Prepare For the Worst – Part II

March 1, 2024 ~ JodiLea

All week, I have been doing just that. I secured my garden stuff on our deck, tucked in my avocado trees, and put my snow shovel by the front door. Stocked up on pantry and freezer items earlier this week. As long as the power stays on, I have 2 quilts to finish. If (when) the power goes out, I have knitting needles and crochet hooks.

Since last weekend, I have been bombarded with our county warning system alerts about a severe blizzard hitting our county and surrounding areas. These have come over our landlines, our cellphones, and emails. White-out conditions, hurricane-force winds, snow coming at 2″-4″ per hour, accumulating 27″ in one day. From Friday until Sunday, this will be going on.

Heavy snow is one thing, but the strong winds are the scariest thing in the forest. The sound of forceful wind beating the trees causes the imagination to go wild with visions of tornadoes and cows flying through the air.

Last night, we had strong wind gusts and rain. The temps have dropped dramatically into the snow zone. We may wake up to a winter wonderland. Or not. Either way, we are not supposed to be in the white-out, so we are not going anywhere except our chairs by the wood-burning stove.

Our sweet Bernese Mountain Dog, Ziva, is 9 years old now and NOT a fan of weather of any kind that has a sound. She loves to watch and play in the snow, which normally is quiet unless it arrives with a blizzard. Even when I give her anti-anxiety meds, she paces (trots) from room to room, outside and in. No one is going to sleep well this weekend.

The rain is thickening and slowing down as it turns into snow. I can see this while I watch out the window in my office. I say a little prayer, asking that the trees surrounding my house have deep, strong roots.

I wish you a less exciting weekend wherever you live.

TTFN

Toto, We Aren’t in OZ Anymore

February 17, 2019 ~ JodiLea

As I write this, I look out my office window at a world that is black and white. Snow has piled up for 3 days now, and any green on the pine and cedar trees is hidden by clumps of snow and the trees themselves are dark brown to black. A photo reveals a white background, broken up by a forest of tall patio umbrellas

There is no sign of this changing anytime soon.

I did not realize how much color mattered to me – until I found myself in a colorless world. Remember in the movie? Dorothy left black & white Kansas and landed in a wildly, intimidatingly, glaring splashes of color world. I certainly do not want OZ to be my world, but a little yellow and lavender would be nice.

Every weekend this month has been snowy. We- (I say “we” but really it is my hubby Bruce doing the work, because of my health), has gotten a path to the road dug out during the week, only to watch it fill back up on Friday.
This week the storm is throwing snow harder and 24/7. You can no longer see where hubby dug out yesterday so our son’s family could get into the driveway. I think they could be stuck here awhile because the town snowplow only makes it up here every other day. So, even if hubby cranks up the snow-blower – we are stuck in this winter wonderland for the time being.

Church was cancelled this morning. I guess that is common up here in the mountains, but it’s new to me. I got an email from one of the Elders letting me know. God must be OK with it though, since it is His doing. I imagine that even Jehovah likes a snow day – every now and again. I’m glad I don’t have his job! But I digress…

The kids are so excited about playing in the snow. I don’t play with them because I am recovering from a sinus infection and not too quickly. My cough worries my 2-year-old granddaughter, Mary. Every time I cough, sneeze or blow my nose, she asks, “Are you OK, Grandma?” Truth be told, the concern on her sweet little face cheers me up a lot.

I sure wanted to be outside with her yesterday when she was struggling to make snow angels. The younger, healthier me would have flung myself backwards into the snow bank and flapped my arms and legs until I sunk a few inches. I felt sad that I did not dare to do it. She had a blast trying though – which was the point.

You can’t tell by the photos, but she has a big smile on her face.

After breakfast, this morning, the troops bundled up and attempted to overcome the snow, however the opposite is happening. Mary’s older brother, Aiden, shovels snow to make a path down the slope of the driveway, only to turn around and see the snowflakes piling up behind him. Ten more minutes of that and the snow wins. Time to warm up in Grandpa’s shop (that is equipped with a wood burning stove and a fridge with drinks and snacks. Oh yea, and a DVD friendly TV.) I have not seen the flash of Mary’s bright neon-pink gloves or yellow hat for a while, so I figured that was where they all were.

And the snowflakes keep on coming.

