Hmmm... maybe they were right?

When I was posting about our Post-Ike adventures, I had several of you send me e-mails telling me that I had a great attitude during the hard times, but warning me about the days/weeks after things start getting back to "normal"....
You said I might get depressed, you said I might get "blue"...

Nope.... Not me I thought to myself....
I have too much to do!
My house is a massive wreck.
Mt Laundry has grown taller than me.
Dishes upon dishes need washing.
etc etc etc....

I'd be too busy to even think about getting "blue"

This afternoon, as I was sitting on the couch, polishing off the Little-Foreman-in-Pink's chocolate pudding snack-pack, and looking for another one or four.
I realized that I have a headache, I have body aches, I just wanna crawl into bed and sleep.

Hmmmmmm
Could this be what you were talking about?

Great!

Oh... did you see Martha's Blog Studio?
Geesh! I want one!

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Getting back to "Normal"

Not that anything on our farm has ever been "Normal".
The kids went back to school.
The electricity is staying on for longer periods of time.
The debris is getting cleaned up.

Now if I could get the house put back together!
Wow! I'm gonna be cleaning for the next month!

BIG post coming this afternoon talking about the things that helped us the most during these difficult post-Ike days as well as the things that we found out we were NOT prepared for.

more soon....

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Shhhhh... Don't tell them but....

We have power!!
I don't wanna say it too loud cause they might realize they messed up and turn it back off. ;)
They said 4-6 weeks.... I'll take 12 days! whoo hoo!

I know that some of you are, quite frankly, sick of hearing about Ike.

In our neck of the woods there was no other news...
I knew nothing about the bank problems that supposedly dominated the headlines...
All I knew was that our way of life, as we knew it, was forever changed.
I know I know that sounds over dramatic. But, it's true.

We do not live on the beach.
As a matter of fact we have to drive 45 min to an hour to get to the beach.

We did not and never do have to worry about the storm surge of water from a hurricane.
Thank Goodness.
But what many people don;t understand is that you don't only have to worry about the hurricane force winds and driving rains...
But hurricanes produce hundreds of tornadoes!
THATS what gets us!

Ike was different....
It was such a large storm that noone was safe... even those 100 miles inland had hurricane force winds to deal with.
Ike was not the strongest storm.
Ike was not the wettest storm..
But he was one of the biggest storms.
Yuck.

It was a very long 12 days for us.
Starting with the evacuation, then the storm damage and power outage.

I have always been someone who prepared for these kind of events.
But even though I thought I was prepared, I learned a great deal during this event.

I'll share more over the coming days about things that were great help during this time as well as some holes I found in our preps.

I have tons of pictures... here are a few...

These 2 picture were taken down the road from where the Man-of-My-Dreams works.

This is one of the many HUGE oaks that were destroyed.
In my neighbors front yard.

This was my potting shed/secondary brooder.
The boys worked so hard to build it for me..
I was getting so happy because it finally was almost covered with climbing vines.

My plum & pear trees.... ripped up by the roots...
Notice the dead tall pine tree that's still standing ?
great....

More soon....
.

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"After Ike" Back to Normal?

The Man-of-My-Dreams went back to work today.
There is no place for him to stay in Louisiana so he will be driving back and forth each day/night for awhile.
I don't like that.. but we have no choice yet.

The short people and I did pretty well without Daddy home.
Kept the generator humming when needed.
Cooked dinner (pork tenderloin & kraut, mashed potatoes and corn YUM)
We waited for the insurance adjuster but he didn't show up yet... maybe tomorrow?
We got more ice.

Well the trip for ice was not without incident.
I managed to get side-swiped by a big ole truck who's driver was not used to our narrow country roads.
Luckily he was very nice and terribly sorry, I've already spoken to his insurance company and things should work out fine.

Guess what else?????
I took a shower!!
I real shower!
With hot running water and everything!!
You have no idea how nice it is to feel clean! well clean until I had to spray myself down with mosquito spray because the blood-suckers are fierce right now.
But boy oh boy does a shower make ya feel brand new!

Oh... and I saw some mighty fine lookin men on our road today!
They were better lookin than the anesthesiologist was who gave me drugs when I was dealing with a birth gone wrong!!
I almost kissed them full on the lips....
They were from the electric company!! and they were working on the lines to our road! These are the first we have seenso I'm thinkin I got just a tad over-excited.

progress people.. I smell progress!

More Soon....

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"After Ike" Day 8

The Man-of-My-Dreams goes back to work at 4am in the morning...
I am not looking forward to that.
Even though it feels as if time has stopped in our little corner of the world, life must go on...

