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Posted on Thursday, January 09, 2014
No Water
Forecasters had predicted extremely cold weather for our area, so we
used the Mule and hauled firewood to the back porch. We had also went to
the grocery early Sunday morning and stocked up, so we thought we were
ready. Sunday evening it began lightly raining and was supposed to
change to snow with a total of about 3" in the Cumberland County area.
Lucky for us, most of the snow went to the north of us, so we barely had
a dusting of snow on the ground when we got out of bed Monday morning.
The temperature was dropping quickly which caused us to move Daisy out
of the barn and into the garage. We gave her food and water and I setup
a camera to monitor her movements. She mostly looked around and then
laid down near the steps. Tuesday morning we didn't have any water
pressure. The temperature had been near zero overnight. As soon as the
water company opened, I called and asked if they had a water outage on
north 61. They replied that they didn't. Dang! That meant it must have
been our pipes that had frozen. We debated on what to do. We decided to
turn up the thermostat and see if the heat pump would thaw out the pipes
under the house. We had a salamander, but I was afraid of catching the
house on fire if I placed it in the crawlspace. We had a large container
of water to drink and I filled buckets at a neighbors outside spigot to
use to flush the toilets. So we waited, all night and until noon
Wednesday. Still no water and the outside temperatures were just rising
above freezing. I had to make a trip to town, but when I came back to
the farm, I noticed the top on the water meter box wasn't there. I
stopped the car half way up the driveway and walked over to take a look.
The top of the meter box was laying down in the hole. I wondered if the
meter could have frozen, so when I went inside I called the water
company. They said that they had several meters that had frozen and they
would be out in about an hour to take a look. A little later, I saw the
water truck parked in the driveway, so I went down to see what they had
found. Sure enough, the meter had froze, the guy had it off and was
thawing it out. About a half hour later, he put the meter back in the
line and turned on our water. The toilets began filling with water and
everything worked. No busted pipes or any kind of problems. Great! I
moved Daisy back to the barn and Stacey picked up the pieces of paper
towel she had chewed up in the garage.
When
I had been in town, there were a lot of horror stories where businesses
and private homes had their pipes burst and flood the insides with
water. Linda and I felt lucky that we were just inconvenienced for a
couple days and nothing had been busted.
Posted on Saturday, January 18, 2014
Snow Day
The Cumberland County Schools and the Edmonson County Schools were both
closed because of a possible snow storm, so I made plans with Brent to
pickup Julie and Kyle at their baby sitter's house and bring them to the
farm for the weekend. When Stacey and I left the farm, I thought maybe
it had been a bad plan because the roads were beginning to have snow
accumulation. The closer we were to Pauline and Brent's house, the
better the condition of the roads became though. We stopped at their
house and picked up their clothes and things, then went to pickup Julie
and Kyle. We chatted on the way back towards Burkesville and stopped
near Columbia for a quick sandwich. Linda was working at the school, so
I didn't want to take them to the farm hungry. Even though they said
they had ate before they left the baby sitter's house, they both ate all
of their sandwiches. It wasn't long after we arrived at the farm, Linda
came home. They played and watched a movie or two the rest of the
evening.
Julie
and Kyle came out of the bed room around 6:30 AM and have been watching
TV in their PJs this morning. We gave Julie a breathing treatment to
reduce her coughing. She responded well to the treatment and we are
planning a regular day ahead.
Posted on Monday, January 20, 2014
Kyle Stays
Julie kept getting worse and Linda gave her a total of three breathing
treatments by about 6 PM, so I contacted Brent on Skype and we decided I
would take Julie home. We packed her clothes, her medicine and I drove
the Malibu with Julie riding along in the front seat. We talked the
entire trip and I monitored her breathing which was shallow and rapid.
When we went inside at Pauline and Brent's house, they immediately gave
her the medicine that we didn't have at the farm. I stayed and talked a
little while, then drove back to the farm.
The next morning, I fixed
Kyle, Stacey and I breakfast. Linda just ate toast.
Once
we had finished eating, I checked with Brent on how Julie had done
during the night. He said she was doing better. Sunday was a little
warmer than Saturday had been, so we took Daisy for a run and let Kyle
throw rocks down at the creek. He hung on a low tree limb and looked
like Tarzan swinging through the jungle while we were stopped. We kept
thinking he was going to fall into the creek but he managed to hang on
and keep dry.
Monday morning, Julie, Pauline, and Brent showed up
early. We chatted for a little while then Brent and I began cleaning out
the ditch between the two hay fields with the back hoe on the tractor.
The girls were carrying firewood from the wood shed to the back porch.
When everyone finished with their respective jobs we loaded into their
Traverse and went to Albany and ate at Major's Pizza. Julie was better
and she had her appetite back. They went home around 3 PM.
Posted on Friday, January 24, 2014
Bitterly Cold
As in most of the north east part of the US, it has been bitterly cold
most of this week. I haven't seen the creek iced over this much in the
last decade. Daisy has been staying in the garage the last 3 days and
nights. I let her out in the morning for about 20 minutes, then return
her to the garage until about 10:30 AM, At that time I either take her
to her barn stall, or like today, let her run in the hay fields for a
little while. Daisy doesn't like to cross where the water has frozen.
She is a very careful dog when it comes to ice.
We
made a quick trip to the back of the 'holler' today, then put the Mule
back in the barn and went inside the house. Burning wood in the stove
has kept the house warm, but the heat pump still kicks in as the fire
dies down at night.
Send me an email by clicking the link at the
bottom of this page and let me know what you're doing during this cold
weather. Are you having any problems with your water or trouble staying
warm?
Posted on Saturday, January 25, 2014
Snow
It began warming up last night, and then this morning it snowed. It came
down quickly and covered the ground and the highway in less than thirty
minutes. Before it quit, I'm guessing we had between 2-3 inches. Linda
and I wanted to get outside a little in the warmer weather (sarcasm), so
we put on our sweat clothes and took Daisy for a romp in the snow.
We
moved her back to the barn last night, but the forecast is for more near
zero temperatures about the middle of the upcoming week.
