Power Outage

A bad storm cut our power off last night about 11pm.  Even though I reported it, it was off until about 9:15am this morning.

We were actually more calm then ever this time.  I mean, we have been through it so many times, including 2 times during the summer.  We are becoming pros at handling it. 

We keep large plastic cat litter jugs filled with water.  Those are used to flush toilets.  We keep 2 extra jugs of water just for the dogs, and other drinking water that we had to use to water the goats and chickens.   I used our bottled drinking water to give to the barn cats this morning also.

We were very well prepared for no lights.  With camping equipment we had several lanterns and flashlights.  We also have candles and oil lamps.  We have a string of battery operated camping lights that we used in the bathroom so the kids could get ready for school.

The main issue with the power out, is that when it does go out, we can't do anything.  Really.

Without electricity our water pump can't run the water up from the well, we can't heat water for washing, cleaning or cooking.  It's just a big pain in the rump.  

It's a good thing we have a grill now.  We can cook on that, possibly heat water, and maybe even make coffee.  Since it rained, our fire ring is soaking wet, so heating coffee over it this morning wasn't a real good idea.

The worst part of the power going out, is that we don't have a generator yet.  With my freezer packed full of garden goodies and meat, we stand the chance of loosing our food storage.  I certainly can't wait to get the root cellar or the generator.  It would give us peace of mind.

I have to admit, that I was kind of excited (outside of worry about food in the freezer) about getting a day "off."  I was just getting ready to grab paper and pen to start writing a short story.  That is about the time the power came back on.  I looked at my son and said, "can we just pretend it didn't come on?" 

It is so quiet right now.  I can hear both roosters crowing, a few hens laying eggs, crickets chirping, birds, one of the cats purring, a dog's tummy rumbling (he gets petrified during storms), and cars passing the house.  

I think I will get a pot of good coffee brewing and take my notebook and pen to the front porch.  I'm playing hookie today.  Okay, so maybe after I get dinner in the crockpot.

Signatures, Tomatoes and Zucchini

If I got paid for every time I signed my name yesterday (and the day before), I'd be rich.  School papers are not our favorite thing around here.  I was sat down, while my tomato sauce reduced, and a pen was placed in my hand.

"Sign this Mom," they all said.


You can definitely tell school started around here.  My e-mail inbox fills up daily with stuff from scholastic, Market Day, school newsletters (to save on school paper), and many other e-mails.  Pretty soon the fundraisers will start flowing in, and I'll start to hear "Mom I need $$ for this and that."

Last year, about this time, we were winding down with the garden goodies.  We made lot of salsa, but never canned anything.  I did freeze many tomatoes, but last year we had mostly Romas.  This year, I have many larger types of tomatoes. 

Yesterday my sauce took about 25 pounds of Romas, and that is about 125 of them.  Today I cut up and froze 3 very full quart bags of tomatoes.

My goal is to can them vs. freeze them, on account of our expensive electric here.  I was very pleased with the seasoned tomato sauce I canned.  It has so much more flavor in it, and by canning it myself, has no BPA or other unwanted chemicals.

I canned more zucchini relish and still had some zucchini left over.  I decided to make some healthier school lunch snacks and after school snacks.  They are already getting some delicious garden fresh watermelon.

Yum!