Waiting for another storm

Hope the new camera gets here today! This picture is from 1995. Looks different around here now...

The snow is supposed to begin around mid day and snow all day, followed by sleet and freezing rain, followed by another round of snow tomorrow! Big chance of power outages!

Poppy and I have been through one bad winter storm here in the cabin. We were without power for a full week.  We kept a fire going in the fireplace. We hung a quilt in the living room to block off the rest of the house and slept on the floor in front of the fireplace. We cooked on the gas stove. The biggest problem was being without water because of the pump not working.  After a full week of this...seven long days, I was on porch getting another armload of firewood and heard the sound of trucks coming down the path...could it be!!!  It was!!! Carolina Power & Light Company!  I dropped the firewood. I waved and whistled and threw them kisses. The guys waved back to me. It was exciting stuff!

The next time we were without power for several days was totally different.  It was hot humid September. Hurricane Fran hit big time. Trees down everywhere.  Broken limbs, pine boughs and pine cones all over the house and hanging from power lines. The air smelled like chewed up pine needles. September in North Carolina can be mighty hot and sticky. It was miserable without the ac! Not even a fan to stir the air a bit. 

When Fran hit in 1996, Poppy and I were finishing the pier on our newly dug pond.  We were told that it would probably take a year for the pond to fill. There is no natural spring or water source going into the pond. We were told however, by the environmental people, that we have 40 acres of run-off, so no problem having a pond.  We were prepared to watch the pond slowly fill.  This picture was taken the morning after Hurricane Fran hit our area...

The pond was filled and over flowing...

The entire property was covered in tree limbs, sticks, leaves, and pine cones...

Talk about being overwhelmed! I did not know where to begin cleaning up the mess.   

A couple of years ago Poppy and I invested in a generator.  One large enough to run the entire house, should the power go out.  And, this generator comes on automatically 30 seconds after losing power! We may soon find out how well it works!

I will miss the fun of bringing in wood, keeping a fire going, living by the fireplace, cooking simple, no TV, not having to take a bath because of no water, shucks! ;)...

Better get busy  Thank you for visiting.

Love,
Henny Penny

  

Another Vacation

Poppy's vacation started yesterday...9 days off work!!!  We have been listing things we want get done around here, like finishing up the mess in the back yard.  There are still several downed trees to be cut into firewood and the limbs and brush hauled away.    We had also planned to paint the back porch floor (and the front porch floor, if there is enough paint), and all that trim  around the screened-in back porch.  So, we wake up this morning to a thunder storm and pouring rain!!!  The 7-day forecast...thunderstorms and rain,  every day!!!

This is Tuesday night already!!!  This post was started yesterday.  I'm sorry.   My schedule is up-side-down with Poppy here all day.  We had another thunderstorm with a hard rain.  It is too humid and hot to do all those big jobs on our list.  We did a little shopping today; picked up some chicken feed, etc....We probably don't make enough selling the few eggs that we sell to pay for the feed these big girls eat.  Must keep reminding myself of the fun I'm having!!

Feed! What feed??

 
Little Fiona Ling Ling is still here, and feeling more at home.  If she turns out to be a "he", we will have to drop the "Fiona" and use "Ling Ling"...don't you think?

Speaking of rain...does it seem to you like we have more hard, flooding rains now, than we used to??  Growing up, I remember rainy days.  Days that the rain was slow and steady.  Mama would let us go outside and walk in mud puddles and play in the rain.  Seems now there is more danger, in everything!!! 

A few months back a heavy downpour filled our pond to over flowing and covered our pier...in about 30 minutes. Now that is a hard rain!!!

Remember hurricane Fran that hit North Carolina in 1996?  Well that was the same year we built this pond, and in the same month, September!!  The pond was finished and we were told that it would probably take one year for it to fill, since there is no natural spring, and we were relying on rain water.  Poppy and I bought the materials and build the pier ourselves.  We completed the pier the day before "Fran" hit.  We didn't get any sleep the night of Fran!!!  We sat in the living room in the dark with a portable radio and no electricity.  We sat quietly listening to the crazy wild winds and beating rain.  Occasionally, we would hear the cracking of a tree falling.  Then there were bumps and cracks, sounds of sticks, limbs and green pine cones hitting the house.  It was a long, eerie night, listening and trying to imagine how everything would look when daylight came.  It was like Fran was traveling with the night and was gone when the sun came up.  Never will I forget that smell of chewed up green leaves, green limbs, and pine needles that totally covered the property....ankle deep.  And the pond!!!  The pond was full and running over the spillway with red muddy water.  Not one inch of our newly built pier was visible!  It was totally under water!  We were without electricity for several days and the weather was extremely hot and humid.  Fortunately, there was no damage to the house!!

Okay, here it is Wednesday!!!  I've been with Poppy again...getting dual exhaust put on his truck!!  Thank you for looking in.  Hope to return soon...a little more interesting!! :)

Love, 
Henny Penny