The Snowpocalypse Continues

Where did we leave off? Day 4? Buck went to work, so I was home with the birthday dog--woot woot! Three whole years of dogginess for Olive! Technically, she and Caelan are the same age (if you count the whole dog years thing :)

I spent a couple of hours catching up on all my outgoing mail--it's quite a pile! I think I've got a dozen hand-written messages to distribute across the country; although it's going to have to wait a minute for this snow and wind to relax. I don't think the mailman stopped by today, and that is a first! (Update: or any day since. I guess that mail is going out on Tuesday).

In the late afternoon, I did venture out of the house for the first time in ONE WEEK! Yes, not since I dropped the boys off for their southern adventure did I leave the vicinity of my immediate property. But Caelan needed a ride from work, so Olive and I ventured out onto the still-plowed roads. I quickly realized I hadn't gotten gas since my last trip out of the house and subsequent six hours of driving, so Olive and I had to stop at the gas station. Then Noah called to say the racoon car was fixed, so we just met him at the hamburger place instead of coming all the way back to our house. That was a confusing sentence. Just read it a couple of times and it will become more clear :)

Buck made it home safely and announced he was taking another vacation day, for Snowpocalypse Day 5 . . . allllll the schools cancelled, so he did, too! Another eight inches of snow was expected, and that's what we got. I'd say the wake-up experience was more like I expected on Day 1. There was a drift of snow so high on our deck that once we opened the sliding glass door, we couldn't shut it again. I had to dig Olive a path to reach the backyard, and the snow is as deep as her legs are tall! We also got our Laura Ingalls ice pictures on the insides of the windows--no thimbles to make circles though, and thankfully no snow piled up on our bedcovers indoors either!

While we watched the snow continue to fall, we decided to play a board game . . . this time we were hunting for treasures on a forgotten island! And I think Buck accidentally did Brennen's cute guy pose for his once-a-day *what I'm doing* photo :)

I finished my colorful sheepies puzzle! I still need to get a picture with Buck because he helped, and that's the rule :)

Another exciting thing we do on snow days is watch the snowplow go round and round in circles! He came by once and broke a path, but that has long since disappeared. I haven't seen anyone try to drive out of the neighborhood today, which is probably for the best!

Yup, everything is perfectly normal around here on Snow Day 5 ;)

So, Snow Day 6 . . . this was Buck's other scheduled day off of work (so weird to have a weekend day off, but I completely lost track of what day of the week it was anyway, so what's a weekend?!) The temperatures dropped crazy low, frostbite in 10 minutes low. But the chickens needed to be visited, as it had been a couple of days. We made a plan before we left the house, because there was a lot to do, and the "ground blizzard" conditions weren't super conducive to conversation. 

Buck broke a path ahead of me--on the ridge of the first hill, the snow was hip deep! The wind curved around the shed and coop to actually kind of protect it some from the wind, but it was FULL of snow. Even the inside the coops there were piles of snow, and chickens huddled up on their roosts trying to avoid it. Buck worked on getting the ice blocks out of the water buckets and refilling them while I shoveled out snow to ground level. He brought in some hay and put it down, then set the scraps we'd brought up with us on the hay. A couple of birds peeked their heads out but weren't ready to commit to the adventure.

Getting to the big door was not easy--those drifts are thigh high, even though it doesn't look like it. then the door had to be dug out, so it could swing open, then the snow inside had to be moved, so I could get to the coop to peek in. I unburied their food, Buck brought more straw, and we built a path for all of them to get to everywhere. Buck went up later and the fresh water and scraps were frozen solid, but the birds were moving around, so that's good.

Back down the hill, Buck spent an hour clearing a path to the truck and most of the four-foot snowdrift off the front of the garage, so if I need to leave in the van I can (the other cars are re-buried after their first clean off and move). He came in with a frozen beard and moustache :)

After I finished up on the exercise bike, I hopped in the shower and then together--we ventured out into the world! Everywhere is travel not advised. Most major roads are shut down, and there are tow bans across two states. But we needed some groceries, so we took the very short and frustrating drive out of the neighborhood, up the hill, and around the corner. It's good we did when we did because they closed the store early, just a few hours later. It was crazy going in and seeing how much food is missing--the guy at the register said it's been days since they had a resupply truck, and they don't expect one to get through until the middle of next week! I bought the LAST of the ground beef . . . 3/4 of a pound. Such a wee, tiny package!

