I guess I didn't think

 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.

 

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.

when I heard that Cosme's work group

was going out for drinks yesterday, I decided I'd drop him off in the morning mainly so that we wouldn't have to leave his car in the parking lot overnight.  Once I heard about the weather forecast, I also wanted to do it because I had no plans of driving to Houston at 6:00 in the morning with ice and/or snow on the road.  And if it was icy, how long would his car have to sit there?

We all met at the bar and then went for dinner in Katy.  Right after we got home, the news reports were showing snow in Katy.  That's when I went on snow patrol.  I was having flashbacks of the night the hurricane hit but it was so much better with zero stress.  It was awesome.  I went to bed when the radar showed the snow area backing off from us.  I figured I wouldn't see any.  Then I woke up.  I peeked out the blinds and saw white and figured it was frost.  I put my glasses on and looked out the door.

"IT'S SNOWING!" 

You'd think I like the stuff.  I don't.  It's cold.  It's wet.  It's messy.  I don't like any of that but it's different and we rarely see it so it's cool.  I plugged in the Christmas lights and ran outside to get the full white Christmas effect.

Then I knew the dogs had to see it.  I couldn't wait to see their reaction.

They didn't like it too much.  They went to the bathroom and Archer sniffed around and they were ready to come back in.

We all fell back asleep and once the sun came up, Cosme and I went out to the front.

Down the street.

After throwing a couple of snowballs, we decided the dogs needed to be in on it.  We all went back out.

 They checked it out a little more and did a little bit of playing.

Then Maggie decided she's glad she lives on the Texas Gulf Coast.

Archer's inner Yankee came out.

Photographing a black dog in snow is hard.

Somebody liked the snow.

So while Maggie was always the water dog, Archer is the snow dog.

We tried to get Maggie to come out and play some more.

"No, I'm good.  Y'all go ahead."

It was exciting and now it's melting and going away and that makes me even happier.