They have power in town so the boys start back to school on Thursday.
They are still saying 4-6 weeks before we get our lights back.

Most of the homes on our little road have cleaned up their yards...
Trees have been cut out of roofs, leaving blue tarp covered holes everywhere.
The debris piles are taller than most of the houses.

Hundred year old Live Oaks that once held happy children swinging from tire swings with their strong branches, and offered prime real estate for some of the worlds bestest tree houses are now sadly laying on the ground with huge grass covered root-balls reaching towards the sky.
The skyline will never be the same without those beautiful trees.

I have had a week to let it "sink in" but I still find myself in shock whenever I manage to leave our farm and look at the land around us.

We are doing ok here.
The generator is humming and doing it's job of solidifying everything in the freezer once more.
The ice chest is full of ice.
Our bellies are full of Cowboy Stew that I cooked over an open fire.
The kids, smelling of camp-fire smoke and bug spray, are tucked into their beds.

I am sitting here stewing over the price gouging I experienced today...
I went to go buy some 410 shells for the little shotgun that we use for protecting the poultry..
They charged me $25 for a box of 12 shells! these are little 410 shells! that was CRAZY!! But he knew we needed em... so we paid for them.
Oh well.... thats another thing I'll never run low on again when times get tough.

Tomorrow, the kids and I are going to try a recipe for bread that you bake rolled around a stick over the fire, we'll see how it turns out.

More Soon....

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"After Ike" Day 7.5

The wonderful cold front has ended.
the sticky, sweaty, smelly, Texas heat has returned.
We were so lucky to have such wonderful weather the first week we were without power.

I just have to brag on our little family for a bit.
I am so proud of our short people.
They could be cranky, snotty, complaining, fighting, miserable little twerps.
And they would have reason to be!

But instead, they have worked so hard, right beside their Dad and I.
They have ...
chopped wood,
split logs,
stacked wood,
cleared branches,
raked leaves & debris,
fixed fences,
Helped neighbors clean-up,
volunteered at the fire station giving out Ice/water,
and Much more.

Even the young Little-Foreman-in-Pink has worked her cute little butt off this week!
She may be 4 years old...
She may be the only girl...
But she can haul her weight in wood, and she'll do it with a smile!
(I have lots of pics, but can't get them online till power is back.)

I'm not saying that it hasn't been tough.
I'm not saying that we don't wish with all our might for some "normal" to return.
But I think we are doing pretty darn good!

Even under these nasty situations, I still feel like one of the luckiest women in the world!

I have the love of my life by my side... even when it's hard.
I have kids who will roll up their sleeves and work hard when needed.
I have plenty of food.
I have plenty of firewood for cooking.
We have been blessed by the kindness of others.
and.... I have lots of the needed knowledge to be able to "get by" without the modern conveniences that we have all become so dependent on.

don't get me wrong... I want it all back back!
But it's nice to know that we can do without it if needed.

Now.... to figure out how to make and/or store more gas for the generator, Then we'd be all set! ;)

.

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"After Ike" Day 7

It was one week ago today that we evacuated our beloved farm in preparations for hurricane Ike.
It doesn't seem possible that it's been a week.

Things are looking up.
--The fuel pump for the Suburban is fixed.
--Our water pump problem has been solved. (there ARE angels among us!)
--We still have ice and ample food.

There are, of course, still hard times.
--The amazing cool front we have been enjoying is ending.
The Texas heat is coming back.. fun fun fun!
--Worker #4 is getting sick. (No fun to be a sick kid with no power, no TV, no a/c.. no fun!)
--The generator is using a lot of gas to keep our freezer cold. Gas is NOT getting any easier to find, or cheaper to buy when we do find some.
--Worker #1 pulled a muscle in his back and is in agony.
--tempers are getting a little short round here.

The boys spent several hours playing football in the front yard.
Worker #3 spent 7 hours at the fire station helping distribute ice/water.
The Man-of-My-Dreams grilled some wonderful Fajitas for lunch/dinner.
For dessert I taught the boys how to make pop-corn over the fire.. that was "too cool".
We started reading "The Swiss Family Robinson" book tonight.. I seems fitting... Now I'm just waiting for the boys to try to build tree-houses and dig pits to catch the wild animals. ;)

More Soon...

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"After Ike" Day 6

Yesterday was a busy day.

--Went searching for a new fuel pump for my Suburban. (no luck yet)
--Burnt up our water well pump.
--Thought I was gonna get thrown in the poky cause I was burning a pile of yard debris. (didn't know they issued a 90 day burn ban..oops!)
--Was told by FEMA that we DO NOT qualify for disaster assistance (whatever that means!)
--And... drum-roll please.. WE GOT ICE!!!

