Bad weather!

Yesterday, I touched on the bad weather that can hit our part of Arkansas.  And when I say bad weather, I mean REALLY bad weather.

Now, let me explain.  I grew up in Northeastern Pennsylvania in the woods.  It was not uncommon to get 36 inches of snow at one time.  Sure, we had floods and thunderstorms.  But during the time I lived there (1959 - 1979), I only remember one HUGE flood.  And that was caused by Hurricane Agnes.  It washed damn near everything away.  My great-grandparent's house got knocked off it's foundation and swept away when it was hit by someone's BARN!

But, the Ice Storm of 2009 was really something else!  I mean it was Biblical!  Here's some pictures from our place.

We had snapped off trees.












The power junction on the side of the house was torn off by a falling branch.  This pulled the soffett off, exposing our bedroom closet to the elements.  We were without power for 10 days.













It took us 3 days just to cut all the debris from the driveway so we could make it to the road.

My step son Joshua was living in Ellijay, GA at the time and was working at Lowe's.  He got us a generator.  My brother-in-law Joey and his family (Lisa, Jacob and Jareb) drove the 517 miles from Ellijay to bring us that generator.  Their friend Randy came along also.





That was a very hazardous drive in awful conditions.  They risked their lives to help us out.  I'll never be able to express my true thanks for their help.  And then,  Jake & Jareb stayed an additional 6 weeks to help us out.

And we sure needed their help.

The one good thing about ice is that it melts into water.  So, we had plenty of water to melt so we could flush the toilet.  We used John's grandma's laundry kettle to boil water over a fire outside.  That made about 40 gallons of boiling water all day every day.  Thanks Grandma!

We had 2 small generators to keep the freezer & fridge cold.  And the big generator from GA was strong enough to pull our well pump.  Our well is at least 400 feet deep.  That's how much pipe there is to the submerged pump... we know because we had to replace it.  So it takes a bigger generator to get that water up from the ground.

Shelter Insurance was great!  Their adjuster came out & took pictures.  And we got a check within a few days.  That sure helped pay for the repairs we needed to have done.

Here's a picture of what the trees did to John's workshop.

And to the barn roof.

We've met some other wonderful people who helped us out after that storm.  Joe Barnett came walking out of the woods with his chainsaw one morning.  And what a gift he & his wife Jackie have been.  They've been wonderful to us.  Their son Matt has become a friend, as well as their grandson Payton.

We also got to meet Rex and Jennifer Bouldin.  What wonderful people!  Rex has since passed on and we really miss him.  We still get to see Jennifer.  We've also got to know their daughter Ashley and sons Eric and Chris (and their families).  Eric's been great to us, and his son Seth is quite a wonder young man.

And let's not forget our wonderful friend Gena Stout and her husband Kevin.  We've been so blessed to meet them & have them in our lives! 

We've also had help from our friends Julie and Perry Morgan.  Their sons Tanner and Logan have been over to help cut up deadfall and make piles.  And piles there are.  Still after almost 4 years.

I can't express the wonder I feel when I think of all the people we've met and become friends with since we moved here.  Many people thought we were crazy moving off into the woods by ourselves.  Our house had holes in the walls & there was junk everywhere.  But, it's been the right move for us.

Moving to the country makes you learn to plan ahead.  If we hadn't had the time and resources to prepare for bad weather and power outages, we wouldn't have faired as well as we did during that ice storm.  We have propane heat which requires no electricity.  We also have a freestanding fireplace in our den/guest bedroom.

We had the 2 small generators to keep the fridge and freezer cold - not that the freezer was a problem during an ice storm!  Damn, it was cold!

We had a way to boil large amounts of water.  And we had a way to cook for 7 while we were doing repairs and cleaning up.  Dutch ovens over an open fire.  And it worked great.  We weren't going hungry, that's for sure.

And we had canned food in advance.  My family had done hotwater canning my whole childhood.  My husband John taught me to cook with a pressure cooker and to can using one.  And I've really been canning these past 7 years.   And now we've taught Jennifer how.

I'd always lived in the North (Rhode Island and Washington State), so I was no stranger to cold, snow, ice and power outages.  I was a stickler for having commercially canned food in the pantry just in case.  And I love to cook and bake, so we always have our pantry full.

These all helped get us through that bad storm.  If we hadn't been "country kids" and learned these lessons from our parents, this storm would have been deadly.  Instead, it was an adventure.  We had a great time with our family - eating, talking, playing board games, working outside together.  It's one of my fondest memories.