Winter Storms in the Mountains
Our neighbors have good-naturedly accused us of bringing the snow and cold weather with us from KC. We’ve assured them we didn’t.
Like many others we have dealt with dripping faucets and frozen pipes and shoveling snow. I slept in a winter hat because we couldn’t get the trailer above 52 right by the heater and all the stuff in our RV fridge froze. We’ve learned a few things about caring for animals when it is negative temps, keeping the heat in, what to do when your composting toilet freezes solid, and how to minimize trips between buildings.
This is the worst storm here since the 80s and pretty much everything is shut down…no UPS, no FedEx, no US Mail and very few businesses. Not that I notice much out here on our quiet street. Instead of five cars a day, we’ve had none for days except the guy who tried to make it up the hill in his pickup only to slide back down while we watched out the window. The hill around the curve is 3 times as steep so I was rather hoping he would give up before attempting that one.
Brave, Brave Homesteaders
I just want to brag on my family. While I’ve stayed inside working extra hours during a busy season at work, they have braved the cold temps to unfreeze pipes, break the ice off water buckets for the animals, do all the normal back and forth required when you live in a collection of tiny buildings, dump unmentionable things and shovel walkways. And they even found the time and strength to start an igloo and build a snow robot.
We Hang Together
Before the third round of mess down here we checked in with our neighbors to see if they needed anything from town while Paul was there. One of them said to me, “We hang together and if you need anything, let us know!”
That is so true of the folks down here. Regularly we see a neighbor walking or driving or driving a tractor to another neighbor to lend a hand. It’s a pretty beautiful picture of love your neighbor. As city folk, this is new to us but we find we rather like it.
So, as we all look forward to the coming warmer temperatures, I want to remember that Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. And love your neighbor as yourself.”
May we remember this and look for opportunities to be a light to our neighbors in these challenging times!
