Powerless................

So .......... it has been a memorable couple of days here in eastern Iowa. First of all ............... we that live slightly north of Davenport officially got 9.8" of snow. And then ..... 45 mph winds. I am certain that all the snow in eastern Iowa is in my driveway.

This is my lane. Approximately, 275 feet long. Not the end of the world by any means, but when you are surrounded by the wide open spaces of cornfields.......... some how all the snow ends up there.

Honey got it shoveled and plowed to the front of the drift. Our neighbor took his big 4x4 truck with plow to the back of the drift ........ and almost got stuck. Which is kind of where I am now. Stuck here at home.

He is coming back later with his John Deere with the blower on it and try to get us out. That should do it. Unless it blows shut again. It is winter in Iowa.

Personally -- I don't mind being stuck. I don't have "mall cravings". I don't want a pizza from Pizza Hut or Casey's. I have enough food to last a year plus in my pantry, freezer and chicken coops!

But the thrill of being snowed in changed to worry when our power went off. This is a rare event for us. The REC does a killer job of maintaining the lines in our area. I called the outage in ... and asked if they had any idea how long the power would be off. The answer ............... it will be a while. YIKES!!!!

A few years ago -- we had an awful ice storm. Almost everyone in the area was without power. We lost power for 17 hours. My dear friend Sheepie Neighbor lives 2 miles away. Straight up the road. Different power company. They were without power for 9 days!

So you do worry about being without power when you are up on a hill. In a 1892 farmhouse with its original insulation(!!) when the temperature is falling to zero and there are 45 mph wind gusts.

But I had the stove on .......... making jam. Honey fired up the wood burner and we were set! Fortunately, the power was back in about 4 hours.

And in the meantime, I made 2 batches of cherry-almond jam, a batch of sunshine jam, a tray of peppermint bark, a batch of ultra-creamy hot chocolate mix and a killer beef pot pie for supper.


I don't need to leave the house for entertainment!
But I am thinking that these guys would like some room service!!!!