We Are Ok

 We are all OK here in my neck of the woods.  I know there are alot of people still without power or water. People are beginning to go stir crazy. Personally,  I'd rather be cooped up with my family any day. It beats worrying about them being out and about. Oldest son works for our local power company and he has put in some hours during this whole storm and then some because he is on call this week. He is so exhausted. He has been froze all week. He finally gave in and called a family friend to help him with his frozen pipes. He will be there tomorrow to work on those. He was so tired of worrying with them and tired from working so many hours. He is one proud man 👨 just like his dad and tries his best to do things himself and doesn't want to ask for help.  That's good he's like that but I told him it's OK to ask for help every once in a while. 

Jossie got tired of driving back and forth on the ice to go to work so she just decided to stay at work a couple of days. They have rooms fixed up for nurses and emergency staff. I told her it's probably for the best because I was so worried about them getting these girls out in it every day and driving with them. So I told both of them to just let them stay here til all this ice and snow clears off the roads. 

We have been baking, cooking, school, playing and watching movies. 

This is the most snow we have had in years. My kids can't remember it being this much. Wednesday night it started getting heavier then it just kept coming down and Thursday it came down even harder. We built a fire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows in the fireplace and had a picnic in the living room. 

I made popcorn 🍿 and we watched a movie. I made homemade popcorn in the microwave.  All you do is get a paper bag and put some kernels in it with a little drizzle of oil and salt 🧂 and fold your bag up and put in the microwave on your popcorn setting and wholah! 

The next day we got out and played in it. Of course, we couldn't stay out too long with little ones because the temps were in the single digits. I fell 4 times and was sore for 2 days. 

They had snow cream for the first time. 

The girls help with clean up after eating so we can watch a movie. They love to help empty the dishwasher.  Messy buns and all. 😁

They love to play dress 👗 up in princess dresses everyday.  Anna and Elsa coming at ya. 

Daddy got to come by and play for a bit but every time he gets settled, he gets a call to go out. 

The temps are beginning to rise a little and melt a little but at night it gets below freezing and freezes again. Tomorrow, the temps will rise again and Monday it will be higher so some of this will leave us.  Our main roads are clear but some back roads they have  not gotten to yet and are shaded by trees so it will take them longer. 

I am so glad we were prepared and I got what groceries we needed before this and we have been blessed with power and water. Some people were not so fortunate.

We have gotten a bit off bedtime routine and getting in bed a little later than I like for them to, but hey, this is sleepover at Gmaws for a little longer anyway. 😁 

Well, they are asleep now so I better follow suit. Goodnight all and please stay safe and use caution when getting out. 

Preparedness

 My post today is just going to be about Preparedness.  No judging anyone or poking fun. This winter freeze all over the country is no laughing matter. 😐

People in other states are suffering with power outages and no heat right now. Power companies are working non stop hours to restore people's power. Counties are begging residents to stay off the roads because people are having wrecks and running off roads or into other people. Some people are just out taking chances. However, alot of these people are ones who have occupations where the well being of others depends on them. Some employers are not thinking of the safety of their employees. Some people are out checking on loved ones. It is a sticky situation.  Alot of people just got caught off guard and were not prepared and are now needing those groceries. This is what we are going to talk about today. Never be worried about being ridiculed or laughed at for being prepared. 

We've all seen the memes floating around on social media: 

 

These things kind of upset me. 😡 There are people out there right now wishing that they would have taken the awareness more seriously now. No, I'm not judging or poking fun. I'm stating an obvious fact. Our oldest son is battling frozen and busted water pipes right now because we kept telling him back during the summer to insulate those pipes before winter got here. Now, after 4 days of working on pipes and not being able to take a hot shower, he wishes he would have listened to dear Dad. Are we going to rub it in his face? No. Dear Dad has been helping him fix those pipes and dear son appreciates it very much. That's just what you do. 

