Winter Storm Blair and more lol...

 We didn't loose power 

but for a few hours Sunday night.

Thank God.

Still, it was a good time 

to do a "walk-through" as it were

 for a situation when 

we could be without power for quite some time.

 "I live back in the woods, you see

My woman and the kids and the dogs and me..."

No kids but you get the idea lol.

City boys can too...

(Yours truly anyway)

If they have learned country ways 

through their friends 

and their 

experiences through the years.

FIRST THINGS FIRST.

Water and a heat source.

(Warmth and cooking)

Multiple sources preferably.

Well water is great

I love it...

unless the electric pump quits working lol.

Then you got issues.

So we got stocked up with about 27 gallons of water 

and a few more gallons  in the refrigerator.

8 gallons a day per person I think is what is recommended.

So we were ready for being without power for a few days.

There is a spring on the property 

and a pond and creeks etc 

but do I want to be truckin water inside by buckets?

 In the cold snow and ice?

Nah...not really.

Cross that bridge if it gets to that point.

Hopefully it never comes and it didnt

 (this time anyway) 

so,

blessed were we.

This water in the coolers was specifically for cooking, 

washing, washing dishes, faces, hands and 

"highs and lows"

 or "pits and privates" lol.

Get a pitcher and only take what you need 

to do what you need to do.

I was feeling good about things already at this point.

Truckin in water from outside or off of your property sux.

So of us know a lil something about it.

Heat source.

Wood stove.

I hadnt brought in wood that day when I took the picture,

but there is a pretty good amount of wood still out in the carport.

Youll see later you can take the top off of the stove and cook on it, boil water etc.

As long as I can boil water?

Im good.

Amazing what you can do 

if you can just boil water.

We had aletrnate cooking sources.

There is a charcoal grill and we had charcoal if we had too.

And the white stove on the left with all the cleaning stuff on it

hooks up to a propane tank.

we wete told it still works but we havent tried it out as of yet.

NEED:

Propane tank.

We didnt have one this time.

Two propane tanks

 and two bags of charcoal.

Pretty good stuff to have around

in case of emergencies.

Kosher salt too.

It melts ice if needed.

Candles, flashlights, batteries, 

oil lamps, lamp oil etc

Check.

Its not the greatest picture 

but there is a hand crank AM radio 

on the bottom right side of the table as well.

Came with the tool set Honey gave me for my birthday.

I try and keep all four batteries all charged up at all times.

With no lights?

You can point that to a white ceiling 

and it would illuminate the dining area.

We had another generic flashlight with a chargeable battery 

all charged up and ready to go as well.

Milwaukee makes good stuff.

Really sold on their product.

This was actually much smaller 

than the other chargeable flash light

 but it gave off much more light.

Okay so everybody is gonna think 

this is gross

 but you know what?

It works.

We got like six or seven of these barrels/drums laying around.

Went and got one and filled it up with water.

The barrel was gross on the inside, moss etc.

Didn't really have time to clean it out, 

(that will be a project for a different day) 

and with what it was going to be used for if needed?

 it didn't really matter anyway.

This water?

This water is solely 

for flushing the commode.

Period.

UNLESS...lol.

Yeah...if needed?

We could boil the water

 and use it for cooking, cleaning etc.

So check on the multiple sources of water, 

and multiple heating sources.

And if you think thats gross?

Well...

The guy who at one point in his life 

was going and getting pond water

 (complete with pond scum mind you)

in a five gallon orange thermos

(like what was shown in one of the pictures above)

to flush his commode in the middle of winter

after having diarrhea?

Yeah...

He don't think its so gross.

In fact?

He is glad to have 

a 55 gallon barrel of water sitting downstairs

REGARDLESS 

of how clean the barrel was,

believe that.

You aint lived 

till you are sick

and have to get up

get bundled up

in your house without heat

and go get your five gallon thermos

and walk to the pond

and get your scummy pond water,

while trying not to fall in the pond,

in the winter,

and carry it back to the house

just so you could flush 

your filth down the commode.

I woke up the next day 

and cleaned the entire bathroom 

with Lysol, bleach 

and and everything else 

I could find and just shut the door lol.

Next time I had to go to the bathroom 

everything was clean 

and the room smelled like chemicals.

I don't think I was ever so happy :-).

You just cannot imagine

 the smell 

previous to it being cleaned.

It would gag you.

It did me.

So when I post things like:

I aint just sayin those things to just say em.

And If I can do it?

Then others can too, 

when 

(Not if)

the time comes.

The god of the mountain 

is the god of the valley too.

Never stop singing his praises.

Ever.

NO MATTER WHAT.

Job 2:10

But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. 

What? shall we receive good at the hand of God,

 and shall we not receive evil? 

In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

Habakkuk 3:17-19

 Though the fig tree does not bud

    and there are no grapes on the vines,

though the olive crop fails

    and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the pen

    and no cattle in the stalls,

 yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

    I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign Lord is my strength;

    he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,

    he enables me to tread on the heights.

For the director of music. 

On my stringed instruments.

Anybody can say it 

when they have lived 

their whole lives in comfort.

I wanna see you do it 

before I believe you mean it.

THEN?

