Looking forward

Things are starting to warm up slowly. Last night, as we watched the church service online, our Pastor said that the temperatures we were seeing in the area had been recorded before – in 1947. So, truly, not many alive today have seen the bitter cold we have endured over the past week. Now, as things thaw out and power is restored, we are hearing from people at church who are experiencing the reality of what happened to interior pipes when they freeze. One elderly lady in our church woke to the flooding of her house as pipes that had been frozen, not thawed by restored power and heat to her little home, spewed water at full force into her home. She found out that she is fully responsible for the damage that flooding caused. No help from insurance. She is understandably disheartened. Her story will not be unique.

Fortunately, we have had power throughout the freeze. I cannot imagine the damage we would have had to deal with if our waterlines had frozen.  I do not know at this point if any of the waterlines to the hydrants have frozen, but I should be able to determine that today or tomorrow. I know the hydrants are not frozen because I have them wraped with heat tape, but I cannot predict what has happened underground. I am anxious to see if there is any damage at our office, which has been without power since Sunday night. Hopefully, all is well, but the temperature at the building Tuesday morning was -6° F. That does not bode well for the waterlines inside the building.

If all goes well and the roads clear a little, Mama is taking Grandma and Grandpa shopping tomorrow. They have not been out of the house for several days. They have my truck in case they needed it, but they have not felt the need to go anywhere in the frigid days of this past week. Regarding the truck, Grandpa tried to start it yesterday and it would not start. He discovered that one of the batteries has outlived its usefulness. That battery is eleven years old, so I suppose it is due to be replaced. Mama will work with Grandpa tomorrow to get a new battery bought and installed after which they will go to Wichita Falls for a shopping day. If the weather reports are accurate, we should be in the high sixties early next week. That will be a nice return to normal for us and our animals…and our plants. In any event, this frigid act of nature was a brutal wakeup call to our Green Energy advocates to see what happens when our electrical system is taxed heavily. Whether or not it will be taken to heart is yet to be seen, but those who have been without power due to the loss of wind generated power in our grid, know the effects all too well.

I have been very limited in the amount of work I can do lately. The internet is up and down in some unpredictable, random cycle. I watch for the opportunity to log on, get what I need or upload what I can and use it until I lose it. It is frustrating but I am not alone in the struggle. There are some in my group who are still without power. Hopefully, they will get power restored soon and not have experienced any waterline issues. Time will tell.

Mama and I were warming up the nursery coop for the expected arrival of the 100 chicks Brittany Wycoff needed us to house since she is still without power at their home. However, that is no longer needed. The shipping company canceled the delivery due to the extreme weather conditions. I am not surprised and am a bit relieved. I have been having issues getting sufficient power to the coops and the nursery to keep the heat lamps on while I had a heater running in the nursery to warm it sufficiently to keep the chicks warm enough to survive. We are still far from that temperature in the building and I was worried about how to get the building sufficiently heated.

The breaker in the barn lot wellhouse supplying power to the coop area keeps tripping under the load even though it should be able to easily handle it. Now I will have time to trouble shoot the issue and hopefully correct it. If all else fails, I will install a larger breaker. At any rate, I have a lot of little repairs and upgrades to make as we thaw. The issue at hand is whether or not to expend the effort and finances to prepare for another cold spell like this one – which may not happen again for many years. One thing I do know having lived in colder climates, it is always worth the effort to plan ahead even if those upgrades are not necessarily required. Any improvements in insulation, power supply and water distribution will be an improvement to our lives and our continued care for the animals the Lord has given us. The fact that this came upon us so quickly and so unexpectedly process the need to harden the farm against it happening again.

Such is the nature of life on the farm.