First thing in preparedness is to always, always watch the weather. Either on TV or with an app on your phone. We choose the apps on our phones since we detest watching the news on the TV 📺 . We have three different ones. If you do not have a cell phone with internet access then you will need to rely on TV or radio.  Please take them seriously.  They can predict but the Good Lord is in control. The weather can change right after a prediction and do absolutely nothing or it can be the opposite. We can predict good weather and all the sudden, BAM!!!!! Something hits us out of no where. Personally, I'd rather be safe than sorry. Take the weather seriously.  Don't over think it but don't under think it either. 

I've seen on the news where people have waited til the last minute after days of warnings of floods or hurricanes or tornadoes. It did not turn out well for them. Please, please take things just a little more serious. After watching the weather reports, start getting things together. 

Getting Prepared:

Go pick up those last minute staple grocery items. Milk 🥛,  eggs 🥚,  flour and sugar goes a long way and lasts a while. Learn how to make bread 🍞 and other things from scratch to stretch your dollars. You can learn these skills anytime to be ready for emergencies. Spend more money on the staple items that will stretch and not junk food. Get a bag of powdered milk to use for baking and save the jug of milk for drinking is one tip. Flour is a base for alot of things like breads,tortillas, biscuits, pancakes,  gravies,  etc. Soups thrown together out of some left over vegetables and broths go along way. Beans can be used for alot of stuff. Soups,  stews, refried beans, veggie burgers,  layered with some cornbread or biscuits. Stock up on some canned items that can just be opened and ate out of the can like Vienna sausage,  beanie weenies, fruits.  Opt for non perishable items like pastas and canned goods.  If money is tight between paydays then please buy wisely. Junk food will run out. You don't have to wait until an emergency to start stocking up, you can start now and every time you go to the store for regular weekly groceries, pick up one or two items and put them up some where for emergencies and make sure the family knows. Save milk jugs and boil water to fill them up with to have drinking , cooking and flushing water on hand. 

If at all possible, please learn to grow a garden and put up your own produce. Or better yet, buy from a farmers market all summer and put up produce. I have two pages dedicated to these topics. Check out our Gardening page and our Canning and Preserving page on our header bar. 

This is just a few ideas for groceries. There is tons of info out there for this topic. Just do the best you can. 

Fuel and Heat:

Please do not get caught without fuel in your vehicles not just during emergencies. Ladies, we get ragged alot about this from our husbands. You know, running our vehicle til it hits empty and not filling up before we leave town. Yea, I've been guilty. So has my DIL.  Its not funny when you have small children and it's the heat of the summer or dead of winter and you find yourself sitting on the side of the road out of gas. Please check your gas tank before you ever leave town.  Don't let it get less than  1/4  of a tank if you can help it. Fill up your vehicles before emergencies or bad weather. That way if you have to get somewhere, you've got the gas to do it. 

If you heat your home with propane, fill your tank in the fall or before the first frost and use it sparingly.  Check your fuel level during the winter and before another round of winter weather that will limit excess to roads, have another delivery come out. Please be careful trying to heat your home using your gas stove or burners. This has caused many house fires and deaths due to the fumes. Try not to even do this with electric stoves or space heaters. They have caused fires too. Be extremely careful with stoves and small space heaters. There are some on the market that are safer like infared and thermostat controlled. Close off rooms that are not being used during the day. Insulate windows and doors that have drafts. Please insulate pipes. If at all possible do some of these projects in warmer weather to get ready for winter. 

If you heat with wood, get that fireplace cleaned out and fluke cleaned out and prepped. Get that firewood chopped, stacked or even delivered. Make sure you have enough to last all winter or you can get to some without any problems if you should run out mid season. 

