So...here are a few pics taken from a couple days before and then some taken during the outage. We DO have a fire place to keep warm by....that is a huge blessing as so many people do not have an alternate heat source and even gas heat requires electricity to run. We still don't have water....(not sure where it is frozen at b/c we emptied the lines of all water when the electric went out in hopes to avoid frozen and/or busted pipes). I also consider myself pretty innovative when it comes to redneck survival tactics. I actually cooked a hot meal over the fire in our fireplace. I like cast iron skillets, and those are versatile enough to lay (literally) right on the burning logs/hot coals. The only thing was that I'm not so wise in cooking HEALTHY meals this way. Maybe chicken breast, but as those were frozen rock solid, that didn't seem to be an option. Instead, we had sausage, made-from-scratch biscuits, gravy, and pork-n-beans. (by the time the biscuits and gravy were done, the sausages were getting cold and we didn't want to wait on eggs, so just heated up the beans....dear hubby's idea-we had his sister and her husband here so needed to stretch the meal a bit further) It was really rather tasty. AND we didn't catch anything on fire, lol!
Without further ado....the pics.
Someone had to keep us laughing! Before you think J's sis is TOTALLY crazy, these are those LED tea light candles. No real flames, although the flash from the camera made it look that way. I took one without the flash, but it was just too dark.
Fine dining by candlelight
Hey! You can see my "Tomato Red" wall in the background....we don't have stuff back on the walls, yet, though. Also, to the left is my yellow wall.
Junior just being Junior
Coloring by candlelight while waiting on dinner
Chestnuts (I mean sausage) roasting on an open fire......
Ah....this is the ice, yesterday before noon....before the lights went out. Yep. That's about an inch on the power lines. We received another inch+ over the evening and nighttime hours.
These are VERY tall trees....normally.
Close-up of our Wedding Tree
This was taken last Sat. I actually had a day where I was able to get some things accomplished at home like painting, laundry, etc. J said we just HAD to go see these eagles down the road. Well, when we got there they were gone, so we stopped off at this dried up creek bed and played/froze! It was fun, though! Here are just a few pics we took....
The above is J and Junior kicking around some Arkansas sand (aka silt...very fine and pretty!)
The girls in their "cave" LOL!
J gives a science lesson on the ages of some of the dirt layers. The girls are fascinated....for a minute! :0)
We found a few REAL caves, although didn't go exploring....this one appears to belong to a LARGE animal, which I don't care to disturb!!!
This is a trip we took to a local nursing home last week with our 4H group. The kids had made crocheted hangers and cards, and handed out baggies of chex mix. It was a WONDERFUL time and genuine connections were made by the girls. We are looking into the "Adopt a Grandparent" program.
These lovely ladies didn't want to play cards but INSISTED on WATCHING a card game....so the ballerina and her friend aimed to please!
Junior gave out LOTS of hugs....some people requested seconds, LOL! We realized how much hugging our family does on a daily basis, yet these folks may go weeks/months with one single hug. What a priceless and effortless gift to give.
Trying to enjoy some warmer weather with friends a couple of days before the ice storm came in.
Poor Dash got caught with no shoes!
So. Those of you who endured/are enduring the ice storm....what did you do? If nothing else, I pray you are all staying warm!!!
Blessings,
Jerri
