Power is Out & Cold on the Way

[digitS']

I usually put these weather things on Everything Else Gardening but I imagine that the people most severely impacted by the power outages and severe cold aren't much involved with gardening right now.

Three days out and should update and continue at 3 days out:

We haven't heard much from our Maine gardeners (where over 25,000 still have no electricity) but it looks mighty cold these next few days for those in the upper Midwest (64,000 in Michigan alone). Power's Still Out For Many Across North And Into Canada (Link)

Steve

 

[canesisters]

I can't imagine dealing with COLD weather and no power. And that's not even considering care of outside animals like horses & chickens. How do folks manage?
Merry Christmas to me - I just picked up a generator that will run my well pump and furnace blower. If we get any winter storms and lose power, at least I'll be able to heat the house, and water the critters (and flush... flushing is very important....)

 

[digitS']

When I lived out there with the outhouse . . . That first year, I didn't have the place hooked up to the community well. I'd bring 5 gallon buckets of water in, strapped on the blade of the tractor. Yeah, the snow got so bad I couldn't get the pickup up & down my road.

The water was mostly for Dad's horse and the other critters. Once the water was in, I had to rely on the wood heat to keep the place warm & the pipes from freezing - still no electricity for several years .

Winters were torment without electric lights. I came to hate the kerosene lights I had. This was years ago but I really should have swapped out the pickup battery so that I could use DC lights during those long evenings - recharging every time I fired up the pickup and headed off to town.

Certainly, the LED lights that we have now would have made an important contribution.

Steve

 

[buckabucka]

We were lucky to only lose power for a few hours. Our friends lost their's for 3 days, just getting it back yesterday. They cooked on camp stoves and the barbecue for Christmas, burned a lot of wood in the fireplace, and set a toilet seat on a 5 gallon bucket out on the porch!
I lived with an outhouse for years, so that part wouldn't bother me. It's a great way to catch the northern lights when you would otherwise miss them. But no running water and chipping ice out of chicken water dishes is the pits.
We have an old generator that needs to be jump started with the car, but it has saved us many times.

 

[digitS']

Our sunsets have been gorgeous here the last few days.

I wasn't going to do this but I'd have to take a drive to get away from these powerlines & get a good picture. Or . . . . go on twitter & have one of the local folks post a picture like 2 minutes after sundown! They wore me down:

Steve

 

[thistlebloom]

Oh that's so gorgeous! I saw the sky on fire over the tree tops while I was out feeding the animals and came in to grab my camera but couldn't find it. Glad you got a shot!

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Got to love those western sunsets!

I'd probably faint if I saw the eastern sky that colorful.

 

[thistlebloom]

Steve, you should post that in the Pic of the Week thread.

 

[897tgigvib]

Got some campers here for the weekend. Had to show some how to flush bathouse toilets using a bucket.

...flatlanders...

 

[Smart Red]

I have a feeling that this winter will reaffirm why I try to keep my perennials hardy to zone 4 rather than the warmer zone 5 THEY say I've become the past few years. It is far too cold, far too early in the season for a 'normal' zone 5 winter. Usually the sub-zero temperatures come with the colder January weather. Nope! Not this year! It seems to be cold, cold, cold!