First of the week, we had a big blizzard blow through. We actually ended up with an official 16 inches of snow! But it was drifty, so it didn’t seem so bad… it was sure windy and cold and we all hunkered down and just stayed inside! Enjoy these slide show of pictures of the adventure!!!
Well, unless you live in another country, or perhaps have no contact with the outside world, you know that we are in the middle of huge blizzard that is covering about five or six states at the moment. Of course, everyone is in panic mode and we are at a level three snow emergency. Pretty much, stay home unless you are dying. Or out of bread and milk. Pretty much the same thing when facing snowmaggedon.
I think that in it’s self is funny. Snowmaggedon. I would think snowmaggedon would be like 30 plus inches, sub zero temps and no electricity or internet or anything or a week or more. Not just a few inches and drifting snow. Of course, this storm could prove to be a little more tricky as the night goes on, but still, I think we will survive and not resort to martial law and that sort of unpleasantness.
(If you are wondering, we live in the county that has Bryan in it. Next to Wauseon. 12.1 inches predicted.)
Now, it is bad enough that they have restricted most big traffic on the 80-90 Ohio Turnpike corridor. That’s a big deal. Because we live about 2 miles from that turnpike on Route 20 and that runs parallel to the turnpike for a long way. It’s why we have a lot of semi truck traffic in front of our little rural house. They are avoiding the fees and traveling on. Now that tractor trailers and nearly anything big or heavy has been banned, they are all going by our front door! Slowly and carefully, but it’s a little weird. And we have the only train track crossing in many mile each way and of course, there is a train parked on it at the moment. The trucks are piling up. We could probably go and sell pop and snacks at a premium!!! Hmmm….
It really doesn’t look bad out back until you actually go outside! Then you start to see some big drifts that are about 2 to 3 feet tall already. And of course, right next to bare grass. Such is the fun from a blizzard and powdery soft icy snow. It’s flying all over the place! Maggie went and made sure everyone was secure and hunkered down, and gave out extra rations and water so everyone will be comfy. It’s actually not that cold out. 25 degrees. Very tolerable. It’s just the wind, that makes it a little biting.
Everyone is in their barns voluntarily. We haven’t locked them all down yet because the ponies get grumpy if they can’t come and go at will to run around like little pony warriors in the snowy gales. The goats, of course, will not emerge until about the end of February. Divas that they are. The sheep are somewhere inbetween. They like to get a little fresh air, frolick a few minutes and then they run back into the barn, having the sense that God gave a turnip suddenly and returning to the warm straw, yummy hay and warm goat bodies. The hogs will pretty much disappear into their big straw nest to hibernate, only taking a quick potty break outside and then running back in to dive under the blanket. The chickens have not gone out into their yard for a day or three. They do poke their heads out and look around a moment or two, but then they turn around and go back in to tell chicken jokes and peck at each other for fun.
The girls and I are just putzing about, sleeping in, crafting, making some fun food. I made a pasta salad for later and I think I’m going to make some butter pecan cupcakes with carmel icing. That sounds good. The girls made mac and cheese for lunch and that was perfect comfort food for this snowy day. Lots of hot tea and cocoa has been flowing. The house is super lovely warm and toasty. Should stay that way unless we loose power! I hope not. Since we have moved in, there was only one time we were out of power for more than an hour or so… and it was because we had a piece of equipment fail at our breaker box. And that was even resolved within 12 or 14 hours. Now, that being said, we do have a full container of kerosene for our heater and Maggie has her woodstove out in the workshop. It really does kick out the jams so I guess we could go out there during the day and huddle around it and read or craft and then sleep in the house in a big pile with the kerosene going and lots of blankets! And dogs and cats. Maybe even bring in Buttercup. She likes a good slumber party.
Well, I hope all is well where you are. I know this kind of weather can be brutal on those unprepared and with issues and I am sorry for that, and hope all works out. For us, we are pretty ready for a few days of being homebound. We have hay and feed and food and all those things to get us through a few days. Maybe longer if we had to. Sounds like we might actually have time to get the bathroom painted! Because if the blizzard winds get any stronger, we will probably loose our internet. And have to go Amish for awhile. Well, more like Mennonite. Which, to be honest, I don’t mind at all. It’s a wonderful break and nice to just relax, craft, read and center yourself. I am secretly an Amish-wanna be… if I could just have the internet out in a little booth at the road, I would so sign up. I like everything else about it all.
I better go and get to some weaving. I have a few special orders that I have to get started on and today’s just as good as any other to get focused and started. I’d like to get pretty far while there is still light out to work with. Warping the big loom is best done in the sunlight. Or the blizzard light. Either way, it’s pretty bright in here and I want to take advantage of that! Be safe!!!
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Say hello to our new car! She’s a beauty and we are calling her Pewter. She’s not exactly gold and not exactly silver but sort of in between, like a beautiful pewter mug. She is a 2002 Ford Taurus and she just got a brand new motor installed and has been gone over by our surgeon friends at the salvage yard! We just adore her. So nice to drive, comfortable and so much like our old lady Blue, whom we miss so badly!
Now, don’t worry, we still have Scotty, our van. He’s at the shop for some repairs and will be promoted to the rank of second vehicle, the hay getter, feed hauler, big stuff off Craigslist bringer-homer and basically will be on light duty. He’s deserved it. He’s 23 years old and though in good shape, he’s showing his age a bit. Wheel bearings up front are going and well, he’s a gift horse for certain. We are so appreciative to have him, but it was apparent, we needed a primary vehicle out here. And that is our dear little Pewter. Scotty’s new little sister. 
