son's 2 frogs died...too cold in the house. Buddy, our banty roo has a little bit of frostbite on the tips of his comb but nothing too bad. I got out and got the animals taken care of and Chad had to help me cut the tarp off of the chicken run, empty the snow, and put it back up. If we had the money I would get one of those open garages to put up for a dog run and one for a chicken run with fencing around it. Metal roof, all one piece, no muss no fuss. Only problem is that they are usually 6-800 dollars apiece. Someday...

We're also considering building a tractor type coop and getting 2 Japanese banty hens for Buddy. The other hens are just too big for him and he can't get any lovin'

I needed to clean the house up today from all the chaos of these last two days but I had so much laundry to do that it took over the entire kitchen. I'll get the dusting and vacuuming and mopping done tomorrow. Today I cleaned up all the dishes and I have the last load of laundry in the dryer (yuck, but what do you do when there's a foot of snow on the ground?). We have to go pick up the rental car tomorrow and I have to go to the grocery store and Sams Club tonight when Chad gets home.

Oh, and my husband just got informed today that there is a new dress code for warehouse employees. No baseball caps and collared dress shirts. Are you kidding me? He drives a forklift all day, now we have to go buy him dress shirts so he can go to work just to get them all greased up and dirty. Can you tell I'm annoyed?

 

[modern_pioneer]

We're like the last people around to get power on when a storm passes through here. I bought a small generator last year, and installed a wood stove for the winter to keep the gas bill low. Our average saving has been $165.00 a month. The woodstove was $600.00, pipe to install it, maybe $30.00, chain saw blades, oil, gas, $75.00. So that's about $705.00. The offset is that it paid for it's self this year, a savings of $1155.00. Oh, and the wood is free.

The last of the 28" of snow is almost gone here and some warm days are headed this way. I am getting a bit grouchy being inside so much this winter. We get the front end of lake effects snow here on our mountain range. So if they say, local news in pittsburgh, they are getting 5 inches, we'll get 8-9 without fail. I like winter, better than the high heat in summer, but I am ready for spring to come and say good-bye to winter

 

[lorihadams]

I know what you mean...I grew up with a wood stove in our basement and loved it. I told my husband that the next house we have we are putting in a woodstove. After this last power outtage he finally agrees with me!

Thursday

Still cleaning up...MIL is arriving late tonight for a couple of days so I had to get the house looking presentable. Gave the dogs a bath, dug out a path through the snow to an already bare spot under some trees for the chickens (spoiled rotten birds!), cleaned the rabbit hutch (frozen poo is not fun), gave maggie a bath (kids tried to help and I ended up giving them a bath too), and vacuumed and mopped the floors. Whew, are we done yet? Going to pick up the rental car and swing by the library this evening cause my books are now late (dang snow). Got some seeds last night!!! Beans, peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, cukes, and a variety of lettuces. We are salad eaters so I really hope the lettuce garden does well. Hopefully we can get started on the raised beds once the snow melts

 

[justusnak]

oh Lori, So sorry tro hear about the Durango! Just glad no one was hurt. I am sure maybe sore the next day tho. Sounds like you have had an interesting few days.
I agree with the woodstove. Mine is crackling and popping in the backround as I type. LOVE it, and it has saved us LOTS! Our wood is free as well. ( other than the work of cutting, splitting, and stacking)
Hope your visit with MIL goes well.

 

[lorihadams]

My poor chickerdoodles....I looked out the window last night about 6pm and noticed that all the chickens were huddled on top of one of the feed bins. I'm glad I checked on them cause the door to the run had blown closed at some point during the day. Poor things...then this morning I found an egg in the poo wheelbarrow! Evidently they couldn't get back in to lay yesterday while we were at the library/rental car place.

The snow has just about melted in the sunny spots and now we have a muddy mess. I caught my daughter outside barefoot trying to get in the sandbox. She sneaked out there while I was fixing lunch, little stinker. She was a mess! My MIL is MIA. She called and said she couldn't come last night but would be here this morning and still hasn't shown up yet. Don't know what's going on with that.

