Storm’s a Coming & Now You're in the Dark

Storm’s a coming

     With all the storms and rough weather we have been having this winter, we might ask are we prepared for a power outage. I know we have had ours flicker a few times this year already and a few years ago we were without power for a few days after the hurricane so we try to be prepared now. We have had so much rain here that we have trees uprooting all over the place. That was what happened here during the hurricane. It just blew a huge oak tree into the house taking the power line with it. I know we don’t get a lot of snow here but occasionally we do, but mostly ice storms and then we have downed trees and power outages too. Up north though my family has a ton of snow from time to time. You would think they would have a power outage for sure somewhere.

What causes these outages? Weather is one cause and it could be from hurricanes, or lightning strikes. Downed lines or transformers exploding can be another. Sometimes it may be caused by overloaded power grids and even solar flares and it could be updates on the system itself. It is never coinciding with your plans whatever the case.

 What to do when the power goes out!!!

     So all of a sudden the house goes dark, no more TV or lights. Now what? Have you got your supplies ready? Have you got the emergency backup plan in place? I hope you have prepared well in advance because if it is a huge power outage it may cause stores to be without power in your area also and that means no computers to make purchases. If I know in advance we have a bad storm coming I always make sure we have water for us to drink and cook with. (I keep water to flush the toilets. I have always had a few huge jugs filled for toilets and stored.)

     Here is a list of other things you may want to have on hand.

• Non perishables, can goods and juices etc. snack foods and fruit
• First aid kits 
• Extra toilet paper (Something I always have on hand.)
• Batteries and extra flashlights- we have a few of the LED lanterns they are great and put out a lot of light. 
• Can opener (hand crank) 
• Matches  
• Extra fuel: gas, wood or propane 
• If at all possible have a backup generator
• Extra blankets in case you do not have heat, thankfully we heat with wood here.
• Extra clothing
• A grill or camp stove to cook on if the power is out for too long.
• Charcoal and lighter fluid
•  A cooler and ice from the freezer if possible, if you have snow fill it with snow.
• If you are like my hubby who needs his coffee have a pot to make it in from the cook stove.
• Card or board games to keep the kids happy or a good book.  These things will help you get by for a few hours or days.

     If you have a generator make sure you have it connected from the outside in because it does let off carbon monoxide. Try not to open the refrigerator too much if you don’t have a generator it will keep the food cold longer.

     Things you can do when the power does go out is report the outage. Most times if there is a big outage the electric company will tell you where it is and how long it will take before they get you back up and running. Keep your radio on to keep up with bad weather just in case it is the cause so you can be prepared for something worse. Social media will help to pinpoint outages too. Try to unplug things like TV Computers etc. that can be damaged when the power comes back on. Hot water tanks will not be working nor will gas stoves with electric ignite switches, so keep that in mind. Unless you have a way to charge your cell phone try not to use it too much. Refrigerator will be safe up to 4 hours and freezers if full will make it for a day or so.

     Once the power has come back on you can start to plug your electronics etc. in again but not all at the same time. Always remember to restock what items you have used from your kits so you can be ready the next time you might have an outage. 

     I know we are never expecting for the weather to take out the power but sometimes it does. You never know when there are accidents involving power poles or some crazy something else so please be prepared. I know I try to be as much as possible here because we are way out of town and I don’t want to be caught off guard.

     Quote of the day:

“We forget just how painfully dim the world was before electricity. A candle, a good candle, provides barely a hundredth of the illumination of a single 100 watt light bulb.” Bill Bryson

     Scripture of the day:

 Gen. 1:3 And God said: “Let there be light.” Then there was light. After that God saw that the light was good, and God began to divide the light from the darkness. 

Weather, Whether or not to know Warnings

Weather, Whether or not to know Warnings

     For the last several days we have been sent out messages for severe flooding in our area and we didn’t get much rain at all. Last night the rain started and now we have plenty of rain to deal with. The weather folks want us to know the weather whether it is happening or not but to put up warnings so far in advance and having maybe a few drops of rain here and there is crazy. Now is the time the watches start for most folks. But the pre-warnings seem to go unnoticed by most.

     We have had thunder storms and power outage here this morning and yes the rain has come down in huge buckets. I didn’t get a tornado watch till after the rains slowed, and my daughter just about 25 miles from here was under a warning and just 10 minute after she put my g kids on the bus. Really they waited that long and they knew schools would be taking off. Thankfully the school has sent out several messages to parents to tell them the kids are safe. They even had a tornado drill yesterday. We are under a tornado watch till 5 pm. It is still pouring here and I am sure the roads are flooding in the lower parts. My son just took a flight to Guatemala this morning and had to be rerouted through Florida due to the tornadoes in the state here. Now that is weather!