Never leave a fire unattended. 🔥  Please be careful with kerosene. The fumes they put off are dangerous too. 😳 

Wash some clothes in warm or hot water close to bedtime to warm up pipes to keep them from possibly freezing overnight. Then dry them to heat your utility room up. The past few days I've tried to wash a small load to keep the pipes warm and the utility room warm. Our dryer vent comes out under our porch. This has helped a little because it has warmed up our porch some so it doesn't freeze too bad.  

Livestock and pets:

I am no stranger to this.  For 10 yrs I raised dairy goats and poultry. We still have our dogs. I am very familiar to going out in blustery freezing 🥶 mornings 🌄 and having to bust frozen ice 🧊 for all the animals to be able to have something to drink. Or to haul hot water 💧 down to a barn so they can warm up too. Kind of like their morning coffee ☕  . I have also taken hot water to put in chicken feed to warm them up. I had some spoiled animals.  I have slept in my barn during all kinds of weather to watch a momma give birth and make sure they are OK. I have braved thunderstorms and other weather to go down to the barn and battin down the hatches and to bottle feed babies. Look, ranchers don't get snow days or days off for vacations. You cowboy 🤠 up and take care of them.  But health problems came along and all that changed for me. Now we just have our dogs and our boys have always taken care of them. 

My point is, make sure they have access to water at all times. Check water hoses and outdoor faucets. Cover them and insulate them from freeze. Make sure to get food and hay ahead of time. I've seen ranchers run out of hay because of hay shortages all over the  country.  Stock up during the off seasons. Store it correctly from the elements to keep from getting dusty and moldy. This in itself can be hazardous.  

Now, pets. We've all seen the memes about:

Let me say this. Know your animals. Know your breed. If you have a sensitive dog, by all means, bring it in.  Some pets fur is warmer than others. Long haired cats 🐈 and dogs 🐕 can stay a little warmer but not if the hair gets wet then snowed on. Common sense. Some dogs are bred for cold weather and are actually hot natured. Cold does not bother them. Pyrenees are a good example. So is Labrador Retrievers like we have. They are bred for extreme cold weather. Ours are duck hunters. They love the snow and frozen water but we are still careful.  We have tried to provide then with dog houses inside a barn with hay and blankets and guess where we find them. Laying out in the snow or wading through the mud puddles that are frozen. 🙄🙄 we can go out there and they have pulled the hay or blankets out of the dog houses too. 

Some breeds will go absolutely nuts if you try to keep them inside. They will tear up doors and hurt themselves trying to get out. 

Know your breed and what they can tolerate.  Use common sense and compassion.  Provide shelter to get in out 0f the rain and snow ❄.  Provide food and water. You can use old blankets, hay, wood shavings for insulation. Provide for their needs. 

Storm Shelters:

Trust me when I say this is on our bucket list. We have not gotten around to it yet and been caught off guard a few times. Usually we keep a close eye on the weather. My husband will stay up all night tracking a storm sometimes and if he tells us to have some clothes close by, we know what that means. We have gotten ready before and headed to his mommas house which is just  a mile from us. She has the most well structured home. We have got to have one built here on our property.  As a kid, I can remember going to the storm house plenty of times. I know you need flash lights, batteries, a radio,  cell phone with some way to charge it USB.  Make sure your phone is always charged anyway. There are radios now that can charge phones using USB.   Make sure you have blankets and pillows in case you have to stay in one for a period of time.  Have a first aid kit too. Have non perishable food stored in there and bottled water. Make sure to change out these items frequently. You could always have an emergency back pack ready for each person in the home. An extra set of clothes and emergency trial size hygiene gear. 

Fire:

Always practice fire drills and have an escape plan in place. Have a fire extinguisher and know how to use it. Have smoke detectors installed, and always check the batteries. Never leave the house with anything on such as dryer, stove etc. I'm afraid to even leave a crock pot on while I'm gone and some people do that. Anything can happen in the blink of an eye. All it takes is one spark. Have important papers locked up somewhere in a fireproof safe or box. 

