All posts by Nichole

Flotsam / Jetsam

Powerless

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A great and large storm dropped about 9 inches of snow on our house yesterday. Our power went out around 3pm, and as of this writing it hasn’t come on yet. Because we had no candles, we went to bed very early last night. It was pretty cold in the house when we turned in. The temperature in the house this morning was a crisp 45 degrees. So we abandoned ship. We’re staying at my in-laws’ house tonight.

A few things this experience has taught me:

  • It would be a good idea to have some candles or a lantern on hand.
  • It’s not such a sound idea to build your snowman before the snow has finished falling.
  • If and when we move again, we’ll be looking for a house with a secondary heat source.

    • I would share pictures of our winter wonderland, but we had to hike down the hill to get to the car this morning, and I didn’t want to add to the Stuff To Carry pile. I did take some pictures of the kids playing yesterday; I’ll try to share those after we get back home.

    * * * * *

    Update! The power company’s Twitter feed (I know!) says they’re estimating that most of the power outages will be fixed by 11pm Monday. That’s tomorrow night. For most of the outages. I’m very thankful that we had a place to go!

    Eating

    Put up or … buy it from the grocery store

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    My grandmother always had a big garden when I was growing up. In addition to wishing I’d spent some time with her out there — where I could have learned something about growing food — I wish I’d spent some time with her in the kitchen after the harvest. In recent years she’s had a small garden and put away some food, but her health and her memories have been steadily declining. I hate that I missed the opportunity to learn that stuff from her.

    (Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, young folk.)

    I’ve been reading Food in Jars recently, and it’s made me feel that even more. We won’t have room for a garden next summer, but we do have a great farmer’s market nearby. I’d like to try my hand at putting up some food next year. So I’m making a list of books and resources to come back to when the time comes:

  • “So Easy to Preserve“
  • “Putting Up: A Seasonal Guide to Canning in the Southern Tradition“
  • “Well-Preserved: Recipes and Techniques for Putting Up Small Batches of Seasonal Foods
  • Canning set

    I know some of you are Ace Preservationists. Do you have any tips or resources to share?

    • Family matters

    Taking ‘sweet dreams’ literally

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    Poppy, upon entering Petey’s room this morning: Good morning, little brother! Did you have a good sleep?

    Petey, standing in his crib, but still a bit groggy: Yeah.

    Poppy: Did you have sweet dreams?

    Pete: Yeah.

    Poppy: What did you dream about?

    Pete, who has never answered this question before, even though Poppy asks him almost every morning: Marshmallows.