Back at the house, Buck made omelets again--this time with ham from the butcher counter and the squishiest avocado on the planet :) We got some thick-sliced bacon, and some potatoes--which mostly served to confirm we need to replace our OG skillets, a.s.a.p. But mmmmm, was it good lunching!

There were a couple of football games on TV that Buck wanted to watch in the afternoon, so downstairs we went. I had a space heater running all morning, but it wasn't doing much. We decided to plug in the second space heater we got for the classroom--56 degrees! That's with our normal furnace running and the first space heater. Oof!! So, we let all three run for good measure :)

I was huddled under blankets when Buck called me up to dinner. All of this we bought at the store-- super glad we went! Another tasty meal; he's a much better cook than I am!

It is not easy for us to find movies we can agree will be "great!" Granted there aren't a lot out there that anyone could agree were great--but we'd watched a lot of pirates and aliens and even subtitled Trolls, so I picked Barbie. It was very . . . pink. And confusing. And I didn't really know who the intended audience was, and I didn't really expect to like it, but it was a break from war and destruction, which was refreshing. But also, was it trying to make a statement? Was it trying to be nostalgic? Was it a comedy or a drama? Why was Ken so whiny?! Ahhh, Barbie. Yup. We watched it.

We also did a lot of spring break planning, although didn't really conclude any plans. On the way upstairs, we noticed the front door was leaking ice and snow on the inside! That's a first. There's even a storm door on the other side of the wooden one. Yeeesh!

This morning when I came downstairs to feed Olive, the temps outdoors were in the double-digit negatives--the wind chills were in deep negatives (like -30 or 40). I guess that makes it a new Snowpocalypse day . . . 7?! Our front window was completely iced over on the inside. I drew a heart in the frost.

Buck took the truck to work (still travel not advised and tow bans), and I rode my bike to church--at church?--during church! :) The sun is shining brightly today, because I think it is too cold for clouds. I'm not going out there. No thanks!

The biggest concern for today is getting the boys home safely. They delayed their departure by a day and a half to avoid the storm. So far, they've been across earthquake-riddled Oklahoma and are inching their way towards the arctic temperatures and partially cleared roads. Not my favorite situation for them to be in, but God has been protecting them all along, so as soon as they arrive safely with their cousins, we will figure out a way to go get them! At least we know they are with good people, doing good things--just not with proper winter weather gear . . . soooo keep praying!

The Great Blizzard of 2024

Well, there was a lot of hype and build-up for this, our first BIG snow of 2024--or really of the winter season so far. ALL the schools canceled, work at homers planned on working at home, those who had far drives (like Buck) took a vacation day. We battened down the hatches and hunkered low in our space heater-ed spaces.

On Snowpocalypse Day 1, I pulled back the curtain expecting to view a dazzling winter wonderland. Uhhh, same dead grass that was there yesterday . . . what gives? I'm sure the educational powers that be were thinking, "Oh man, those meteorologist guys tricked us AGAIN! There's NO snow" . . . "But there WILL be," the meteorologist guys promised--and so we wait. Well, either way, Buck had the day off and we decided to pretend we were snowed in, anyway :)

First, we made hot, cheesy omelets with the leftover ingredients from pizza night--Canadian bacon, yummm! Then we decided to make an inventory of all our board games and the number of players suggested for each: here's what we discovered--we have many! Some I don't remember having, some we still have never played . . .

Of course, after we'd written out the game list, it only made sense to play one! We chose Pandemic, which was the perfect game for the two of us, because the whole thing is about strategizing together how to save the world. We make a pretty stellar team, and we cured all the epidemics before they took over the world. This seemed extra important because we've been watching the second season of Sweet Tooth on our Netflix free-ish trial. You definitely want to nip those pandemic things in the bud before kids start turning into critters, and purple flowers start taking over yards, and bad guys make bad choices. The resurgence of buffalo herds is a cool idea, though :) I digress . . .

As we were finishing up saving the world, while sipping on our hot drinks (fancy coffee for Buck, fancy cinnamon tea for me), it did start and stop and start and stop snowing outside several times. Caelan called and said that the roads didn't seem too bad, and they were wondering if they could bring Daisy Baby (a.k.a. Fern) over for a visit. Of course!