We got some really good books on ocean life for my 4 yr old at the library...it's his latest obsession. We also got some books on raising dairy goats, poultry, and cattle. I may actually get my hubby to read!

On our way out yesterday some of our neighbors down the road were gone and 3 of their goats were in the road, one with her new baby...it was tiny and you could still see some of the umbilical cord remnants. Chad and I wrangled them back into the pasture and went by the house to tell them but they were gone. Now hubby wants goats!!! Says he didn't realize how fun they could be until then!

 

[keljonma]

Sounds like the past week has been crazy, Lori!

DH used to get his dress shirts for work at the consignment or thrift stores. He couldn't see spending more than $5 for a shirt that would get all greasy, slimy and covered with muck.

Power outages are never fun if you aren't prepared. You're right about the well pump - without electricity, you don't have water. You may want to look into quantity storage of water or an alternate power source for the pump (generator) the next time. Even a charcoal grill would have been better, I think, than the kerosene heater. You may be able to find a Coleman-style propane camp stove at a local thrift or Army/Navy store that you could keep for emergencies. We have a couple hand-crank lights, flashlights and a radio that are always helpful when the power is gone.

Can't wait to see pics of the snow fort. Seems funny to see you talking about snow and we're having 60 weather today!

 

[lorihadams]

I never thought about a camp stove! DUH

Monday 3-9-09
We had a beautiful, warm, sunny weekend! We had to break out the shorts! We didn't see MIL until dinnertime Friday night, found out later that she was trying to track down a Wii for my husband's birthday tomorrow. She found one but it took her all day. So now I have to fight my hubby to get off of the stupid game and go to bed

My BF had a pajama party for her daughter saturday night so we all got dressed in our pjs and went to her house for dinner but didn't stay (Maddie is too little and no boys were allowed to spend the night). I think she ended up with 4 little girls that stayed overnight. It was crazy, all those kids running around (17 to be exact). We are having a birthday party Saturday afternoon for Tyler, Maddie and Chad. I don't think we'll have that many people and I just saw the weather and it is supposed to rain

Woke up Sunday to the sound of hammering. My fabulous husband was digging through our scrap lumber pile and building our raised beds for the gardens!!! He built 2 4x12 beds!!!! WOO HOO!!! I got out this morning and worked in the flower beds after tending to the animals, the clover has started growing like wild in the backyard so my bunnies and chickens are happy! Beautiful day, gonna let the kids get out to play again after naptime, caught our first frog of the season! Tyler has named him Charbee and he is living in the aquarium in his room when Ty isn't carrying him around the house. Now if I can just get him to stop letting him sit on the couch.....

Oh, and I just remembered, I cut 8-9 inches off of my hair this weekend and sucked it up and bought a new sewing machine from the new JoAnn Fabrics store that just opened. I got a Viking Sapphire 830. I put $500 down, combined christmas gift cards and cash on hand, and got the other $970 on a 12month no interest no payment card. I am hoping that now that we have the computer paid off I will be able to put some extra money towards paying that off. Hubby convinced me to do it, said that I needed to do something for myself for a change. I still haven't taken it out of the box yet, I have to take a class so I'll know how to use it!

 

[dragonshiner]

Lucky. Your weather sounds way better than mine. We just got a surprise 5 inches of snow dumped on us last night. Not counting drifts coming off the hay field. It's supposed to hit forty today, and tomorrow thunderstorms. That's spring in Wisconsin for you.

 

[lorihadams]

Alright, here are a few pics, this first one is my 2 year old daughter trying to jump on the trampoline that has almost a foot of snow on it.

Then this one is of the snow fort that my husband built for the kids (that's his head in the back)

This is a picture of my new haircut...imagine me with 8-9 more inches of hair and you'll get an idea of the difference, and please excuse my face as I am suffering horribly from allergies today (woke up to swollen eyes and the lashes were caked together)