Vehicle:

Always keep your vehicle maintenenced. It is vital to your survival. It is your way to your place of employment which earns your paycheck to pay your bills. You do not want to be stranded on the side of the road for something that could have been avoided. Make sure to check spare tire frequently too. Stock your vehicle with emergency items. Jumper cables, tire rod, blanket, flash lights, batteries,  ice scraper,  first aid kit. Anything for you or children you might need in case of emergency.  

These are some of the things that are just on the top of my head. There are many more preparedness tips out there on the internet. Feel free to research and make plans. 

Please under any circumstance,  do not wait until the last minute to prepare. Start prepping for the next season coming up ahead of time. Prep for winter in the summer and so forth. People are now seeing that this country can not just go ALL green. Some green here and there is OK. But we still have to supplement with either or both. Solar panels can break and not charge under heavy layers of ice or during bad storms that can cause something to break. Wind turbines will freeze and not turn. We still have to rely on fuel and coal and nuclear for heat believe it or not. After all, what heats the White House? That's a different soap box trust me. 

I hope some of these ideas have helped. 

Our Winter Wonderland

 Our morning looks like this

The sun was shining bright but we were no where close to above freezing. It was 5 degrees outside wind chill of-12. This is not normal for us. This will not be melting and we are in for another round tomorrow morning through Wednesday.  

Our State Highway Dept and Law Enforcement Agencies are asking everyone to stay off the roads. 

I know people up North make fun of us Southerners for closing things down during snow. Well, let me say this, it is one thing to drive on packed snow which is dry. However,  it is totally different when you get freezing rain 🌧 then it freezes to a solid sheet of ice on the roads, then snows on top of that. Since our humidity is different in the south,  this can be a wet snow which freezes. Tire chains don't help, sometimes salting the roads don't help. So this is why everything gets shut down. We really CANT drive on ice without sliding. S0 many people have already had wrecks.

Jossie did not have to go to work today, so she had girls. I'm having grandchildren withdrawals. Lol. Her school is closed for the rest of the week and so is regular schools in our county.  

I made grill cheese for all of us for breakfast. 

Then we just took it easy and later took a nap.  

After nap we had afternoon coffee. And then I suited up and helped dear hubby load firewood in wood bin outside. I needed to get out and get fresh air

 

Tonight, I gonna try my hand at homemade chicken pot pie 🥧.  I cooked a whole chicken the other night and we already had wraps with it. Tonight,  I will use some more shredded chicken 🐔 for the filling. We will see

I used a recipe that was in one of my Pioneer Woman recipe books. This recipe makes two pie crusts.

 

 I rolled out my dough. There is a trick to picking up your crust and moving it to your dish. Roll your dough around your rolling pen and roll it onto your dish. 

I used alot of things I had on hand. I used some of my precooked and shredded chicken, a jar of home canned green beans, a jar of home canned carrots 🥕,  some frozen peas, and some of our home grown corn from the garden. I used a can of cream of chicken soup with some milk. This was my filling. Then I put my other crust on top of that. 

I had some crust left over and made a small extra pie. 

As usual, while the pies 🥧 were baking,  I cleaned as I went.  

Oh my goodness, just let me say it was delicious. Even two teenage boys went back for seconds. 

Then we had cheesecake for dessert. This is one I made back during the holidays and put in the freezer. 

Then we just enjoyed the rest of our night with the fireplace. 

Our Morning So Far

 This is our morning so far. It has been sleeting and freezing 🥶 crystals all night. 

It did this all night and Dakota got called out onto some calls. This poor mom has been worried. 

We have groceries,  heat and power. Some people don't have that. 

Our inclement weather is different. We don't get snow.  We get freezing rain or sleet and then there is what is called black ice. You can drive on snow but you can't drive on ice. My sons father in law has been very busy pulling people out of ditches trying to drive on this stuff. 

I'm glad we were prepared. 

