"Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands........" 1 Thessalonians 4:11

Thursday, February 18, 2021

Only 3 degrees in Texas, and power is deliberately shut off

 


The aroma of a Butterscotch Bundt cake is swirling throughout the "now warm" house from the oven, for which I am beyond grateful that I can use today. How comforting this simple scent can make me happy and feel as if things will turn out okay. And how much I realize I take for granted in an " every day simple life", when things stop working and make a simple life .......difficult.

As most of  you know, my husband and I live in Texas.  And if you have been watching the drama unfold on the news, we among the millions were unpleasantly "shut off" from electricity during one 
of the most unusual and frigid nights known to Texas.  Snow, ice, and the temperature dropping down to 3 degrees on Monday(the 15th)  made us grateful to be in the warmth of our home and sound asleep in our bed...........when at 3:00 AM I awoke and  realized the house was freezing and in pitch black. 
I hurriedly made a fire in the fireplace and we were trying to wonder why the power had gone off. 
Thank goodness for our fireplace, although the rest of the house was freezing, we had comfort in our living room from the constant fire.  
 The next morning, the realization that this power outage had been done to us on purpose by the power company,  left us in shock and frustration. 
We knew this terrible cold storm was coming and had made preparations by gathering wood and placing a space heater in our well house to prevent our water from freezing.  Because of the outage........our well and inside plumbing froze.
Power did not come back to us until Wednesday.........for which we are grateful...........but we are still without running water........... We still have snow on the ground and the ground is rock hard frozen.  It will take days for it to thaw out......along with the worry of busting pipes. 

To hear of how the power companies have failed us and to learn that they now plan to charge us and astronomical fee because they are privately owned..........makes it even more stressful.  I do not know how we will be able to pay such a fee if these rumors are true.
However, through this all.........we had fireside coffee..........and I made many treats and meals at the fireplace and we enjoyed talking.........about" whatever" with the absence of politics and the news of calamity on the television. 
  Before the snow, the sleet and ice came......... the trees dark from the moisture and frozen in layers of crystal ice looked as if they were caught in a black and white scene from an old movie. I  always think the woods are lovely like this.
A spider's web looks like a large snowflake caught on the twigs




During the day with no light, I sat by the large dining room window , which provided bright light for me to work my embroidery.  I stitched and watched the wild birds and deer come up for feed.
When we got our power back on,  I was so grateful to find emails and messages from dear friends wanting to know if we were okay.  Words of encouragement and prayers said did my heart such good!
In spite of the frigid cold, I took a walk to capture the sunset on the ice and snow, which made the sky in soft colors of pink and the landscape in soft lavender. I have never seen a winter sunset like this before.
This brought to mind the words of Gladys Taber...........
"There is, I have found, at least one good or lovely thing in every single day. Everyone has sorrows, endures difficult times, but loveliness abides if we look for it."
I hope this finds you in comfort and warmth and with something good or lovely to
enjoy with your day!

*************UPDATE 2/19/2021******
Thank  you all for your words of encouragement and just wanted 
to say that today was sunny and almost all of the snow has melted. 

To answer Beatrice P Boyd's question on how I made the cake without
water?  We are stocked up with drinking water and I used that 
for the cooking and baking. 

During the cold snowy days, I went out each day and scooped up fresh snow. 
I then melted it, stored it and have used it for dish washing, cleaning, and flushing.

Hopefully by this weekend our well will be thawed and we 
will have running water







15 comments:

Granny Marigold said...

The ice and snow make for lovely photos but OH the misery of freezing cold in your own home and knowing it may very well have been done on purpose. I don't understand how that could be allowed. I hope when the earth warms up and thaws that your pipes will not be broken.
I've read that Gladys Taber quote before and certainly agree with her.
Keep safe and well.

Nancy J said...

I think your situation is a disaster, state wide, The wind chill factor is everywhere, and to deliberately cut your power is totally unthinkable, Keep our love in your heart, let you both keep warm as best you can and stay safe in your own home.We saw quite a lot of footage on our TV tonight and truly, I really cannot imagine the stress this is causing. Your treasures in the garden will hunker down, and come through after their hibernation. Keep us posted with your news, meantime a heap of love flying north from NZ.XXX

lil red hen said...

