Fun on A Cold Wintry Wyoming Night....NOT!

6 pm - Dark out, snowing like crazy, wind blowing.  Animals are all fed and watered.  Hubby & I enjoy stew and homemade bread for supper.  Watching streaming TV on the Roku....fire merrily blazing in pellet stove.

7:04 pm - power flashes 2 times, goes out.   Hubby groans, pellet stove automatically switches over to back-up battery.  No TV, No radio, I forgot to charge my kindle, so no reading either.  Hubby says mild swear words.  Calls power company so we are on the call back list with updates on power status.  Told power will be on at 11 pm.  We sit and stare at each other in the dark, and sleep .....

Hubby is a Master at Sleeping in Place

8:45 pm -  I give up and go to bed with lots of covers.  Hubby sleeps on couch in living room to man the pellet stove, our only source of heat.  Stronger swear words about power company as I go to bed.

Use bathroom and flush the ONE tank of water we have down the toilet and hope power will be on Soon.

11:00 pm - I wake up to flashlight coming through bedroom.  Battery out on pellet stove.  Hubby coming in for some more clothes as he has to go out with battery to charge it up on pickup.  Calls power company, finds out restoration time shoved back to 3 am.  STRONG words about power company.  Hope power will be back on soon.

11:30 pm -  Hubby comes back in with battery partially charged.  Pellet stove back on,  Temps down in middle 60's in house.  Pray power will be back on soon.

3:00 am - NO POWER.  Battery out again.  Hubby looks different and language is barely understandable other than he his MAD.  Refuses to go with battery yet again.  Says power is suppose to be back on shortly.  Curses....repeatedly.  I go back to bed.  Realize we never may have power again----EVER.

4:30 am. -  NO POWER.  Temps in mid 50's in house, it's damn cold.  I put on my coat, and head scarf and call power company.  Restoration  time now 8:00 am.   Check gun locker and make sure it's still locked.  Inform hubby.   WORDS.  Hubby goes out and charges up battery again. I've given up and wonder what my fate will be. Death at the hands of this mad man or simply freezing to death.

5:00 am -  Pellet stove going again.  Still cold, cannot catch up.   I stay in coat, scarf and sit on couch.  Hubby has many many words about power company including 'grenades', pieces of s..., etc.  Plotting revenge.  I say nothing.  One wrong word and this guy will kill ME.

7:00 am - Hubby goes out and gets propane tank off BBQ grill and Little Buddy Heater to help pellet stove catch up.  I turn on gas oven and stare at mound of dirty dishes from supper and guess water is probably froze up.  Don't know, power out, no water. Hubby Struggles with tank, heater for quite a while.  He calls Power company, restoration time now 1:00 pm.....words under his breath, not discernible.

7:50 am -- Hubby has Little Buddy lit up and heating.  56.8 degrees in house.  Still in coat, scarf, and non verbal as threats are flying fast and furious.  Power company will be toast when this guy catches up with them.

8:05 am - POWER COMES ON.  Blessings, water is not froze in kitchen sink, I do dishes, fix breakfast.  Hubby returns to normal and goes to bed.  Cranky, but not a zombie anymore.  

And so goes life without power at 60 Miles North of Nowhere.

Hope it stays on - lows of -4 tonight predicted and -12 Sunday Night........Keeping fingers crossed.

Winter Moon

The Farmer's Almanac is Frozen to the Sidewalk.................

Well last week's Friday 'storm' was more like a Friday Iceberg...little snow and a lot of cold!  Which brings me to this little book......

Hubby claims it predicted that February 2011 in Wyoming would be fairly dry with less snow than usual and very cold.  Now I always thought the Almanac was a lot of unscientific hoo-ey???  But they sure called it right this year.  So maybe I will have to give it the un-hoo-ey award.  How about you? Do you use a Farmer's Almanac and is it accurate?

And what's around the corner for us beginning tomorrow -- a couple of inches of snow AND A Whole Lotta of Minus Zero Weather.

Well they say when the Sun Shines, Make Hay so I guess When the Cold Hits, Make..............................

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POPSICLES!

Absolutely no downward movement on that snow stick this week either --- toooooooooo cold.

Now I gotta find some craft sticks for these popsicles I'm gonna make this week......good thing I put some clear silicone on the holes in my snow boots.  Keep that cold out!

Pantyhose and Other Atrocities

Have you ever wondered what ran through the brain of the person who invented pantyhose?  Well I sure have.  I hate pantyhose.  NEVER wear them if I can get out of it.  Like maybe once in a Blue Moon and since we just had one of those we all know how often that is, eh???  For one thing, getting the bloomin' things on are like wrestling with an alligator and once they are on, I feel like Men In Tights or Robin Hood or something -- maybe a sausage with a string tied in the middle.

The recent cold snap over Christmas reminded me of an incident many years ago.  We lived in Washakie County near Ten Sleep, Wyoming, and my husband had to go to Oklahoma for training for his job leaving me and my six year old son at home to feed about five head of horses.  While he was gone, the mercury dropped out of sight -- 24 below zero and stayed there the whole time Hubby was gone!  One day just as I was tugging on a set of Carhart coveralls to go and feed the horses, the phone rang.



(This was the era when they could still telemarket the world, and junk mail filled up your mailbox every day with book offers and pantyhose by the gross offers)  Upon answering it, I find out it's a telemarketer with a decided New York accent and boy, she has absolutely the greatest deal ever for me on panty hose and she is absolutely SURE I will take advantage of the offer.   I don't wear pantyhose, I told her.  She was nothing short of dumbfounded.

Every women I know wears them every day! she exclaimed.  Well I don't I said.  Never? She asked.  Well maybe if I'm going to a wedding or a funeral but probably not then if I can wear my pantsuit, I said.  Oh, she said, surely you can't pass this up and if you only try them, you will wear them every single day!

Look, Lady, I said.  It's 24 degrees below zero, I'm in the middle of my living room dressed like the Michelin man to go outside and feed our horses and maybe try to start a truck that hasn't turned over in five days, and to top it off the snow is butt deep on a tall Indian and I'm two miles from town.  Now just WHERE do you think I'm going to wear them TODAY?

She starting laughing and said I see your point and hung up.  I went out and froze my XXXX off feeding the bloomin' horses while I had the kid plunked in front of the television.  That was approximately 29 years ago and I think I can count on one hand the number of times I've had a pair of (*#$&! pantyhose on since then.

Happy 2010 to y'all!  May pantyhose never crawl into yer underwear drawer!  Or up your butt either!And may you only have to wear the darn things Once In A Blue Moon!!!