     I wonder if many think about warnings and take them serious when they are giving in advance. I know that many folks we have gone door to door about the warnings of this old system coming to its end soon and they seem to think it is possibly coming but not anytime soon. The majority will agree but do nothing to prepare for it. It is written in the Bible the signs of the times and yet not many see that. How about you? Do you heed the warnings to change what you shouldn’t be doing? Have you given it any thought to thinking you will be one of those saved when Armageddon comes?

I know I have made many changes in my life in the last 30 years and still keep on the watch. (MATTHEW 24:42) I am wanting to be prepared so that I will make it.

     Many folks might read the Bible but do they truly understand it and can they see that Satan is wondering around ready to devour up as many as he can  because he knows the time is coming to its end for him. (1 Peter 5: 8) If Satan knows how close it is he will blind anyone he can to make sure they don’t see the truth. How is Satan the Devil misleading the nations you might ask? Just look around at all the folks who are busy doing “me things”, not concerned with anyone but themselves. Look at the violence we see every day! We are possibly worse than Sodom and Gomorrah by this time. And in Noah’s day, we saw people eating and drinking and being married just like today and wow look at what happened there. Now I know that God promised never to do such destruction again to the earth but what of those folks who refused to see the warnings?  

     Just as we watch the weather and whether we prepare for it or not we all need to be prepared for the coming of Our King and Ruler Christ Jesus. I know we all want to be saved. I know I do. So the next time you have a knock on your door will you listen or will you just blow it off and say oh I know I am going to be saved? Will you? I hope so.

     Quote for the day:

“I have seen many storms in my life. Most storms have caught me by surprise, so I had to learn very quickly to look further and understand that I am not capable of controlling the weather, to exercise the art of patience and to respect the fury of nature.” Paulo Coelho

     Scripture of the day:

Matt. 24 :3 While he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples approached him privately, saying: “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your presence and of the conclusion of the system of things?

     Weather today is: 

Whether or not we will have some! Hope everyone is safe and dry in whatever weather you might be having. Keep in mind all the warnings!

Y Day- Yoda and the Yellow Flowers

    Yesterday I spent a good bit of time with my youngest kitten Yoda. He and I have become best buds. I have had to do a lot of nursing on him since birth. He had infected eyes and snot nose. The routine was to clean his eyes and nose every day. Now he has gotten use to that and when I pick him up he knows what is coming first thing. I keep telling him, "I hate boogers and kitty poop in eyes."

Last night he spent most of the night snuggling up to me in the bedroom even sometimes under the blanket. Today I was in the bathroom brushing my hair and he came galloping down the hall and slammed on his breaks right at the door. He sat down and meowed at me a few times then galloped back down the hall. He has never done that before. Back down the hall he comes and does this all over again. I picked him up and brought him into my office cleaned out his eyes and nose and sent him on his way. Funny how cats do some of the funniest things when they pick you as their person.

     Now for the yellow daffodils that are blooming all over my yard, it is far too early for them to be blooming. The weather we have had, has sent them into overload and before we know it they will not make the early spring show. Did you know that they are highly poisonous to animals? My pigs have rooted so much of the yard that they have uncovered those ones that have been buried deep enough that they wouldn’t bloom. I guess they know they are not good to eat because they leave them uprooted everywhere.

     I really thing that there has been a huge change in our geological area and we are becoming more like the Florida neighbors. I am saying this because I am 50 south of the most northern part of Georgia and it is just crazy. Our temperatures this year alone have been way above the norm for highs. We have only had a day or so of freeze, which will hopefully kill off the bugs, which I doubt. This winter has brought so much rain and my yard has really taken the shots from it. Our driveway (which we have had fixed several times over the years) is a wreck again. No one wants to venture up it, not even my kids. All I have to say is this better bring the best growing season this year. This week along has been forecasted rain every other day, cold and warmer, cold and warmer, and we all wonder why we are all getting sick.

     I know in between the rainy days I am going to have to get out and start cleaning up the overgrown wisteria and move some rock if it isn’t too awfully cold. Some much to do!

     Today’s Quote:

"She turned to the sunlight and shook her yellow head, And whispered to her neighbor: "Winter is dead."
— A.A. Milne (When We Were Very Young (Winnie-the-Pooh, #3))

Scripture of the day:

Dan. 2:21 He changes times and seasons, Removes kings and sets up kings, Gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those with discernment.

K Day -Kindling

K Day- Kindling

    We have had our share of rain and storms here on the farm and many tree branches have come down in the yard because of it. When the rain finally stops I will have to get busy collecting all the branches to use as kindling for the wood stove. We heat our house mostly with wood here and a few oil radiators. I have been keeping the fire going even though it has been in the 60’s upwards to even 70 degrees because of the damp chill that seems to come when it rains in the winter.

