O.K. Enough winter!

Wow!  What a weather week!

Monday was good.  Tuesday saw cooler temperatures and fog and drizzle.  Temperatures plunged below freezing, and stayed there.  Sleet, rain, some snow flurries.  We ended up with snow and sleet on top of ice!  Very hazardous driving conditions.

Georgiana drove over Tuesday morning and since we could do nothing on the farm I decided to drive her to a meeting in Big Spring.  On our way back we cut across to Snyder and ate at the Butcher's Block (in the Old RS&P depot).  By the time we headed home, it was getting slick.

We lost power Tuesday evening late, only to have it come back on about three in the morning.  I had stayed awake and went through the house blowing out candles. 

Wednesday we had more wintery weather and the forecast was for even more.  Traffic was barely moving so Georgiana decided to stay another night.

I had calls from Colorado and New Mexico asking me about road conditions.  I told them wherever they were was as good as they were going to get, from Lubbock to Roscoe and East was extremely treacherous.

I did make a trek to Sweetwater and bought some groceries, just in case we were weathered in.  The sixteen mile roundtrip took me two hours (including shopping time).

Georgiana and I cooked a casserole out of my brain Wednesday night that not only fed the body but generated some warmth!

New Years Day Memama cooked a light breakfast and soon after Georgiana and I began cooking.  We cooked a ham, black eyed peas, creamed potatoes, and cornbread.  We also fixed some rotelle dip with hamburger meat, green chili's and cream cheese to have with chips and football.

Thursday afternoon about three twenty, Georgiana decided to drive home.  Two and a half hours later, she texted that she had made it without incident.

Thursday night it rained straight down for almost an hour and a half, followed by sleet, followed by fog, followed by power going out.

It came back on during the night, but Friday afternoon we lost power and it didn't return until Sunday afternoon late.

Our central heat is propane but requires electricity to run the fans, the oven is electric because the new propane ovens have ignitors which require electricity, and finally the range is electric.  Only our hot water heaters are propane and working.  Thankfully we are on bitter creek rural water so it didn't matter that our water well had no power (although it proved a problem for the horses boarded here).

I became so frustrated.  I would report the outage, then three or four hours later call to report it again and the automated system would say there is no record of any outages in your area.  Once in a while I would get a response that there was an open ticket for our address.

Needless to say, I think Sharyland's outage reporting system SUCKS!  I am not upset at the Sharyland employees, but I feel that Sharyland management has taken profits over maintaining and upkeeping their power grid.  We have been with Lone Wolfe, Caprock,and then Sharyland as each absorbed the other.  The first two were rural cooperatives and early on Sharyland was, then they wanted to become a for profit corporation, yet have the protection afforded cooperatives.  I had a front row seat for this mess when I was at St. Lawrence, which is smack dab in the middle of Sharyland's back yard.

I am not a Sharyland fan.  I was thrilled when they got out of the residential retail, and I was hopeful one of the other electric deliver companies would take over their grid, at least in our area.

I may have to write a letter to ERCOT.

Back to my story.  When we redid the propane under the house last summer, I put a riser in the hallway to Memama's bedroom.  (When we got central heat and cooling Pepa had all the risers removed or capped throughout the house).

Saturday morning I went to Sweetwater and bought a 10,000 BTU propane heater, the last in town, and I came home to plumb it in and light it.  I could close the middle bedroom door and the door to the big room and it would heat Memama's bedroom, bathroom and hallway.  In fact it would get them quite toasty.

We were making it fine until the water began to try to freeze.  I immediately had faucets dripping and we were using a bucket to flush toilets.

I will admit, I am spoiled.  I like electricity, and I like heat.  On demand.

I didn't get to see Baylor's ball game, I didn't get to see Alabama and Ohio State, and only a portion of Oregon Florida State.  We only saw a portion of the cowboys game yesterday.

I read a lot.  Gray Mountain, Grisham's newest book.

Yep, quite a start to the new year!

FATHER, thank YOU for our homes and protection from the elements.  We ask a special blessing on those men and women who worked through horrible conditions to restore our power.  YOUR nature is mighty and powerful.