Wednesday started cold. My computer was charged, so I thought I'd try to write a little on the blog. Shane, who refused to play board games with me every time I offered, immediately pulled out a board game and started setting it up and talking non-stop.
It made it hard to write anything.
And once Shane moved on, guess who else showed up?
We went out for chores once the weather warmed up some. I caught Indy rolling and enjoying the snow (He's a shaggy little beast!).
I tasked Shane with widening the footpath for the wheelbarrow while I worked in the barn.
When I was done, I joined him and we traded off back and forth until the path from the hay to the barn was complete.
We went inside and played Shane's game while we let the sun finish the path for us.
I like Shane being creative, so I sat there for over an hour as he basically made up rules and half played my character for me.
I think we stopped around the time I found a tick on Loki.
Shane got curious and wanted to see himself.
Carrie has the best fingernails, so we waited until she got home to pull it off.
Oh, did I not mention that? Carrie drove off before chores. Her first stop was Southern States to pick up more horse feed. Her second stop was Costco to fill up the truck and the gas cans for the generator.
She made an unplanned trip into Costco and bought all the snacks. I had just been at Costco myself. I resisted buying snacks partly at her request. I'd seen the Japanese snack cake assortment box and texted. Carrie's replied "I'd be careful about any snacks."
And yet, here they all were now including some I'd purposely walked by (like the Thin Mint pretzels!).
My strength of will for not buying snacks is high, but now that they're in the house I've been going through them all!
Carrie's practical buy was a heater.
It's electric, but with the generator we don't have to reply on propane or other sources.
Having the vornado and our electric fireplace was too much for the circuit when we first started the generator. We think when we first turn on the generator the well, the fridges, and the hot water heater all draw enough power that the circuit couldn't support them and the heaters. Later, we were able to run both on high (after trying one on high and one on low, etc).
The cats weren't sure what to make of it.
I tried to use the snowblower that afternoon. It refused to start. There was still gas in the tank that I assume has gone bad. I'll need to siphon it out (Note to self: Order a siphon kit on Amazon, so I dont' have to cut up a hose).
That left me with an old fashioned solution: Me.
Wherever we walked had packed down, melted some, and refroze as ice.
I used a metal spade to crack Carrie's tire tracks.
Chunks of ice were easier to scoop up then. I didn't throw the snow far, because I wanted to keep the gravel on the driveway.
I scooped off the top layer of snow between the tracks as I went. The hope was to remove enough snow in patches that with the sun's help spots of ground would appear.
I'll let you know if the plan worked later!
I wore the boots out from my Halloween costume to try to give my barn boots a chance to dry (Without heat, they haven't been dry since Monday morning). Either I kicked something, hit myself with a shovel, or they were too small, because I ended up with a bruise and some swelling on the side of my left foot. It didn't hurt (probably because my foot was numb from cold), but it felt weird to walk on.
Carrie stayed inside to handwash dishes and make dinner while Shane and I went out for night chores. We were working in the dark when the lights came on!
Power came back early! Carrie got an email from Appalachian, so she'd run out to the garage to shut down the generator and boot up the house.
We celebrated with electronics for the rest of the night. Carrie was tired and fell asleep sitting up!
They county's spreadsheet of which schools have power hasn't been updated yet, but there's already no school tomorrow. I'd assume that Shane's school has power now that we do. So will there be school this week? Unlikely. The storm created an extended Winter Break. It's been cold, but it's been nice. Now that the power is back up we'll need to start working on laundry and other things, but we'll be warm while we do it!
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