Olive was ecstatic to have someone to play with, especially when it turned out to be her kid (who still peed on my floor and splashed in the water dish :) But, Caelan suggested we bust out Settlers of Catan again, so she could re-teach Buck and whoop us all. She did both, lol! 

We made a rich venison chili for dinner, and as the snow actually started to stick some, the trio headed home to re-hunker for the next day's snow events. Buck started another free TV trial, so he could watch the national championship football game, and I brought a tray of puzzle pieces downstairs to work on. We are pretty exciting on our snow day evenings!

Here's the end result of Snow #1 . . .

Buck already had Snowpocalypse Day Two off of work, so we were all set here . . . except for a doctor's appointment (which we rescheduled) and an empty prescription (which the previous day's telehealth call and a local pharmacy took care of refilling). The biggest issue of the day--all that heavy snow ACTUALLY arrived! And just look what it did to our chicken coop!

Oh snap, indeed! We took turns looking for the stapler in the garage, Buck loaded his jeans pocket with his Glitter Goat Gift Grab zip ties, and we got to work. After he knocked off the heavy snow, we were able to stretch the chicken wire back across the top of the run. I think all the chickens are fine, because there is so much snow that they don't like to come out of the coops. I did clear the snow away, as close to dirt level as I could, and then Buck brought some armloads of hay in to make a straw brown path (although they prefer grassy green :) We refilled their water and grabbed a couple of eggs, then headed to the house to warm up. 

I really need to go up there and get them set for the next round of snow plus -40 degree windchills that are coming, but I'm doing this instead. I am really good at distracting myself from things I don't want to do by doing other things I'd rather do . . . but only sometimes. Mostly I'm responsible, hee hee :)

Olive sure liked the snow, though! She was hopping and skipping and dancing through it! She also left Hot Dog Water on my boot . . . I'm sure this means something very important in dog language--if anyone out there knows the answer, please let me know! ;)

Buck and I braved the outdoors again to do some snow scooping on the sidewalk and driveway and to clear off the truck. Then we waited for that neighborhood unicorn--a snowplow--to appear. Buck took a nap and I pushed myself into preparing for back to school . . . feels like there is a lot to do. Then I put some lunch in the oven, while he went to grab his meds (in the salted tracks of the snowplow, yay!) When he returned, we spent most of the afternoon talking through a huge list of questions I found online that helped us refocus and reconnect on so many things we've just been running in every direction on--like those air-flappy guys at car dealerships, waving at each other across the lot, but not really in sync. That was a good, helpful time--which we incorporated into working on a jigsaw puzzle. Colorful sheepies!

For dinner, we decided to eat fancy--broiled salmon, oven-crisped broccoli, and creamy risotto (which was more watery than creamy, but still tasted alright :) Olive got bored during our evening television watching and stacked toys up around, in front of, and even on us, hoping we'd either play with her or make Daisy appear again. Lol! Sorry, pup . . . nothing but snow day three on the agenda . . . 

Currently, there is a sunny break in the weather--blue skies and sunshine making the world sparkle. I really should go take care of the chickens before the snow returns in an hour or two. 

Update: I did it! I took care of the chickens, and then I found two sleds and rode one down the hill while toting the egg bucket and a few other supplies on the other sled (don't worry, the eggs, didn't break--well, they were probably already frozen :) Don't you like the Christmas chickens' chef hat look? 

After I reached the bottom of the hill, I dug out Brennen's car and moved it, so that I was one closer to being able to reach my unsnowy garaged van (still one more car to unbury). But then, it snowed more!  So that was Snowpocalypse Day 3--and there's five to eight more inches coming tomorrow, wowza!

Stay tuned for Snowpocalypse Day Four! Wheeee!!

Oh, Z . . .

Well, I managed to put off writing this post for five months. I think writing it makes it seem more real, and I know it is real, it's just hard to put that into words. Buck's little sister passed away unexpectedly in August. In talking to his mom, the events surrounding it were scary and unfathomably sad. She most likely had a diabetic episode while she was eating a snack. When she blacked out, she choked. I won't go into all the details but knowing that she has completed her time on Earth in our presence creates an inexpressible emotion that we're all adjusting to living with now.

Here are a few of our favorite photos of, with, and for Z . . .