tropical storm irene...

...well, that was interesting.
We were ready for whatever this storm was going to bring us. We made sure toys and such that could be blown around were put away. After church on Sunday we filled up barrels of water for the animals, and left lots of buckets under the eves of the shed to collect rain water for the toilet. We filled up a big 5 gallon jug, with a spicket on it, for washing our hands in the bathroom and got a few more gallons of water on hand for the kitchen. Although we had plenty of water for us. We also made sure all the animals had plenty of water in their buckets for the night and that they were filled up, I just wanted to be sure. I had also picked up a few snack foods for the evening just in case. Like chocolate! I made sure that there wasn't lots of left over food in the fridge, and put some meat I had in my kitchen freezer into our deep freezer. I have a gas stove so I could use the stove top to cook if need be. Our flash lights were charged. We have those really nice solar ones that also wind up for power. No battery to charge or to plug in! We were ready. We have too many animals to not have extra water on hand to not put some up, and be prepared, because you just never know. And as I've said before we live in wide open spaces, on a hill, so the wind howls around here!
In our electricity driven world, we sometimes forget how to live without it and then all can go downhill very fast when we don't have it. And water! I don't think people realize how much water we use in a day, and then add a family of 6 to that! I'd like to think that we are aware of the water and power we use, and try to conserve as much as we can.
Late Sunday afternoon the wind really picked up. We were home late from church as we had had a pot luck lunch after. We were just sitting in the living room when Matthew was like, lets go outside and play! He wants the kiddos to remember this storm. We had finished our chores to get ready, so we did! The kiddos were able to experience a "tropical breeze" (remember sisters?) I guess it was more then a breeze as the wind whipped around. It was a balmy 70ish degrees. The air was heavy with the rain that was coming, and the sky was gray, blue in color. The clouds were heavy with the rain that was coming, and had come down earlier too. We had so much fun playing out in the wind running around and being silly! The kiddos were super excited about it too!

trees across the street.

my carrots and onions getting a bit wind blown

i told you we had some wind!!!

another shot of the trees, and the sky

my kiddos were excited, and running off some extra energy!!

the corn. Matthew tied it up a bit to help keep it standing. it did well.

my girls are not afraid to fly their freak flags...

but I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!!

Anyways, we lost power about 7pm Sunday night. It flicked once or twice and then it was gone. OK, no big deal.  On the other side of town they never lost power. My in laws have a generator that we borrowed the next day to run the deep freeze. We didn't want to loose all the meat and frozen goods we have. We had the kiddos get ready for bed, before it got any darker, then we just sat around and talked. We still didn't have power on Monday. All day the power was out. We ended up having supper at my SIL. It was really good too, BBQ chicken, corn, couscous, and asparagus, and a wonderful glass of chocolate wine (that is soooo good!!! I highly recommend it to those who enjoy a glass of wine!) We cleaned out the food that wasn't going to last and gave it to the pigs. Then I had some stuff that I gave my SIL that was fine, but wouldn't last. Matthew had talked with someone and he had been told the power would be out for another day or two. We had a nice meal with my SIL, then we took the kiddos up town to ride their bikes at the school parking lot, and play on the toys. They had a blast too! We came home to a still dark house and  had the kiddos get ready for bed. This morning we still didn't have power. Our neighbor we share a driveway with is on older woman and we had checked on her a few times to make sure she was ok too, and Matthew had gotten her generator running Monday morning. She was ready for the storm too. We were glad of that. We would have gladly given her food, water, shelter or whatever she had needed. She and her husband are like grandparents to all of us and we cherish the friendship we have had with them more then I can express.
SIL for feeding us a wonderful meal. My Man for putting up with my cranky mood at times with the power out. The extra coffee I had on hand. Our cow being dry, and not loosing gallons and gallons of milk. My MIL for cooking a chicken for us so it didn't spoil. Thankful that it's summer time and I could sit outside in the sun. For not being too grown up to let my hair down with my kiddos and play in  tropical storm Irene I am so thankful came to our doorstep!!