Pennsylvania needs a new groundhog. Punxsutawney Phil is a liar!

♥ TTFN ♥

Dear Power Company,

January 25, 2017 ~ JodiLea

I am writing you this letter to:

Protest your inefficiency at prioritization of emergency calls.
To give you a clue about our neighborhood.

Day One
Tree branch broke and downed power lines on my street. YOU, meaning the Almighty Power Company, put out an orange cone and used yellow construction tape to block off the street at the nearby cross-street.

Yes, YOU did send out all those recorded “comfort” messages by phone. Too bad I did not bigfootcometh get them. No power, no telephone service. We only knew what happened by one of our neighbors who lived across the street where it happened.

Day Two
I had to make a phone call and we get no cell coverage from Verizon where our home is. This meant a bit of a walk down the street to get a strong enough signal. Actually we were not able to walk – it was more like maneuvering through 3 feet of snow and ice. Something I have never had to do in my life. Something I always thought would be fun. I am an idiot.

When we came across the orange cone and yellow tape, we saw that the tree and power lines were still in the street. This did not make us happy. So, the first call I made was to YOU and a recording answered. “If you have an emergency, like downed power lines, press one” So I did.

My call was picked up immediately and the operator took all the information. It would seem that YOU blocked off the street but did not tell a work crew about it. I was assured that it would be taken care of ASAP.

And it was. The lines were moved over to the side of the road (as much as possible because the tree pinning them down and blocking the road was not removed).

Day Three
anditsstillsnowing We asked our neighbor who had power (lucky bum!) to call YOU, again, and find out what the deal was. The deal was that YOU changed the status of my call to ‘resolved’. I was NOT happy about this news at all. YOU were now dealing with a sleep deprived (someone needed to keep putting wood into the stove), barely washed (no hot water, remember?), woman who just moved all the semi-warm contents of her fridge to her ice-cold garage. “Garage: is the New Frigidaire” probably won’t catch on like the other dumb sayings have, but I can relate to this one.

It snowed all day, so that must have delayed YOU from even starting to work on our situation. Our neighbor, whom I owe cookies now, knocked on our door and told us YOU said the status for our neighborhood’s restoration was 5:45 pm – today.

YOU are in so much trouble! Especially when the sun set and we knew we would spend another night in total darkness. Thankfully, we were able to scrounge up enough batteries to keep a camping lantern going when we needed to see.

Day Four
Being cut off from the world (no TV, phone calls, Internet, texting), was driving me mad. Unable to watch the playoff games on the weekend, I had no clue who was going to the Super Bowl. My cousins had their baby girl and I didn’t know for days! And…I missed the Oscar Nomination announcements! To many people it is probably easy to wait for that information. Not for me. My whole being was “chomping at the bit” – a saying I now fully understand, BTW.

The latest ETA from YOU is noon today. Forgive me if I don’t believe it. Hubby has the fire roaring and along with 3 layers of clothing and ensconced in a “snuggy”, I am finally warm. I feel rebellious and snarky and I’m not going to move until my pout is over. Even though I have to pee.

Peeing has become a necessary evil. As you pull 4 layers down, you get a preview of the ice-cold seat awaiting you. It is 52 F in the bathroom. In spite of the warm lantern you bring in to comb your hair by.

A smart woman would take advantage of an empty fridge that is fairly warm and wash the bins and shelves. I, normally am that woman, and it could happen still, after I am finished with my pout.

Noon came and went. No surprises there. To YOUR credit we did have power in the afternoon. It was like, I imagine, getting out of jail must feel. I waited a half an hour before plugging things back into outlets, just to be safe from brownouts. I feared we would be back in the dark soon. My faith in YOU, diminished a lot.

Sincerely,
Jodi Lea
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BTW, my fridge is a gleaming white appliance. I hate to put food in it again. Hubby said, “It’s blinding!” and threw his arms up over his eyes. He’s such a comedian.

His humor kept me from having a severe pout. My sense of humor had left the building along with Elvis on Day Two. I, who pride myself on getting through things with my great sense of humor, am truly embarrassed.

I was humbled even further when hubby answered our first phone call.

“You’ve reached the Donner Party, please leave a message,” his huge grin was like a kid making a prank call, and that made me laugh even harder.

♥ TTFN ♥