Shack Wacky

I think I'm figuring out what cabin fever feels like.

We have been snowed in for just over a week now. We have been without power, without heat, without diapers, without life sustaining medicine, without milk, without fruit and vegetables, without meat.

We've been living on pancakes made with water. We have water.

And I've realized, we could all be dead back here, and no one would know. We could be dead a week and no one would know.

Well, except for the fact I was able to text Steadfast "no power" with my dying cell phone (can't charge them without power, you know)... He is off in California with Elizabeth and Mary. Working hard while the girls stay with my parents. So he knew we had no power and our phones weren't working. Had the power stayed off, he would have noticed, and caught the next plane home.

When the power went back on, a sweet lady from church called. She asked how we were doing, and I told her we were unable to get out and we were without diapers or life sustaining medicine. And she said "okay, well, let us know if you need anything" and hung up. I wondered for a moment what would happen if I called her back and said "we need diapers and life sustaining medicine", but I didn't want her trying to get out here and getting stuck and freezing somewhere.

Steadfast called a colleague at work who came out in their SUV. They were unable to get through, but hiked down through the snow in their nice shoes and brought us diapers and shampoo. Bless their heart. I have cloth diapers, but I didn't have any power to run the washing machine, and washing diapers in below freezing temps is really hard on the hands.

I wonder how pioneers did it? Many did not even have a church family to forget about them. They didn't have phones to lose power. They were without those things to begin with. I remember in Laura Ingalls Wilder's book "The Long Winter" how they twisted straw all day long, without stopping, just to keep their fire going. We had no place for a fire, and our goats need all our hay. But I guess if we lived back then, we would have made sure to have a place for a fire. Thanks to Steadfast we have a healthy supply of firewood. Just no place to burn it. :) I know my cousin Brenda would have us just build a fire in the middle of the living room floor, wouldn't you Bren? :D I wonder, now, how much trouble I got into as a kid and it was actually her fault?

I remember the Ingalls family had to grind wheat in a little hand crank coffee grinder all day long without stopping, just to make enough meal to feed a family of five for supper (Mary was away at college). How blessed I am with my electric grain mill and 25 lbs of wheat berries! When that power came back on, I ground and ground in case the power would go back off again, which it did, a couple more times... but I had my canister of ground wheat! Bread making elitists would say "you should use it right after you grind it, it's not as healthy if you wait". Well. health, smealth. :D At least my children are not hungry. And surprisingly in all this, our chickens are still laying 3 eggs every two days. :D We're going to put eggs in those pancakes tonight!

Or maybe.... we have a bit of a thaw going. The 8-12 inches of snow in the driveway have shrunk to about 6-8 inches... I'm eyeing it, willing it to melt some more.... There is a tree weighted down with ice bent down across my driveway... if it pops back up after the ice has melted, we just might make a run for town... and La Rosas. Mmm... La Rosas. But first I'll make a stop for some life sustaining meds. And the package the FedEx guy called to say he'd leave at our neighbors' house yesterday, since he couldn't get to our house. I wonder what it is?

Comments

Melanie said…
Yikes! I truly pray you're okay without that life sustaining medicine! Praying for you guys!
Truth said…
So, you thought you'd live like a pioneer for a bit? I loved reading the Laura Ingalls books but the thought of what they lived through makes me shudder.

I'm sorry to hear about the phone call that left you empty. Wow, was she paying attention at all???

Hope things have thawed a bit and you can get out today.
Hindsfeet said…
Growing up I always thought I wanted to be Laura Ingalls. :D Now I realize if I could barely make it a week, I couldn't hold a candle to her, LOL - just wow... how dark and dreary those months must have been with the snow covering the windows and the howling of the blizzards... never going out... even when pa went to the barn he went through a *tunnel* he made in the snow.

The phone call did not leave me empty. It left me contemplative, though. Lots to think about... made me wonder who else might be shut in... who else might need a phone call...
Jenni said…
I love the Little House books, EXCEPT for The Long Winter. I'm sure that's a shocker to you. Ugh! Description after description of the bitter cold. How grateful even a tiny taste of those pioneer days makes us for what we have, though. I definitely giggled at the "attentive" lady from church, though. Waaaay too typical, to my mind!
Cakes said…
The church lady made me laugh, too. She probably thought she had done her Christian duty by calling. LOL!

Hope you get a thaw soon. I can't imagine how crazy you must be getting.
Paula said…
Wow! Remember, though, that Laura Ingalls and her peers were prepared to face life without power. Their grain was already ground, etc. You weren't expecting to live without power, and it sounds like you did great! And you're not even whining.
I just wandered across your blog. Since this was posted 17 days ago...I hope you have power by now. Here in Texas those kinds of things don't happen. I can't imagine.

I love your references to "The Long Winter". My kids and I are doing a unit study on those books this year and we often think of their family and how they made it through all of their obstacles. I just had to correct you though...Mary was still around in that book. :)

I hope your family is back together and you have your medicine! Lisa~
Hindsfeet said…
Lisa, you're right. I was mixing the winters together and adding in the milder winter from "Little Town on the Prairie". We did the Prairie Primer last year and now they are all blurred into one long story in my mind. :D

Yes, we're all home except Steadfast, who travels south a lot. I hesitate to say "with power" as a storm is rolling in. :D
Anonymous said…
Hinds, you are totally amazing!!
Never mind about Laura Ingalls, you're my hero!!
You are a cooking, washing, mothering tornado....(-:
I would have been lost after about 5 mins without power. I've never made bread in my life....
Enjoyed your blog,
blessings to you
another Dutchie (well, Dutch extraction anyways...)
lrg

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