Nothing like a blizzard to force you to stay home and make do! Well, at least for some of us. I guess it started snowing about 7 a.m. this morning. Since school was already cancelled last night, I got to sleep in. At the time of this posting, it is 10:00 p.m. and it is still snowing. I think there is about 10 inches out there, maybe a little less. School is cancelled for tomorrow too.
Ed was already at work by the time the snow started, since he had to be there at 4:00 a.m. He called me about 10:30 a.m. to say that they had told the afternoon and evening shifts not to come in, because they were going to close at 3:00 p.m. That meant the morning crew had to stay until 3:00. Then, because they were afraid the morning crew wouldn't be able to get back in to open in the morning, they were put up in a hotel across the road from the restaurant!
So, Ed is stuck at a hotel for the night with nothing but the clothes he wore to work and his Bible, so he is going to have to make do with what he has. The hotel did feed them this evening. Hopefully, by the time he gets off tomorrow at 11:00 a.m., the snow will have stopped, and the road crews will have some of the main roads clear. Out here is another story. We are at the bottom of the list, and the county won't come this far down our road anyway. The home owners on our road, including our landlord, kind of take care of themselves. I saw them working on it this afternoon, and I am thankful for them.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, it was just Katherine and I today. I made my weekly bread and bagles, as well as some flax bread (I"ll share that Friday) and some chicken stock. I spent most of the day cooking, when I wasn't trying to keep a fire going.
Yesterday, I had trouble getting a fire started. I couldn't get the wood that Larry brought us Sunday to catch. I finally just gave up and waited for Ed to come home. Well, he got a fire going, and put two big pieces of that wood in. When I got up this morning, the fire was completely out, and those two pieces of wood were still in there! Ok, well, I'll just take them out and start over. Only I couldn't get them out! They were wedged in tight, and I couldn't get them to budge. I finally decided to try and build a fire on top of them. With prayer and a lot of kindling, cardboard, and newspaper, I finally got a good enough blaze going to put in some smaller logs. I actually used a kitchen timer to remind me to check on it every five minutes, and then every ten until I had a good fire going. I am happy to report this evening that I have a lovely fire, and those to logs finally decided to burn. It's a toasty 74 degrees in my living room!
I told Katherine we could watch a movie together tonight if she wanted. We haven't done that in months! She picked out her "Transformers" movie that she got for Christmas. She was trying to explain everything to me, but she didn't need to. She has two grown brothers. I knew about Optimus Prime before she was born! Still, I enjoyed the time with her. I know it will be too soon gone!
On the subject of "makin' do"; there is often an overlap into repurposing because the purpose of repurposing is often to make do with what you have. Here are a few things that I have repurposed over the years in order to make do.
Silverware drawers make me crazy. I know if must have something to do with my having to see everything, as well as always having more utensils than I have space in those little dividers. Several years ago, I bought some black and white marble contact paper to cover a small table. I liked that look for the kitchen, but couldn't afford to redo my kitchen (and it was a rental property anyway), so I gave myself a little taste of it, while releasing myself from the insanity-causing silverware drawer.
I hardly ever throw away a glass jar or large plastic container, because you can always make use of them. I used these to store the dried herbs that I grew last year. I just used a black Sharpie to label the jars.
I've got to the point where I take a good hard look at anything before it goes in the trash. Oh, back on the subject of fire-starting. Toilet paper tubes stuffed with dryer lint make great tinder! I have a bag full of tubes, and a coffee can full of lint! Does that make me crazy?
See ya tomorrow!
Connie
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