It's very cold here

Says the ex-California girl

That’s my chicken coop under all that snow.

We spent the weekend listening to the droning of our creaky old generator. Our power went out at 8:39 PM Friday and came back on late Sunday evening. The pole that holds up the power line on my neighbor’s property snapped and we had a power line on the ground for almost 3 days. Nice, eh?

MidAmerican, our energy provider, twice told me that the power was back on when my generator was telling me exactly the opposite. I get it; there were several thousand people without power in the Quad City area. Everybody was busy and we do have a generator. But there are few things that are more worrisome than a couple of feet of snow getting dumped in less than 24 hours, my plow being out of commission (did I mention that we bent the blade attachment trying to clear the driveway?), and a generator that let out an occasional sputter and would then need a rest for a bit.

Oh, we made it through. The power is back on. The road is passable enough for 4WD. The chickens are all puffed up and grumpy. The dogs are not happy about peeing outside in subzero weather. And the local Implement is coming by today to fix the plow blade attachment. Don’t get me wrong, it is beautiful, and the eagles are back in full force, heading for the tasty eating at Lock and Dam 14 on the Mississippi.

But damn, it’s cold!