Gaaaaah! I just lost this post again. However I’d copied MOST of it. So I didn’t lose it all. These pages jump up and down and all over and this time, I was clicking on something when the page jumped and sent me off this page. When I return — ALL IS LOST!
Quickly recap the part I lost: Sorry for the kitty you lost, MamaCando. Lost mine in Nov and MISS her! 🙁 Yesssss, get checked for Skin Cancer…which is NOT SKIN DEEP. Dallied too long and got a chunk cut out of my face couple years ago – thankful plastic surgeon did an excellent job of fixing the ‘divot’. Muffy – on the previous post I lost, I had written from my experience on WHEN — cane/walker. I’ll see if I can reconstruct it but not tonite.
A LOT of prepping for DH and I today. If anyone has taken a look at the Doppler weather map with the WINTER storm warnings overlaid….you’ll see we’re in a bit of trouble out here…..tomorrow and into Thurs. Now it really depends on where you are. I’m fortunately in a spot that MIGHT squeak by…..mebbe…..mebbe not. So we prepped JIC. Of course.
I’m really into weather and daily visit 3 sites: Doppler full screen. A site for showing me the High and Low pressure areas. And the Jet Stream. Course I view what our local REAL meteorologists have to say also. I’m amateur but learning. After a bad scenario where the power/Internet loss would shut down my data collecting would be gone too. BUT…I also have my own bits of equipment that I keep an eye on. Anyone in high altitude needs to use an altimeter for getting barometric readings. Barometers don’t work as high as we are.
As for what happening currently: the main issue in this ODD storm is that the barometric pressure …is going to break all records for LOW. The lowest pressure every recorded in this region. Tomorrow. If it hasn’t changed, it’s expected to hit it’s lowest point while passing near Lamar, Colorado around noon WED. [southeastern part of CO – near Kansas border…way out on the plains.] They’re expecting it to register as low a reading of millibars [of mercury] AS A CATEGORY TWO HURRICANE! Whoa! In the middle of the plains and Rockies????
As Spock would say: Fascinating. [raise one eyebrow] What causes that????
Meanwhile, though that will be far, far away, it’s SUCH a strong system that it’s wrapping through several states…like hurricanes do. So while we will not have blizzard conditions, we’re in the cold/windy/snowy realm. The real issue is if we LOSE POWER with all the WIND they’re predicting all over the place. Limbs and trees falling can easily make that happen. [not sure where we get our power from…might be good to find out.]
With all that in mind, our preparations today [HOPING THEY WERE OVERKILL] :
A. Got our military EXTRA cold sleeping bags out of my truck and into house – JIC. B. Moved truck down near the road….out of way for snowplowing. C. Collect Buddy Heater and Coleman cooking stove up to house. + propane tanks, Coleman fuel, and lamp oil. Fuels kept a short ways away from the house and are now on porch. We have many types of non-flammable lighting options but oil lamps HEAT! Have a big Dietz Jupiter that can help keep us warm w/o furnace. D. Poured water in basement for animal care if we lose well pump and upstairs for drinking and buckets in bathroom for flushing/washing. E. Washed some duck eggs cuz we’re out and need to use those up. Hope we’re not so cold …cuz if lose electric for the livestock tank heater…it’s full and would be a solid chunk of ice if we got subzero. {not likely} Pretty warm lately.
Our big energy expenditure was to find loose dirt/grit to chuck into a sled – haul to the horse shed. Bad design leaves it full of ice when a steep eastern hillside pours meltwater into it. It doesn’t see sunlight. But IF we get nasty weather, they need that shelter. So we covered the ice with a good layer of dirt/grit/mud. Keep them from slipping…us too. We just haven’t had to use it …until now. THIS IS WHAT BAD DESIGN WILL DO TO YOU – think carefully about placement of outbuildings and such!! Uff tah. Thot DH was going to collapse during this job. {he thot so too — mud/sand is heavier than snow} Took breaks, ate energy bars, but got it done.
I did some trenching to encourage standing water [will turn to sheet ice] to drain downhill today…before we go COLD again tomorrow. Mostly in barnyard cuz it’s finally under control up here. Only a little work out the back door…cuz we just snowed an inch again last nite.
We also battened down everything!!! All loose items — but we don’t have much cuz it’s ALWAYS some windy here.
We decided not to send DH into the village for last minute supplies. Frankly, it took all we had to finish the preps! So we dug out the evaporated milk …and condensed milk for when we run out. Also have cans of dry milk. Dug out some things from the EVAC buckets. DH was impressed I could find his stuff after I’d reorganized last summer. 🙂 He’d made bread yesterday so we’re fine there. I need to bake the bacon in the morning. Easier to just heat it up then. Fridge not working won’t be a problem – have MANY ice packs…some live outside and will be frozen.
So that’s our exhausting day but we’re set with preps and adaptions and substitutions. I’ll let you know if we forgot anything….or if we actually need all this. HOPING NOT! We’re both about played out with crisis after crisis. Pray for our elderlies cuz they’re a bit closer to heavy snowfall area. They hire the snow removal but….we’ll be out of reach for a couple days of dangerous road conditions and busy here with animals. However…both houses have phones that work with no electricity. Old type. So there’s that for communication anyway. But … they’re not doing well right now. 🙁
OldMtWoman G’nite all and good luck to anyone else in the mountain West and plains…