When I went through the line for ice, they also threw a box of MRE's into the back of the truck.
The boys were so excited because they are VERY super-cool ya know!
They ate them for dinner.
They were... um.... well...
Lets just say that I have a brand new respect for our men & women in the service who have to live on these suckers!
I am not complaining... but WOW... have you ever known a 4 yr old who refused to finish more than one bite of a double fudge chocolate brownie? The boys called them camel turds. ;)

For some reason FEMA has decided that we do NOT qualify for disaster assistance. I am confused as to why. But thank goodness we didn't count on them. Sure would be nice tho.. but there are a lot of people who need help more than we do.

The Man-of-My-dreams has to go back to work on Monday... That should be interesting.

We have decided that at no time will we leave the farm un-attended.
People are stealing generators left and right.. some are stolen while they were running!
Our little fire station had two generators running so they can help those who need it the most and some jerk stole them both!

I am learning that in a disaster like this, there are two extreemes.
It can bring out the best in a person...
Or the worst...
I am just hoping that our family will remain positive and hopeful as the time wears on.
So far, so good.... but it's only been 6 days....
There is a looooong way to go.
It's kinda getting old now.

Yesterday was the first time I kinda broke down.
When the water well froze up I had a little bit of a melt-down.
But hey... I'm a girl.. we can cry.... and it made me feel better, I guess.

I have decided that today is gonna be a better day.. Period.
Why?
Cause I said so!
Thats why.

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mid-day sob.

well... we were soo excited bout getting the generator hooked up to the water well. The pump just died....

First the fuel pump for the Suburban..
Now the water pump to the house....
Not happy at the moment.

But HEY!! I got ice!!!!

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"After Ike" Day 5.

The Man-of-My-Dreams and the boys have gotten a lot done! The yard is actually starting to look a little bit "normal" except for the fact that we can see through the woods now because of all the downed trees.

I spent the day driving my convertible (riding lawn mower). I was worried about the kids and snakes with the grass and leaf debris so high.

Had a great dinner of home-made chicken & noodles. Thank goodness I love cooking over a fire!

More and more neighbors are making their way back to their homes...
I see their blank stares and know exactly what they are feeling... Shock, amazement, then the sheer feeling overwhelmed with the task at hand made even more difficult by the lack of power, fuel, Ice and in most cases.. food.

Over the years I have had several people ask why I stock so much food. Why I can, why I dehydrate, why I cook in bulk. Thank Goodness I do!
We may be in a tight spot, it may be hard right now, but we will not be hungry!

We were able to get the generator hooked up to the water well yesterday.
I have running water!!
My water heater is gas so we also have HOT water! Whoo hoo!! that makes all the difference in the world!

Today also dealt us a a pretty devastating blow...
The fuel pump decided to die on the Suburban.
It is the only vehicle that will whole our whole family.
A new fuel pump is gonna be between $300 & $400. OUCH!!
When it rains, it pours.

The one thing that we could have been more prepared for was the amount of cash in hand thats needed in a situation like this.

Evacuating costs a lot of $!
The few stores that did re-open are operating without power..
It's cash only!
and even though we use the generator as little as possible, the gas costs a pretty penny. IF you can find any.

Oh well... maybe they will have ice somewhere today.
That will make me happy!

Have a great Day y'all! Stay safe!

Edited to add... A train just rumbled past our farm. They got the tracks cleared! Maybe this means supplies are making their way to us too! an Ice train sounds great!!

.

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Thank You and some questions answered

Wow!Thanks for all the support and offer of prayers y'all! It really means more than you could ever know.
To answer some of your questions....

Most of the critters are ok. I lost a lot of my poultry tho, either to the storm itself, or wandering dogs after the storm.

Our house.... we were very lucky!, it IS still standing & in one piece. But... a tornado blew a path right down the side of it. This lifted our bedroom up off of the foundation blocks and moved it over by about 4 inches. So we can't open any doors and there is a very obvious slope downward (kinda like the bedroom is fixing to fall off of the main house.

Our laundryroom/pantry/mud-room on the other side of the house is the same way, except it is actually torn away from the main house, leaving a 3 inch gap where the wall meets the ceiling.
Were we thought we had curled up shingles, we actually have buckled wood on the roof.

80% of the pipes under the house have been blown off of the house or came off when it shifted.

But the biggest problem right now is ice and gas.
We have enough gas to last us several more days for the generator (that we use to run the freezers a few hours a day)
and have enough ice to make it through today.
Ice.... we will need ice!!

everyone here does.
they are getting angry.....
and beginning to have a mob-like mentality.
a cooler of ice or a gas can looks better to most thieves right now that a diamond ring.

