Friday, February 12, 2010

Snow snow snow snow

Well I think we're finally digging out from a couple of back to back snowstorms. We lost power for three days from fallen trees and power lines. So I had to take some time away from my online work endeavors. Ouch. But just line anything else in life, working online is sometimes two steps forward, one step back. And it seems it is taking a little while to get back into the groove I'd built up before.

On the bright side, we've got miles of snow to make snow ice cream out of. Yay! Eight cups of snow, a can of sweetened condensed milk, and a tsp of vanilla extract. That's it. Mix it all up and eat immediately. Yeah yeah, I know there could be some contaminants. But I truly believe it is minimal, and no more health risk than anything else in life.

One thing I was really happy to be able to fall back on during the lack of electricity was my mad camping skills. We have well water, and with no electricity we also have no water. Fortunately, there is a creek right out front, so we hauled up water to boil for dishes and cleaning. We had already bought bottled water for drinking, and my coffee press came in handy for my morning cup of joe. But washing dishes in a pan of creek water sure did bring back memories of washing dishes beside a camp fire. The best way to do this is to start with the least dirty and work your way to the greasiest and dirtiest last.

Thankfully, the generator we ran for a couple hours at a time kept the chest freezer nice and cold, and the items in the fridge fit nicely in a box we sat on the porch. It got frigidly cold at night, so I laid towels on top of the box and sat it back inside the fridge to keep cold, but not frozen, until morning. It seemed to work well. We did lose a few things, mostly dressings and condiments I didn't pack, but our food loss was minimal.

I did have to make a run in town for more batteries and candles. We had some, just not enough for three nights without power. I underestimated the need for canned goods in such an event, but we ended up okay.
Now it's time to get back in the swing of making money. I am definitely saving up at this point for a vacation somewhere nice and warm!

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. When I grew up in Illinois, we had more than a few times when we were without power. Yikes. It's a whole other world without what we take for granted every day. Stay warm!

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  2. It certainly is! This is the first time I've lived this far out in the country, so the first time we were so affected by the weather. It sure felt great to know we'd get through it okay!

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