We've got WATER!

Check out what happens to chicken wire when you get lots of freezing rain! The chickens were almost fully enclosed in their coop by the end of the storm, with ice filling the space in the screen door and the chicken wire surrounding the east end of the coop.

The ponds (tanks for your Texans out there) out at Willow Run have been looking a bit sad in the past couple of months...we'd begun to wonder what we'd do for water if they dried up. Then we were hit with an unbelievable winter storm that included hours of rain followed by hours of freezing rain then sleet then snow. While this was not good for driving or power lines, it was great for our fields and our ponds! Here are a few pics of both ponds after the storm...no more water worries for awhile!

This is the pond at the back of the property:

That's Homestead Man there, breaking the ice for the cows and horses.

And this is the front pond:


This was the first time we've seen water run in the usually dry creek bed that runs across the property!

In other news, the calves seem to be enjoying the new shelter Homestead Man and my dad built! Aren't they adorable?


And...an age old truth is revisited...boxes really do make the best toys!


For a great post on our winter storm and lessons learned, check out my neighbors blog today over at WatSourced!

More preparedness notes

(That's my clothesline you see above...coated in ice!)

After being without power for 7 days and counting, here are some of the things I've discovered that we need to have on hand at all times:

a generator
gasoline for the generator
several bottles of fuel for the Coleman Camping Stove
LOTS of batteries & candles
bleach (for washing dishes)
bottled water (we were under conserve water orders)
an inverter (device that allows you to charge items in your car with a regular plug)
extra propane for the gas fireplace
TOILET PAPER!!! (I'm so thankful for our neighbors over at WatSourced who shared their TP with us!)

In a perfect world, I'd have a lovely wood burning stove; but I don't have one or have space in my house for it, so that's out. This summer I'll also can more of my veggies so that the freezer is not AS essential...although it'll still be used for meat and stocked up sale items. I was so upset when I thought I'd loose everything in both freezers, but Homestead Man saved the day by buying us a generator! As long as we've got gas, I don't have to worry about that again.


(The top of the chicken coop...poor chickens! I let them out and cleared all this off when it started to melt as I was afraid one of them would be impaled with ice!!)

We had plenty of food and even instant milk, but absolutely no way to bake...that was a challenge. With the generator, we also purchased a toaster oven...but I'm not sure how it would handle loaves of bread, etc.

If we'd had the Airstream ready for camping, we could have stayed in it, but we are still doing some repairs and checking to be sure the heat, oven, etc. are safe to use and in good working order...that'll be another option if we ever are in this situation again.

We also had plenty of blankets and warm clothes, but the girls needed mud boots...that's already been remedied as Homestead Man took them in to Atwoods to get outfitted for heading out to Willow Run to check on the horses & cattle. Oh, and just wait till you see the ponds out there and how much water they caught! (I have pictures to post later!) We do have some clean up to do out at the land as we lost a lot of limbs from the willows, but nothing that can't be handled after it warms up and dries out a bit.

I'll leave you with a parting shot...isn't she pretty? Well...she would be if you'd been without power for a week!! Trust me!!

Oklahoma Ice Storm 2010

Our area has been without power since last Thursday, so BOY, do I have some preparedness posts for you guys later!! Here are some pictures from our area:







We're still without power, but we've acquired a generator and have a gas fireplace so we're getting by quite well. I'll post more later on!