     We have a good bit of fat lighter to get things going which makes my life a whole lot easier because I for one have really never been able to start a good fire, unlike my pyro children. I have always had that problem and end up having someone else start the darn fire for me. We really never seem to have much in way of kindling when I get to build a fire, so I figure it will be good to stock up for it now that we have some warmer winter weather. Whatever we don’t use this winter can always go for the fire pit in the warmer nights outside later. Since I am the one who mows the lawn here it is good to get a jump on cleaning up all the stuff that has broken out of all these old trees we have.

     I did save some kindling from my daughter’s home but I want to make something out of it.  It is birch and I love the look of it. She was ever so glad that I asked to haul the branches all away for her. One of these days I will get around to digging them out and building something really cool but for now they will just have to be in storage. I also have a lovely bunch of straight red bud branches I might just use along with them. I know I might sound a bit crazy but sometimes I have cool visions of beautiful art work I can create so who knows one day this summer I might just have built something I might even sell.

     Anyway this is my k word for this week.

On a short note my Lucy had her kids in the crazy storming weather we have had last night. The pig pen was really muddy and we couldn’t get out there to see how many but my hubby did see two. Since we have both been sick we didn’t want to chance getting stuck in the mud and falling. Hopefully the rains will pass and we can see how many she really had.

We're on Our Way

We're on our Way

Nothing much can be said about the time that has transpired other than it has taken a dent out of working on the house. Especially the roof. We bought the 2x4s we needed to do the framing a few weeks back and had long since purchased the 2x6s and 1x2s we needed but the weather has been so up and down, nothing is getting accomplished.

 Now the weather is finally sort of coming to terms with my requests and we can move on to bigger and better things. We have to tarp everything though because there is a rain storm headed our way once again and after Pooh swept the roof last week all the rain we have had in the past week has really found all the nail holes in the old roof that have popped loose, and he also just about came through in one part due to the instability of the metal. Not good in any form.

The kitchen ceiling has greatly sagged and part of the sheet rock has broken away. Fortunately for us there is 2 layers in there. Not much better because it is the thin trailer type.

We have taken in two new cats and one has taken us in. Dui, Claire and Skylar. Skylar lives in the back yard and is very wild at this time. Dui is a cripple that was born with spine problems but seems to have adapted to being outside with the other cats. Claire is not fixed and we don’t need any more kitties, so she is privileged for now to live inside.

Work is starting and life is good. Bit by bit, little by little things are finally moving the way I want it to. We are just about finished up with school for the year and that will hopefully help in the process of managing time more efficiently. Who knows I might have my house finished by 2020!

Beginning Prep

     After a crazy bout of very cold temperatures and snow we have a day or so of warmer weather to enjoy. I have had cabin fever for too long now and just had to take advantage of the day. I went for a walk on the back part of the property to see how many trees and branches had fallen during the past weeks. We planted a few bamboo plants out on the far side and one has survived how cool is that. My neighbors dogs have dug under the fence close by or it might not have even been noticed. We can collect many fallen branches to add to the pile of firewood. Walked down to the old barn where all my glass doors are being stored. The weather has taken a toll on the already dilapidated structure. There have been a few trees come down on it in the past. We are going to start moving things out soon and tear it completely down. It wasn’t that long ago we put up a new roof on it and the 20foot 2x4s are still in great shape to reuse. 

     I know I said I was not going to open up my house plans again till we started working on it again but see that it is getting warmer we may be able to get in a few windows out in the front of the house. I also had to make a few changes due to the lowness of the one end of the house where the girl’s room and dad’s office will be. I originally thought we would be able to add a bath in the girl's room but dad said not a chance. Now the dining room has moved to the other side of the kitchen and the bath will be beside the living room in the front of the house. This also left me with enough room for a laundry area without taking up space in my master bath. I have also figured out the space for or closet we are tearing out.

     We will have 6 glass doors left over and I have decide to close in my back deck to make a sun room for all my plants. This will be great for the winter months when all the plants come in so I won’t have them in every room in the house. I am so looking forward to getting started again on this old house project. 

Many of my plants among the lumber in my living room.

Little bamboo

Daffies

     My chickens in one pen have built two large nest with about 20 eggs a piece in them I just hope they have kept them warm enough to hatch out some babies. My chickens in the other which are only a trio have laid eggs also. The pigs are all doing well despite all the rain and snow we have had. We have put a lot of hay in the pens just to keep the mud from taking over too much. Getting ready to plan the garden area this year too. It is that time already. I am going to garden this year for sure. We back flushed the pool today and add clean water to it to maintain it over the winter months. I don’t have to worry about old black water this spring with our new cover.  My daffodils are coming up too.So much to do and spring is just around the corner..