Blizzard & Practical Living

Remember I wrote in an earlier blog about how people in this country in general don't have basic skills anymore - things like gardening, preserving food, making meals from scratch (no pre-mixes or finished products off the shelves of a grocery store), sewing, living off grid, etc., etc.

Yesterday we had an actual blizzard here in SW Missouri. Friends tell us it happens about once every 30 years in this area. Glad we were here for it! I am a huge snow/Winter lover and have really missed the New England Winters while we have been here in SW MO the last 2 years.

We have huge, actual drifts around the cars and house.  Mike was just out back and the drift came almost to the top of his hip bone!  (Remember, he's 6' 8" tall.)  Of course, it makes it difficult to sell my car when you can barely see it AND we cannot get out of the driveway. LOL The picture was taken from inside our garage.




It is supposed to be bitterly cold the next 2 days. Fortunately, we have no need to go anywhere - one of the perks of being retired as well as prepared for that storm.

The biggest perk was we did NOT lose power. Yay! I wonder how many people in this country could cope if there was no power for an extended period of time. Many years ago when our middle son was a Senior in High School, he came home one day and said that they had read a study in one of his classes that if power grids were destroyed, people would actually go insane and/or commit suicide because they wouldn't know how to cope in a non-powered world. Frightening, isn't it?! Really, really need those basic skills, folks.

For some reason, people like Laura Ingalls-Wilder popped into my head as I was mixing up pizza dough for lunch this morning. Back in those days, they didn't have fancy weather forecasts to warn them of oncoming major storms like we just had. But they would have had firewood and food storage and, in most cases, survived without too much problem. If we lost power a few days before a major storm hit, how would the people in this country now survive? Interesting thought, isn't it? When we lived in New England, we heated with a wood stove and sometimes even cooked on it. Here, we've just got gas heat - that needs electricity to run. Anyway, all is well and we are now slowly digging out from our 1 foot + snowfall.

We will spend the next couple of days doing more sorting, pricing and listing of things we're selling. I have to admit though, I am getting a bit discouraged about selling stuff. Smaller things are flying out the door but big ticket items aren't. Normally, I wouldn't get uptight & have more patience but we have to be out of here by February 25th at the latest to head to Florida to be with Mike's parents for the month of March. Do not want to have to put big stuff in storage. (OK, you're seeing one of my 'emotional' moments.) We have researched and tried to price things fairly but we are finding that people would rather we just give things away. Sigh. We have still got a few weeks.

Speaking of emotions, I am actually getting excited and impatient to get into the RV and 'settled'. Really, really looking forward to it. I miss having the time to knit and spin wool. Sorting through my knitting and spinning books yesterday made me yearn for this downsizing process to be over and us settled in the RV so I can get back to the things I really enjoy. Listed a ton of books for sale yesterday but am a bit surprised this morning at the # of books I decided to keep. Will go through that pile again. We are putting some books in storage for now but think I can probably eliminate more.

Made my turkey soup yesterday during the storm and it was oh, so good. Drove Mike nuts while everything simmered for hours. LOL Have been thinking about the small ovens in an RV and have decided to keep my portable, electric roasting oven. That way when I want to cook something bigger - like a 20 lb turkey - I will have the capability of doing it. I like to brine my turkey before cooking it - yummy! I can get several meals out of that turkey by taking the meat off the bone and making casseroles, etc. When turkeys are on sale, it is a great way to save money.

Well, even though it is cold today, the sun is shining brightly and it is so quiet from the sound-deafening effect of the snow. Lovely, lovely day. Hope everyone out there is having a lovely day as well.

Til next time.

Gloria - The Internet GADabout

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