Just a day in the life of Willis Creek Ranch - this time blizzard style.
Sunday, Feb. 1 - 3:30 a.m. The electricity that had been blinking off and on for hours finally goes off completely. We get up and unplug various large scale appliances (to protect from surges) and crawl back under our warm covers to finish the nights sleep.
7:00 a.m. Marvin heads out for the first check of the horses, dogs, and cats. Breaks through frozen water buckets and refills with fresh water that he has to carry. Horses spent the night in the barn, which is good, but this will require stall clean out. :)
8:00 a.m. Dear Marvin hooks our generator up to the coffee pot and we enjoy the first (and only) hot food of the day - 2 cups of delicious coffee!
9:00 a.m. Talk by phone to several neighbors who live up and down our road. They all report on the condition of our county road (bad) and their power outage experience (all but Eva Jane are out of power - but she is on a different power line.) Most have alternative heat sources. This is when we again berate ourselves for not having an alternative heat source. But, as we concluded when we built the house, if you don't have the money, you don't have the money.
10:00 a.m. Power comes on! We are so excited that we forget to do many important things. We had eaten cold cereal for breakfast and are not yet ready for lunch, so do not heat any food. We do run a load of laundry because we realize we are in need of a few specific articles of clothing. Charge cell phones. (at least we got that right!!) ;)
10:30 a.m. Daddy begins the task of blading out all our driveways, which is actually about ½ mile of road in total. We have to first get our roads cleared so that when the snowplow makes its way down our county road we can get to town.
11:00 a.m. Jonathan takes the dogs out for a run. They do love the snow and enjoy their time out. However, they wear out faster than usual. The 10 inches of heavy, wet snow is pretty difficult to get around in! Jonathan feeds them a little extra mid-day meal. :)
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| Jonathan and Marley |
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| a boy and his dog :) |
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| Jonathan and Mac |
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| Marley and Mac |
11:15 a.m. Snow is so heavy that the tractor blade is having a difficult time moving it. In fact, at one point, the weight of the snow pulls the tractor off the driveway and it gets stuck. The fellas decide to try to eat something before tackling digging out the tractor.
11:30 a.m. Power goes off again. We weren't really prepared. Had, in fact, just pulled out food to heat for lunch. Too late. Cold, wet, clean laundry gets put into the dryer 'just because'. :D We eat some cold slices of ham.
12:00 noon Marvin moves the horses from the barn to the field because they need some time to run, even in the blizzard. He has to lead them all, two by two, in the blowing snow. He slips on an icy patch and finds himself looking up at the bottom of Governor and Bella. Thankfully, they are 'Marvin trained horses' and they stand stock still until he manages to get himself upright again. :)
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| Marvin with Runner and Annie |
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| a heavy, wet snow |
12:30 p.m. Winds are picking up and the temperatures are dropping. Marvin and Daddy work on digging out the tractor. Again, the weight of the snow makes that a tough task. They have to literally hand shovel every inch of getting that tractor unstuck. Because they both know what they are doing and work well together, they accomplish the task. But boy, are they tired.
1:00 p.m. More blading of the driveway. Feels a little like a losing battle because the winds are blowing so hard. But, Daddy knows he has to get our driveways cleared even if he has to come back over drifts later on. Marvin begins to worry about the automatic waterers for the horses. With the electricity off and the dropping temperatures, they are frozen over so there is no accessible water for the horses. More hand carrying of water. A cold job, for sure.
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| Daddy, hard at work again |
2:30 p.m. Marvin comes in for a break. He is cold and wet and tired. Doing all these extra chores in the extreme weather conditions takes a toll. He sits under a blanket for awhile. We listen as the winds pick up even more to 30+ mph. More snow starts to fall. I see lots of cute pictures of snowmen on Facebook, which definitely helps to cheer me up! So glad that so many kids (and adults!) are truly enjoying their snow day. :)
3:30 p.m. Jonathan and Marvin head back out to bring the horses back in to the barn and start on evening chores. They know it will take longer so they go earlier. Daddy is back on the tractor and finishes clearing our driveway (No small task! That is a lot of road!!) He then blades up the road to get to Julie's driveway and begins the work of clearing hers. Hearing from friends in town who are running errands, going to restaurants, and planning for Super Bowl get togethers only adds to the surreal feeling we always have in these situations when we are hunkered down in survival mode and others are enjoying a snow day. But know that we really do appreciate seeing all the 'normal' activities going on... it reminds us that this too shall pass!! :)
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| Jonathan heading to the barn |
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| Jonathan leading Annie and Runner back to the barn |
4:30 p.m. Really starting to strategize about the possibility of trying to get to town somehow. That head cold I have been fighting off is now settling in. The fellas are cold and tired. The house is getting colder and night is coming. Warm food and a hot shower would be incredible right about now! We are also running out of gas for the generators. Although, the only thing the generators are really able to do for us is run a coffee pot, charge a cell phone, and provide backup to our refrigerators. Those are all welcome tasks, but they don't provide heat or warm food, which we are really beginning to miss. But, knowing the county road has not been plowed definitely gives us pause. That deep, heavy, wet snow is nearly impossible to drive through, even in a 4 wheel drive truck.
5:00 p.m. We believe we have seen a truck go by on the main road. Have no idea if he has made it to town, but it does give us a little hope that there might at least be one track in the road.
5:15 p.m. Daddy determines he is going to try to get to town in the 4 wheel drive truck to get more gasoline for the generators. He will go alone and we will come with the tractor if he gets stuck.
6:00 p.m. Daddy makes it home with gasoline! He says there was a track that he could semi follow in the road. It was pretty touch and go in some places, but he makes it! We all celebrate! :)
6:30 p.m. POWER COMES BACK ON!!!!!!! Talk about a celebration!! We turn on lights and heat food and throw slightly frozen, wet, clean laundry in the dryer. :) Jonathan expresses joy at being able to watch most of the Super Bowl!!
7:00 p.m. We see the county road grader go by on the main road. Hallelujah!! The thing about these workers is that many of them live on very similar county roads. They know exactly what it is like for folks out here. Often, they are out plowing roads for others before their own roads get plowed! We are thankful for their hard work and know it is not an easy job.
8:00 p.m. I finally succumb to my head cold and go to bed. But, I go to a warm bed with a heated mattress pad that works! Pure joy. :)
The following morning... THIS is when I can look out from my warm house and say, "gee, that sure is pretty!'" I am spoiled rotten, I know. :)
