February 2022

I just checked on my raised bed square foot garden planters. The tarps covering the six boxes, plus the bungie cords I used to secure them, are really brittle now. As soon as we get through this winter storm, we’ll go get replacement tarps and more cords to protect the planters as much as we can for the rest of the winter.

The forecast now is more ice than snow. We had a bad ice storm in 2000 (we think) that brought so much damage to the state it still hasn’t recovered. We stood on the porch and heard the branches cracking like gunshots as they broke off and fell. We were stuck up her with a China Diesel generator that overheated in the well house and blew the gasket on top. My husband and our son started shifts to make sure that a barrel we kept filling with water and snow kept the generator going, and we switched to well water. We were without public power and public water for 14 days, if I remember right. When we made it through that, we looked for a replacement for the generator and got really serious about keeping extra water and food on hand.

Our son now lives where there are two seasons: “extreme summer” and “wet summer”. He thinks it’s frigid if he has to wear shoes, jeans, and a hoodie. :0) My husband and I are on our own in this storm. The generator did its automatic test without incident last Thursday. Hopefully, it will do its job if we need it. It runs everything except heat or cool, and we have a fireplace backup and electric blankets. I got food after my haircut today, so we’re pretty much set.

Stay safe, warm, and dry!