I'll listen to what you have to say,

Mr. Preacher man,

Mr. Ecclesiastic, etc.

MAYBE...

I'll choose to listen.

Depends 

really...

The pictures just do not do it justice.

We have had 30-40 birds just feasting every day.

I was all over Honey:

"We need to get bird feed, 

we need to get the bird feed,

the storm is comin." etc :-).

We did when we made our trip to the store on Friday

I think it was.

We filled up the feeders on Saturday 

and Sunday AM was a sight.

Just unbelievable how beautiful it was  

with the snow as a backdrop 

for the Cardinals, Blue Jays, lots of others...

I told them at church a few weeks ago:

"We got a fat cardinal."

Well?

There he his.

Bigger than a baseball 

and a lil smaller 

than a softball Id say.

Biggest cardinal I have ever seen in my life.

Hello Mr .Blue Jay.

We sat a lil container of feed 

in the window seal.

Just to see what would happen.

Weve been thinking bout a "suction cup" window feeder 

or maybe another option eventually

but boy they sure showed up.

Out front.

If you zoom in there are over 30 birds 

I counted in that picture.

Its been consistent like that on both sides of the house 

all through the bad weather.

Thought we would try some 

"Old school " 

coffee lol.

Why not?

 its a rehearsal 

so what better time to learn what's up?

What works and what dont?

Had to set the tea kettle 

on the back part of the wood stove 

and I could have let it heat up a lil more 

but we were ready for coffee lol.

A percolator would probably work better

 than the French press we use.

NOTED.

Coffee grinder

It's not a replica Ill just put it that away lol.

Wish I would have known 

the blades were adjustable for a coarser grind

but live and learn.

This is why we did a dry-run this time.

See what issues we may have 

if its looking like its going to get really bad etc.

Grinder was set to grind to a powder lol.

I didnt know you could adjust the blades 

to get a more course grind like we prefer.

ALSO NOTED.

Anyway, we didnt have any coffee filters lol.

Strained through a couple of paper towels 

and a strainer, NP.

Friend said she had used a bandana in a pinch before.

ALSO NOTED.

(I got a drawer full of em lol.)

Sausage cooked 

on top of the wood stove.

Just pop the cover off and:

Ta-da, cooking surface.

Scrambles?

NP.

Im sure I could do omelets, 

French toast, quesadillas etc.

I just wanted to start off 

trying basics lol.

See how it worked etc.

Well Hello Mr. Eastern Towhee.

and Mr. Cardinal

It was the first time we had seen the Eastern Towhee.

He has very distinctive white markings on his tail 

and he flew by the window one morning 

when I was looking out it and it was like:

"What the heck was that?

Hadn't seen him before."

We had to look it up in one of our books to find out what it was.

Our friend couldn't make it over 

the first day with the ice and all so I got:

"Smokehouse duties" 

assigned to me to look after his ham.

Its nice to learn the old ways.

This isnt about cooking.

This is about "preserving."

Lots of chunks of green hickory 

around the base of the smokehouse 

and a circle going around 

the three or four pieces that are smoldering.

Get up in the am.

Get some coals from the wood stove.

Clear away the ashes, set the coals down,

put a couple of chuncks of the dried green hickory

 on the coals and let it roll.

The circle around the ones smoldering

is to help the wood dry out.

As you take from the circle 

to replenish what has played out?

Then you take off of what was around the base 

of the smokehouse to replenish what was in the circle.

Wash rinse repeat for about four days lol.

Took a lil bit to get the smoldering down

 but I am comfortable with it now.

Don't want flames.

Want smoke.

Getting it going before we had a fire 

was where I struggled for a lil bit.

Didn't use enough wood.

(and dont wanna use to much either, just a few pieces)

NP now. Got it.

Smoke, not fire.

Preserve dont cook.

Im used to pretty much the opposite 

so it took me just a minute

Birdbath lol.

We got like 12 inches of snow 

and a half inch of ice last Sunday and Monday.

Today we are supposed to get another 3-6 inches of snow.

Ill deal with the snow.

F^%$ a bunch of ice.

That shit can just stay away.

Lends itself to  too many long term problems,

as in, igt dont like to go away very easy lol.

That's Mr., Eastern Towhee

Mr. Cardinal

and Mr. White Crowned Sparrow

all joining us for breakfast.

Our first time seeing him as well.

Pretty cool.

Were gonna figure out something 

a lil more permanent 

for the window so we can see em better.

But honey said she wanted birds?

So honey got birds :-).

All together?

Not counting the trip to the store?

(Which was mostly can goods,

 milk and bird feed.)

We were ready for the storm in a couple of hours.

A couple of cans of Deicer.

(I put duct tape over the key holes 

on the vehicles, hey, it worked lol)

two Propane tanks

and a percolator?

And I think we could hold out 

for a good lil while.

 If worse came to worse.

We got hand saws 

and trees down everywhere

and a spring.

So I hope you enjoyed

our lil slice of life 

out here in the boonies

and I Hope everybody

 is staying safe and warm.

God Bless.

Maranatha,

come quickly Lord Jesus.

Yeah I am...

just watching the snow come down :-).

Sittin here sharing this with you.