Kathleen, I feel for you! It's frightening to realize how dependent we are on things out of our control. We've had about eight inches of snow, one morning of minus seven degrees, and all-day work of trying to keep water for the cattle. Yesterday morning there was a small calf on the pond; thankfully the farmer was able to throw a rope around it and pull it on to the bank. We've lost two baby calves born during this time, and at 10 degrees this morning, who knows what we will find. But ~ the sun is out and we're well and warm. Surely the "powers who be" will rethink their charges for the power! I hope so!!

Olde Dame Holly said...

I am so sorry for power outages. Even though this was "unprecedented," I feel that once again, our governments (no matter the party) have let us down by not having a plan ready for just such times. I lived in Texas a long time, and each time there were storms like this (rare, maybe once every 10 years), we would be without power for days, right in the suburbs. And there would be no plans for "warming stations" for our elderly and children, no plans to finally get a snowplow or sanding machines, no generators at schools or loaning of generators to businesses that were willing to serve hot food to those in need. It was maddening, because we lived in a high-rolling place stuffed with billionaires. With a B. The money was there; unfortunately so was the determination to keep it from being put to use and in "the right pockets." Stay strong, you have my prayers and my sympathies. I apologize if this seems political: I think it has to do with greedy folks, regardless of party, regardless of state, I'm next door now and we had NOTHING in place and our mayor even said providing "warming stations" wasn't his problem or concern. I will understand if you choose not to allow this comment!

SIRVIENDO AL SEÑOR said...

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happyone said...

What a nightmare that must have been. I can't imagine the power being turned off on purpose! Glad you finally got your power back on. That bundt cake looks delicious and I can almost smell it.

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

i was relieved to find this post, Kathleen, although we had exchanged emails and you provided updates. Yes, those controlled power outages are scary and outrageous and please do let us know what happens later. Sorry to read about the lack of water and hope you will not have burst water pipes. The cook did look so good and must certainly have been a welcome treat even if I wondered HOW you managed to make it without water available.

Lady Locust said...

I'm glad you are well! And that you at least have a fireplace. I too enjoy G Taber and am currently nearly finished with the 3rd one I've read since discovering her :-)
Blessings and prayers for thawed pipes soon.

Prims By The Water said...

UGH Unbelievable that they purposely shut the power down in the Winter. So glad we have a fireplace if that should happen to us. So glad you also have a fireplace as many probably do not. Janice

Henny Penny said...

We see the news on TV so I have certainly worried about the folks in Texas. Sounds like you made the best of a bad situation. I could almost smell that butterscotch cake baking, and feel the warmth of the fire. I pictured up up in the middle of the night, getting a fire started, and the coziness of your living room and coffee with your husband. I love the way you write. Your pictures are beautiful. Hope your water thaws soon. We are looking forward to two days of sun, starting tomorrow. Take care.

Hill Top Post said...

Old Man Winter can throw some mean punches sometimes. These were some rough days and nights for so many to spend in the cold and dark. You were at least fortunate to have a fireplace.
All you had to do to find a good and lovely thing was to look outside your windows. Your pictures are wonderful!

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

Shutting down the power on purpose is a horrible thing to do!!! The power companies should be fined not the public who pay for and depend on the power. I do hope the rumors are false, if you do have to pay more, I pray that God will provide the funds.

That Butterscotch cake sounds yummy! Have you shared the recipe before? Could it be made in another pan other than a bundt? I don't have one of those.

The snow photos are lovely and that sunset wonderfully fantastic with those colors. I love the quote by Gladys Taber. Thanks for sharing and glad you and your hubby have survived this historical weather event.

Have a great weekend ~ FlowerLady

Megan said...

the spider web is so cool!

Deborah said...

So sorry about your ordeal, terrible, My son kept the power but no water... hopefully Texas will be prepared for this if it ever happens again, I live in Alabama and all I got was rain... take care.

Megan Schetsche said...

I'm glad that you managed to withstand the worst of the cold and I hope that the aftermath didn't bring too many burst pipes and other damage. Living in South Africa, we're used to power failures on an almost daily basis and 'load shedding' by the power company is nothing to us. In time, we've equipped ourselves with solar charging lights, gas for heating and cooking, and emergency batteries for security and communication. We live like pioneers, in the middle of a city. Lots of people are going 'off the grid', meaning that they invest in power banks and cover the roofs of their homes in solar panels so that they never need to use electricity from an outside source. I'm sure in a heavy snowfall solar power would be quite useless. There must be a way to be prepared for a situation like the one you faced. I think the reality is that sadly this will not be the last time and that in future people all over the world will need to become more self-reliant.