Farview Farm is located on the crest of a hill, with 360-degree views (hence "Farview"). If weather is coming from the north/east, I watch the thunderclouds marshalling their forces and come marching down from the high Sierras. If from the south/west, it takes the wall of rain about two hours to blow up from the valley. My kids will call, "Better batten down the hatches, Mom...you're gonna get it!" Today a week of wind and rain is being predicted. I've brought extra firewood up to the house for the woodstove that is my source of heat. It's inevitable that we'll lose power so I fill the oil lamps and trim the wicks and check the flashlights for batteries. I'll make sure that all the watering bowls and troughs are full. My source of water is a well and the pump needs electricity. No power, no water. During the storm in December, we lost power for 87-1/2 hours (sounds so much more impressive than four days). My main concern always is water for the animals, followed by when I can flush again! In December, I had snow to melt for the girls, but this is predicted as a warm storm. The barn is unfortunately down at the bottom of the hill, and I've been digging trenches to keep the run-off from flooding the girls' rooms. Yup, it's coming...I can hear the wind beginning to howl in the bare branches of the oaks by the house. It's easy to imagine that the house is the prow of a ship in a storm, buffeted by the brunt of rain and wind. The big girls hate rain and resist being pushed outside after feeding/milking. Since I'm in charge of everything else in their lives, they complain bitterly that I should also change the weather. No water line was run to the barn, so they must be ousted, and they do have shelter. I've already taken extra feed to the barn, and put trash cans, etc., in protected places so I won't find them later in the next county. Stumpy will stay in the laundry room, whining because she has no coloring book and crayons.
When the power goes out, what you can do is dependent on what you can see. I can bead, read, or do handwork during daylight. If I really get bored, there's always dusting. I'd rather file my nails first. After sundown I bring the spinning wheel over by the woodstove and turn Poppy's wool into yarn. That's done more by touch, not sight. We switched the cooktop over to propane, so I can still cook (during the daylight!), but must remember not to try to bake anything in the electric oven.
I am assured of one thing...the truck will get washed.
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Well damn....if the power goes out, we get no blog from you! Oh my...that DOES sound selfish. I lived in Ohio for a while and in Sept. of 08 we lost power due to the fallout of a Caribbean hurricane - Ike! Who knew that winds could go that far north??!! When one lives alone and has no critters depending on her...and she depends on the tv and computer for her evening entertainment, well, you know the scenario. City water, so we still had it running (friends had wells), but cold showers were a not an option for this wimp. I finally took my computer to the service waiting room of the Honda dealership - free wifi!! Good luck with the storm. San Diego is predicting rain from Monday possibly thru next Saturday...and, as you know, that's really a LOT for Southern California. I helped put a gutter on our house today to save my iris beds beneath...and Home Depot is selling lots of gutters and sand bags. Guess we are all in for a bumpy ride!! Hope you all weather the storm without gettin' your pin feathers too wet!
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