We keep hearing on the radio that ice and water trucks are coming and such and such time at the school...
everyone uses gas to get there to wait in line....
and no trucks show up.
This does not make for happy people.

Our new motto = You loot, We shoot.
it sucks.... but we have to protect our family above all else at this point.

all in all we are doing fine...
I can cook anything over a fire that I could cook in a full kitchen.
The kids are doing pretty well right now... We have no idea when the schools will re-open because they say 4-6 weeks with no power.
God smiled on us and gave us a nice little cold front to pass through yesterday.
Things would be awful in 100 degree heat!

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Howdy from the war zone

just wanted to pop in and say howdy from the disaster zone.
When I slowly made my way into out neck of the woods, I was shocked at the condition of the area.

I swear, it looks like a war zone.
There is not one house on our road un-touched.
I'd say no fewer than 3/4 of the homes have large trees on them.

There are power lines littering the roadways.
Debris everywhere.
Fences crushed.
Livestock wandering around dazed and confused.

They tell us to expect to be without electricity for 4-6 weeks MINIMUM!
There is no gas.
No ice.
and those who didn't stock up ahead of time, will be withouht food very shortly.

I have taken pictures, I'll post them when I can, I'll also post updates as I can get my hands on a signal for the lap-top.

till then, we are hunkering down, enjoying the Texas Heat. rain, mosquitoes, and work.

stay safe y'all

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Checking in.. Ike 9/12/08 9:28pm

We are safely tucked away in the Texas hill country.

The kids are thrilled because the see this as almost a vacation.
Tomorrow morning we are going to tube / drift down the Guadalupe River.
The boys have been fishing.
The Little Foreman in Pink has been catching lightening bugs.

All in all, the young folk are doing great!

Now The man-of-My-dreams and I are a little more of a mess.
All we can do is sit and watch the Weather Channel it looks worse and worse with each report for our little farm.

I know we did the right thing by leaving to insure our well being.
But my farm.
My dream.
My critters.
What about them??

Ok... snap out of it Dana.. panicking will get me nowhere.
Gonna switch from panicking to praying.. that's always better.

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Ike Update 9:30pm 9/11/08

ok..
food all packed in the Suburban & RV.
Kids all bathed and getting in bed.
we are going to get a few hours sleep.

Last Minute Things

- Move all furniture into the center of the room (away from the windows)

- Turn off the water,
- Turn off the propane/gas
- SHOULD turn off the main breaker.. but I have too much in my freezer to do that.
- Unplug the computer tower and put it in the Suburban.
- Lock all doors/windows.
- Unplug everything that can be unplugged. (cept for freezers)
- Pray
- load up and hit the road.

To Be Continued...

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UPDATE 6:00pm 9/11/2008

ok.. I think we have a plan.
We are heading out to Bryan Texas sometime in the early morning hours tomorrow morning.
Hopefully that will help us with traffic.

There is a relative with RV hook-ups there.

The Man of My Dreams is bringing his lap-top... I hope to post from there, if not, I'll tweet via text on my cell phone.

so far.....

-RV is packed with everything we would need for 3-4 days.
-House as secure as it can be.
-Animals as secure as possible & marked w/ identifying numbers.

lots still to do.. but not till last min before we leave. I'm thinkin that will be approx 3am'ish.

To Be Continued...

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Ike Update #2 5:00pm 9/11/08

EVACUATION ORDERS

1. LIBERTY COUNTY HAS A MANDATORY EVACUATION IN PLACE AT THIS TIME.

Great.... Just Great!

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Are YOU Ready? Ike

I posted about our hurricane preps for Gustav almost 2 weeks ago.
We were lucky and Gustav didn't hit us.
But.... Ike is on his way.
He is a HUGE storm and we are on the dirty side.

so....
We have decided that it will be best for us to leave for this monster.
All of our preps are still in place from Gustav...

read the list for the first few days of pre-hurricane preps HERE.

This is what happens next...

12 hours before evacuation

-Make sure all gas tanks are full (again)
-Board up all windows with ply-wood.
-Put bedding and necessary clothing into the RV.
-Throw extra feed/hay to the animals. (we may not be able to get back home for several days)
-Pack up breakables. (pictures in drawers, TV's on beds...etc)
- Put oil lamps into stove (I know that sounds strange.. but they will be safe there, and we can find em when we get back home to no elec)
- pack guns & ammo into RV
-fill coolers with enough drinks & food for at least 4 days. (pack food frozen.. saves on ice and keeps longer)
-hang towels/blankets inside of small windows with no ply-wood (catches flying glass)
-double-check that anything fly-away-able is tied down or put away.
-check oil in cars/trucks.
-start loading the RV, truck and Suburban with must save items and anything that we may need while we are gone....

more soon.

