Greetings From the Deep Freezer!!

 Well, who knew we would be breaking so many weather records in the past few days??

February 2021!!

Not our normal landscape!

February 2017!

Green grass and flowers blooming.......

Virtually every single county in Texas has been under a Winter Storm Warning!

This must be the first time EVER we have ALL been in the deep freeze at the same time!

Galveston this week.....

Galveston in February 2018....taken on our Sibling Trip.

The Ranch February 2019

February last year! 2020!

We have been hunkered down and mostly without power since Sunday.

It is called controlled outages and at first it wasn't too bad. 

Then by Monday it was mostly OUT.

I gathered up all my candles and oil lamps using the flashlight on my phone to find them.

My bathroom is pitch dark so I have to leave some light buring in there at all times.

The fireplace has been a blessing to us.

I was planning on taking photos of my new countertops.......

but I didn't know it would be by candlelight!

I put at least some light in every room......

the oil lamps were NOT clean but I burned them anyway!

My house is on the dark side so we have stumped our toes walking through the rooms more than once.

It didn't help that we had so much disorder still going on from getting the new countertops and extra debris was everywhere!

Even working without power, the kitchen is all put back together.

Sherry asked me if I had open counter space now.

What do you think?

I don't have all those glass cutting boards on there and NO textiles covering anything.

But, yes, we still have lots of things on the counters BUT it can all be easily moved for baking days.

I did do away with a plate rack and that freed up a good bit of space......and I got rid of the toaster.

The power came on Monday just long enough to make coffee, do a few things and heat up our beef stew from the weekend before the power was gone. Again. 

The rest of the day was cold and dark. I napped some of the hours away and read and did some routine housework. It helped that I had hot water in the kitchen. It just felt good to feel hot water running over my hands.

I woke up when the lights came on Tuesday morning and RAN hurried to the kitchen to make coffee! I'd already decided I could make a cup of hot tea using very hot tap water that we had at the time. For some reason the 'instant' hot water thingy we had installed started working - for awhile. But we didn't need tea since I could make coffee! I should have cooked some oatmeal......but I didn't.

I was hoping I would have power for a little longer. Nope. Just two glorious hours!

So no hot food on Tuesday!

We skipped breakfast and had tuna salad for lunch. And cottage cheese and crackers.

For dinner we had peanut butter and banana sandwiches with chips and hot sauce!

Our cats have been a lot of company.....

Since it has been so dark inside, I pulled open some curtains in the den and Samantha just loved sitting in the sunlight.

I pulled their little cat house where the sun would land on it from the kitchen French doors.

She played on it for an hour or more.

Did I mention I use catnip spray on their toys?

The power was more off than on Monday and Tuesday so I would take my book and a glass of wine  out to the car to charge my phone and hot spot every afternoon around 5:00. 

My own personal Happy Hour!

Tuesday night's entertainment.......a book and a glass of wine by the warmth of the fireplace.

Tuesday morning was the coldest.

2 degrees! We had some power come on and off through the night so it was never freezing inside the house. We have slept warm because we have layered quilts and covers on the bed. The cats have been comfy since I kennel them at night and cover the crate with warm throws.

This morning - Wednesday - I woke up at 7:30 when the power came on and went straight to the kitchen, turned on the coffee that I had prepared the night before and put the bacon on the tray for the microwave and started a pot of water to boil to make oatmeal! I also boiled four eggs and then decided to go ahead and boil some potatoes. One day without any hot food was enough!

I figured I could use an iron skillet on the gas fire grate and cook up some bacon, onions and potatoes if we needed some hot food later. Which, as it turns out, we didn't. We have had power all day and have it still......

I walked over to my neighbors late this afternoon - wearing snow boots and a parka - to check on their house while they are basking in the sun on a tropical island (Good for them!!!) and the whole neighborhood smelled so good! It was the smoke from our fireplace! Louis Dean brought a load of the old elm pieces so I have had a nice fire going all day. We have power for the central heat but I have set it really low to save on electricity since we can use the fireplace.

I have spent the last two days working in the den.

One mostly in the dark and today in the light.

I have yet one more day to clean the area behind the sofa but I no longer dread coming into this room.

It was a wreck!

No before pictures, thank goodness!

We are just about at the end of this ordeal adventure and I am pretty happy about that!!

I will close this journal entry with a cute photo of my Amber!

She made her very own snowman!!

They have had a ball!

 The kids- AND the parents - have played in the snow, sledded through the neighborhood and had so much fun!

I did make snow ice cream and just remembered I have it sitting outside the bedroom door.

Sweetened condensed milk and snow......plus a little bit of regular whole milk.....it's pretty good. 

The snow is 'deep' to the freezer outside....as in 6-7 inches.

Tomorrow I will make that short trip and plop it in to enjoy later when these Deep Freeze days will be more about memories.

**Source**

From my clever and entertaining nurse cousin, Carrie!

I love her humor.

She is the daughter in law of my cousin's wife.

I think of most of my relatives as cousins.

She's a nurse and I do remember to pray for her every single day.

This was from our Chandy Girl who has been through so much more than we have with this Weather Event!

Now I will really close with a memory from February 2017.....

how I treasure those precious Siblings Trips!!!

Goodnight from Texas!!