February needed a post. I don't know. There was plenty going on, but here are just a couple of things.
The granddaughter and I decorated cookies. I ordered a Valentine cookie kit from a friend's sister and we had at it.
I'm not the best with the icing...
And she really likes the sprinkles...
Also, some of these cookies were licked before they were done and more icing had to be applied. On this one, I squeezed the bag while she steered it.
We did these the week before Valentines Day and when the 14th rolled around, we were getting ready for cold weather to blast through. Our low for the 15th was supposed to be in the 20s and the next day would be in the teens. As every Texan knows, that was crazy.
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| No snow and only ice. Archer was bummed. |
Power outages, no water, freezing temps... crazy, crazy, crazy. We had rolling blackouts the first night. The next day, while our power was on most of the time and water was going good, Mom and Dad had neither. With rain in the forecast and lower temps, they headed over here. About 30 minutes before they got here, we lost power for the night.
I normally keep tall prayer candles in the cabinet for power outages, but thank goodness for our Coco Halloween theme back in 2019. We had extra. We used a lighter to light the stove and Cosme made burgers by candlelight. That was that. We bundled up and listened to water trickle through the night. We joked that it was like vacationing at a grotto in Greenland. Power came back the next morning, but water was slowing down. Luckily I hadn't drilled drainage holes in the bottoms of my 5 gallon buckets yet because those became our water supply. I put a couple outside to catch rain water too. Also, about that time, Eric's place lost power as well. They loaded up and came over. The seven of us were basically camping over here. Thank goodness for the new grill I got for my birthday. Did I ever mention that? (I finally picked out a grill to connect to the house's gas line and it gets used a lot.) The next day we thawed out some outside skirt (thank goodness for that new freezer I kept pestering Cosme for) and a few chicken breasts and grilled fajitas. Cindy and Earl had also stopped by to check on us. Lauren, who had been without power longer than us and putting all her camping and homestead skills to use, had been trying to reach us but couldn't. She called Cindy and Earl, who also had no power or water, to ask about us. Oh, not only did we all lose power and water, but there was no cell service. So when they got here and couldn't get back in touch with Lauren, we grilled fajitas.
We were all really happy when that was over with. It took a few days for us all to have usable water, but we're back to normal now... well, normal for still being stuck in a pandemic.
I did learn a few things during all that:
- I like being prepared and I feel like changes I've made during the pandemic helped me.
- I need an emergency cold weather/hurricane kit. (Not that I don't have supplies, but I need things stored together and ready to go.)
- I definitely want to expand my garden.
That's enough for now.