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Are YOU Ready? (part 2)

Well Gustav is hitting land earlier than anticipated.
It looks like we will be some of the lucky ones with this storm.

Still watching.. but so far..
so good.

will keep ya posted.

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Are YOU Ready? (preps part 1)

Earlier this year I started telling Our Story of hurricane Rita.
The written story kinda petered out. (yep.. I suck)
Anyway...
Hurricane preparations are in full swing here on the farm once more.
Gustav is on his way. (with two more storms following him! GREAT!)
Hopefully, he won't hit our farm full-force, but we needed to make sure our preps were ready for anything.
I'm gonna chronicle it all here in hopes it can help someone else be a little better prepared.
Even if you don't live in a hurricanes pron area, you still can have power-outages for many other reasons.
Maybe you live in an area where you have tornadoes, or severe winter weather.
Heck, even a few downed trees can cause lengthy power outages round some parts!
Everyone should have some plan in place and some sort of preparations just in case.

Gustav looks to be a very powerful storm.

Our Hurricane Gustav Preparations
(in real time)

First we had to get the Man-of-My-Dreams RV out of harms way (on the coast of Louisiana)
We also needed to have a plan for if we decided to evacuate. (we are gonna head West, towards San Antonio, if needed)

3 days before the storm

Now we need to get everything ready here on the farm...

1. Trim any over-grown and/or dead limbs from trees (less for the wind to toss around)
2. Put up or tie down anything blowAwayable (I love making up new words!)
3. Make sure all animals and livestock have identifiable markings/phone numbers on them. (in case the fence breaks)

Because we almost always lose power (we went without power for over 2 weeks with Rita & lived in a tent!)...

4. make sure we have plenty of fresh water stored. (for drinking and washing)
5. make sure we have plenty of easy to cook over a fire/grill food.
6. fill propane tanks on the grills.
7. fill any empty spaces in the freezer with ice. (a full freezer stays cold longer)
8. make sure all flashlights & radios are in working order and easily accessible.
9. fill and prime all oil lamps and have em in a central location.
10. Make sure all laundry is clean.
11. fill all car/truck gas tanks full. (no power = no gas, if we evacuate gas is hard to find)
12. trip to ATM for cash. (no power = no credit cards working)
13. Fill all portable gas tanks on the farm. (to keep the generator humming 5 gal gas = 10hrs power)
14. burn the burn pile (ashes can't become damaging projectiles in the wind)
15. hit the feed store. (no power or storm damage might make feed hard to get later)
16. check to make sure we have plenty of bleach and chlorine. (disinfectant & water purification)
17. make sure we have enough bug spray.. then buy even more! (these TX skeeters can drive a person insane!)
18. double-check first aid kits and prescription drugs (don't wanna run out)
19. make sure the plywood we have for covering windows is in good shape.
20. have plenty of ammo (for critters/snakes/?)

So far, so good.
We'll see what needs done tomorrow.
Have fun y'all!

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Things you need water for....

Last-night our water well stopped. It just died. Poof.. no water. Joy!

Inside the house were
4 stinky-dirty-sweaty-sticky-smelly young-men-folk.
1 dirty-sticky Little-Foreman-in-Pink
1 tower of dirty dinner dishes.
1 HUGE mountain of dirty laundry.
And several EMPTY water bottles. (oops)
1 sobbing Mom. (that would be me)

Workers #1 & 2 and I went out to investigate.
The Man-of-My-Dreams instructed us to get out the volt meter thingie to check and see if the pump and it's breaker was getting juice. (they were... not good!)

Oh great.... will we need a new pump? We just bought Man-Town!!
How are we supposed to get a well man to come out here and put in a new pump..
that = $$$$$????

I called the well-man and we waited.
In the mean-time I noticed all of the things that we take for granted that require water.

Showers for the stinky men-folk.
Showers for the women-folk of the house.
Flushing toilets.
washing dishes.
brushing teeth.
making coffee!!!! **sob**sob**
wetting hair to make it less Poofy (workers #1 & 2 were not pleased!)
washing clothes.
watering the chicks and ducks.
watering the cows (but they have the pond so it was ok)
Making tea.
washing hands.
etc etc etc.......


I also realized that all my preaching about being prepared is wonderful.... IF you do it!! (Re-fill water bottles as you use em! Duh!)
grrrrrrrrr!

The well man finally showed up.
Thank Goodness it was NOT the water pump....
It was the 220 line into my house.
a quick re-wire and we were in business again!! whoo hoo!!

and all my water bottles/jugs are filled once again!

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