Wether like this is why you don't want to make fun of people for wanting to be prepared. Got my milk and bread a few days ago. 😋  The last thing you want is to be stranded at home with no groceries.  Got to feed your family and be prepared. Better to be safe than sorry. 😝😒😛

Dear hubby had to go to his mommas house and check on the pipes to make sure they weren't froze. 

3:30pm and it's coming down hard. It has been a few years since we have had a good winter. I froze my tooshie off getting the snow and ice away from the bottom of the back door so we could get it open. 

This is the first time I have ever had very severe dry skin. It is awful. Here in the south we are use to some kind of humidity or moisture in the air even in the winter.  But this year my skin has been so dry and cracked. I've tried several lotions and nothing has worked until I started using Baby Oil. So much better. And let's not even talk about hair 🙄.  

We crank the vehicles once a day and let them run for a bit because it is so frozen outside. Yes,  Elsa, the cold 🥶 bothers me. 

Cowboys 🤠 gotta go out and take care of dogs 🐕

I pulled out some rolls to defrost and rise that I flash froze a month ago and we're gonna have those with spaghetti bake. A good way to utilize left overs is to repurpose  them. Get creative. Left over spaghetti 🍝? Spread out into a casserole dish,  spread mozzarella cheese 🧀on top and bake. Wholah 

I'm trying to get a fire 🔥 going to get these guys warmed when they come in from doing farm 🚜 chores.  

Every body is inside now and toasty. Just  gonna enjoy our night and stay warm and cozy. 

I know there are people without power right now and electrical workers are out there doing their best. Please be patient with them and pray for them. Also, we pray for the ones that are without power. 🙏. Check on your neighbors.  

Happy Valentine's Day

 Today has just been  a lazy day. We got some inclement weather and no one is going anywhere.  Roads are slick and iced over. My sons father in law had already gotten 5 vehicles out of ditches by 11 am. 

Church services were cancelled. We were just lazy today and enjoying the fireplace.

Dear hubby cooked supper tonight so I have just been spoiled. 

 

Relaxing Saturday

 I woke up when I wanted to this morning.  Yep, I wanted to be lazy today. Till about 9:30 am when son called and wanted to know could the girls come just for a while  while he works on the fence in Nanny's pasture.  So, of course I said yes. He took them to eat breakfast while I hopped in shower and got ready and I ate breakfast too. 

I was still in the shower 🚿 when they arrived and of course they high tailed it in there with me. I have not had privacy since the boys were older and didn't need to come in the bath room with me anymore. But now I have little tiny human beings that want me all the time,  so there's that. While I was in the shower 🚿 dear son did this for me 

He knows how much I love my fireplace and since it was 20 something degrees outside....... bless him.  He was cold too. 🥶

One of these days this old woman will learn how to shave without cutting myself. 

I let the girls just do whatever they wanted to do today. So they spent 2 hrs just coloring and drawing. 

We took a break for some lunch and then it was time for nap and they slept 2 1/2 hrs. I slept 2 hrs. I needed it since I didn't sleep good last night. 

Dakota got done working on the fence and came and picked them up and took them home to eat supper. 

Nanny told Dakota a long time ago that he could utilize her two pastures for cows. And that is what he is doing now. Some of the fence just needed mending and some brush pulled back off of it. 

We have always wanted to have a few cows and raise them for our beef. So I guess we are well on our way to doing that. Dakota does the raising and we go in half and have it butchered. This is right up his alley. The girls love to see the babies too. Right now his cow is in a friend's pasture. When everything gets set up and he moves his cow we will show you. 

I tidied up everything and threw a whole chicken in the pressure cooker. 30 minutes later, I got it out,  deboned it, shredded it and made my supper. Dallas had him a Buffalo chicken wrap. 🐔 

Hey,  don't mind the cheese balls with the healthy wrap. It's all about balance people. All about balance. I'm going to enjoy the rest of my night eating my wrap by the fireplace and retire to my bedroom later.  Good night all.