Now, before you go and think, well goodness, how did this happen… you need to remember that we have friends in car places! haha… We work for a local salvage yard part time, helping out with their social media and their website, doing signs, helping to clean cars, whatever we can do to help. And they seem to appreciate us very much! I think they have done more for us and then we for them, but apparently they think otherwise.
If you remember last year, our dear old wagon Grandma Blue passed away. Her motor went and then transmission and it was just time to let her go. It was in the wake of that dreadful winter and just seemed to be the start of our most awful year last year. I didn’t know what we were going to do without a car. We just did not have any savings for another vehicle and we were distraught, trying to figure out what to do. Well, Jerry called us over and came and picked us up to come to the shop and there sat old Sarge. Our knight in camo armor. He had just been traded in on a car purchase. A giant Ford econoline van conversion that had nearly 300,000 miles on him but he was still going strong. Of course, no sane dealer will give you much of a trade in on such a beast, so he was pretty much abandoned there for a hundred bucks. And Jerry gave him to us to fill the gap. Yes, I cried. It was such a huge gesture on his part and I was just floored. He said it was that or the scrap yard and hoped that it would get us through until we could get a better vehicle.
That old van was a life saver! It could haul 12 bales of hay and lots of feed. It guzzled gas like a drunken sailor, however, so it grounded us a bit. Which was fine, actually, allowed us to deal with some of the other issues of that dreadful year. But when his transmission started slipping and a few other issues began to surface, it was obvious that we needed to figure out another ride. Soon.
And once again, Jerry to the rescue! We had been waiting on some help from a family trust that the girls have from their great grandfather, but unfortunately, the trustee was being very difficult and it was heading into litigation and would be no help, at least for months. We were trying to save up to get something, anything but our coffers were still quite low. I came in to the shop one afternoon to find Jerry and boys beaming. They wanted me to come out back and when I did, there sat Scotty. Our new knight in a burgundy set of side panels. Yes, I cried. Another unfortunate trade in, 23 years old, but with low milage. He is a Pontiac Transport Van, and if you have ever driven one you know that it is like driving a space ship! The nose on the thing is HUGE and long. And it’s all glass up front. They are lovingly called the dustbuster van… and many people hate them. They are hard to sell. And with the age and such, again, another low cost trade in and he just gave it to us! Talk about making loyal helpers and good friends. Everyone there is like our second family, we just love them all. I know if we were ever in a bind, they would be one of the first ones to call in an emergency.
But even old Scotty, he was still a bit of a stop gap. Not really a daily driver, we knew that too much mileage would bring out the aches and pains of his age and it was starting to happen. Just little things, but they can lead to bigger things. The engine is solid in him, but he’s going to be needing a few things here and there. Like wheel bearings. So we knew that we had to keep saving and it was going to be OUR surprise, to finally be able to BUY a car instead of just getting free ones!
The girls’ trust situation finally resolved in December. That helped tremendously in many ways. And it gave us the ability to go and pick out an economical car on the lot. We had one in mind… a lovely gold Taurus sedan. And so we came in, money in hand and ready to drive her home. But we missed out! She had been sold that afternoon!!! AGH! When we asked about her and all, Jerry was immediately suspicious of our beaming smiles and little pouch of money and managed to get the truth from us! We all laughed and smiled, but there was no Taurus! Until he said, you know, I have a wonderful little car for you… and we went back into the salvage yard and he showed us another Taurus that he had. It was just waiting for a new engine. And this one was a car that had been in the “family’ so to speak! One of the fellow’s son had had her and accidentally blew the motor driving through high water! So they knew all about her, what had been done over the years and such and that was awesome. So, yes, we said we would take her. We wouldn’t mind waiting a bit since they were busy with just one service bay open in the cold. And he gave us an amazing deal, I’m pretty sure he didn’t make a dime over his cost, but it didn’t seem to matter. They just wanted to see us in a good solid dependable car that would last us for a good five years or more, easily. Old Blue gave us seven years! We are good on cars, treat them well. We are light drivers because of the fact we live and work at home. We can go days without driving, easily. Pewter will be babied and watched over by our friends at the shop!
So, that is the story of our new used car. We feel so blessed and humbled by our wonderful friends that helped us through this vehicle transition from old Blue to now, Pewter. And of course, the girls are very thankful for their great grandfather’s final gift for them. It has helped out tremendously after this awful year. A car, some relief from taxes and bills, some needed repairs… it has helped greatly. We are looking forward to a year of recovery, much better than before. We’ve got a lot of plans for this year and hopefully they will pan out! I know we will be thankful for any foothold we get to get back on track. We have already done better in our work and sales that our assistance benefits have been reduced! I know some might think that is not good, but to us, its a sign that we are doing better. It was very helpful for us when we needed it, but we would like to wean off it as quickly as we can. This winter has been SO much easier… of course, we are in the middle of our first big blizzard, so I might need to recant this admission, but so far? It’s been very mild and we are looking at the first day of February! Yeah! Spring is just weeks away!
Just felt the need to share our little tale of a bunch of mechanics and car guys with hearts of gold! Thank you all!!! We promise to take care of her!
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