{ Preparing for a snow storm }

The past few months, we have been waiting for winter to show it's face.  Aside from a cold day here and there, it's been unusually hot for this time of year.  Matter of fact, Christmas day we were sitting at 85 degrees F.  Unheard of for our area!

 

Instead of snow and a Christmas day more in line with what we all envision it to be, we were barbecuing.  It felt strange and completely out of character.

 

But now the cold has arrived and it doesn't just slide in slowly, it comes in with a bang and delivers a Winter Storm the likes of which experts are saying hasn't been seen in about 15 years.  Remember the big snow storm we had here in Texas a few years ago,  Well it's supposed to be worse than that.  I try not to sit and think about it, it was pretty bad so to envision worse is not something I want to do.

 

With that said, I don't control the weather and all I and my family can do, is prepare for it.  

 

We are looking at freezing temperatures starting Friday morning and into Sunday, with Sunday sitting at a breezy 0º F.  Yikes!

 

The forecast calls for temperatures in the negative for the lows, 15 inches of snow, rain, sleet and ice, power outages that could last a week and so on and so forth.  Not exactly a picture of positivity is it?  Hahahah 

 

(Made a batch of French Bread for sandwiches or pizza)

 

The next two days are going to be full of preparation, inside and out.   If need be, we do have a huge fireplace and I will prepare our meals on an open fire, or on the gas grill.

 

The chicken coops and runs need to be winterized all around, lots of hay, making sure their heating pads work, blankets over coops, tarps as well and keeping an eye on freezing waters which will need to be constantly changed.

 

It used to be that the chickens was all we had to worry about but now we have 9 stray cats that live on our property and nearby properties, that come by every day to eat and seek shelter.  Of those 9, 4 are kittens about 12 weeks old, the cutest little things on earth.  Mama cat is beautiful and daddy cat is a gorgeous orange tabby, who unfortunately is hurt at the moment.  We're not sure if he got into a fight or what happened, but he has been limping and not putting any weight on his front right leg, it looks a little swollen.  

  

If we could grab him we could take him to the vet, but we are unable to at the moment.  However, he has been staying close to our door, lets us pet him and did allow Curt to pick him up for two seconds before getting angry.  During that time we were able to put some cream wound ointment on his leg (for pets obviously).  Aside from feeding them and providing fresh water, there is not much else we can do for him.  Breaks my heart to see him limping around.....but we are still hopeful that we may be able to snatch him and take him to the vet.

 

In the meantime,  we will be building some shelters for them all on our patio, especially with this horrible storm coming in.  We will be using the Alley Cat Shelter system, look it up if you're not familiar with it.

 

I have some tubs coming in from Walmart this afternoon, and we will be going by the feed store later for hay and extra food for everyone in case we get snowed in. 

Preparing for cooler weather

I've spent a very busy and productive weekend.

There's been much to do around our house and property as we get ready for cooler weather.  Country living is wonderful, but it also means quite a bit of work and that's something that Curt and I don't shy away from.

Yesterday was mostly spent inside, I had some deep cleaning I wanted to get to but also a run to the base commissary for some grocery shopping.


When I did my big grocery shopping trip last week, the commissary had some sort of power outage which resulted in them shutting down the store pretty much the whole weekend.  I had just arrived when I saw the signs and had to turn right around and come back home.

By the time I was able to get back to base, they had reopened it, and I was able to get some groceries, but the frozen and dairy areas were still closed off.  Basically all my items from those areas, I was unable to buy.

Long story short, I returned yesterday to finally pick up the few things that I wasn't able to before, so it wasn't a big haul at all.

After returning home and putting everything away, I kind of pottered around a bit, but mostly tried to relax and take it easy, I was so exhausted and stressed from everything going on with my grandma, that I just needed some time to myself.

Watched a few shows, worked a bit on my crochet, stuff like that.


Today was a full day of chores, both for the hubby and I.

I started with some major cleaning and organizing, and what prompted me to it, was the discovery of a mouse in our pantry last night.  I hate mice, I really really hate mice, they make my skin crawl like nothing else.

Curt was able to catch him and dispose of him in the field, but the thought that he had been in my pantry just grossed me out, so first thing this morning, I tore apart the pantry, washed and disinfected every shelf, and bleached it all out, including the floors.


Removed some of the items you see above, because I wanted nothing that any other mouse could climb on, through, in and so forth.  Everything was placed above the kitchen shelves.

The remaining shelves in the pantry were filled with boxes, tightly closed that don't allow for any mouse to get behind and hide.

I need to get some peppermint oil and I need some mouse traps too, but for now, I've gone through and bleached all the baseboards throughout the house and the areas I found evidence of the mouse having walked through.

Also tracked down any hole that I thought he could have come in through and closed it up with aluminum foil and tape.

Gross!!!!


After all that work, I also decided to rearrange some of my kitchen drawers. One of the things I did was take all my tea that was just hanging out in a basket, and actually made a Tea Drawer. I will have to take a picture of it to show you. I just love it because it's so much easier to quickly find what I'm looking for.

I then helped hubby mow the yard.  Ok, we have 3 acres and we recently bought a riding mower from craigslist.  Honestly it's not something we could really afford, to get a new one.  We saw a good deal and jumped on it.  Unfortunately, as is the case many times with items on Craigslist, you sometimes get things that don't work.

It ran for one day and now we can't get it to run at all.

The grass however does not stop growing and we would rather not get into trouble with the city, so a few weeks ago we bought a very cheap push mower.

But folks.....it's 3 acres, which when you think about mowing with a push mower, it is just crazy.

We took turns mowing, the kids actually helped a bit too, but most of the work was hubby and I.  Seemed like it took days to do, but thankfully we finished it though we're both quite a bit sore.

After the grass, we worked on gathering, cutting and stacking fire wood.


We still have a long way to go, just had to stop for the day as we were both exhausted.

Once inside, I took a shower, slipped into my pj's for the rest of the day and then did some baking with Jasmine.  We made a Lemon Meringue Pie and also my Portuguese Cookie Cake, then I got dinner in the oven, which was Italian Sausage Penne Casserole.

All in all a very busy productive day, but I'm beat.  I'm currently sitting on my bed working on this post and as soon as it's up, I'm thinking I may watch some more Lockup Raw and then turn in for the night, that 5:30 am alarm comes around way too quick.