Pioneer Woman at Heart

One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!

One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Adopted Motto

"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Is the Thaw Near?

And this folks, is how to prepare dinner when you can't use water (or your kitchen sinks) in you kitchen.  You put one of your grandmother's card tables in your utility room, and use the running water in you utility sink. Ha ha ha!

See that gray hose that goes into the sink?  That's because the drain to the washer is froze and I have to drain it into the sink.  Both the kitchen and the kitchen bathroom continue to have frozen drains, and no water at all in the kitchen bathroom shower.  The toilet won't flush until we hand fill the tank.

 

I drained the sinks by hand, poured boiling water in them (twice), and the drains are still frozen. I even tried the hair dryer trick to heat up under the sink.  Nothing is working.  So, we wait it out.

The only place we can get hot water, and where we can wash any dishes are in my master bath sinks.  Wash in one and rinse in the other.  

School is closed again today.

The trees are ice covered, and actually are quite beautiful to look at this morning.  The roads continue to appear to be bad, as cars are passing here at very slow speeds.


We are told, that all of this will be gone by Saturday, with temperatures up to 43°F.   Tomorrow's high is 38°F.  Today's high will barely reach 20°, which makes me wonder if they will close school tomorrow or not.  

While I was worried I would win the "Hag of the Day" award, we got hot water in my master bath shower.   Hubby saved the day, by being able to leave work on time for once.  He brought home extra essentials, and we are stocked up again.  However, I forgot to tell him to pick up coffee.  Once again, I am thankful for all the coffee we got for Christmas.  We have enough until tomorrow, thankfully.  We drink a lot of coffee, tea and hot chocolate to stay warm here.  Lately, the kids have been mixing up the coffee with my homemade hot chocolate mix.



I decided not to shovel out my clothesline (there is about a 2 foot drift out there from the door to the line), as the snow may not be there in two days anyway.  For now, it can dry indoors.
 
I'm kind of getting cabin fever.  I've not been able to leave the house since last Saturday.  However, it gave me time to work on baby items for my brother and his wife.  I'll have photos for you soon.

3 comments:

Liz said...

This cold weather can go away anytime now! We had a pipe break somewhere between the house and well pump. No water until the ground thaws and we can dig. Lots of 5 gallon buckets of water being hauled. Hope your animals are still okay!
Liz

Sam I Am...... said...

I haven't been out in a week either and yesterday I didn't even get the mail as it's mostly junk anyway or bills I thought it could sit out there until the ice is gone. It's gone today but raining now but at least I don't have to put on my ice grippers! LOL!
I've been organizing, blog, projects, books and packing up things for thrift, recycling and garage sale. I am determined to move back North this year! Please keep reminding me! So glad you had plenty of coffee....that's areal priority with me too. That roaster with the birds in it looked yummy! Are you on Goodreads?

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

I used to have a widget for Good Reads on my blog, but kind of let it go. I should add it back on so folks can see.