Thankful for Little Things – Like Heat!

Today I’m thankful for the little things in life – like heat, electricity, and running water! The snow storm hit on Sunday. I’m glad I stayed home from church, although I hate to miss it. Around the time I’d be trying to drive home, sleet was coming down, and our driveway started to ice up. By the afternoon, sleet turned to thick, wet snow. Then the winds picked up and it began to snow…and snow…and blow! Around 7:30, the electricity went out. We were hopeful it would be a quick fix, but when we awoke to 8 inches of snow and many downed pine trees on our own driveway, we realized it was not a quick fix. No heat, no electricity, and no running water meant we had to act fast. Thankfully I’d stockpiled bottled water in the basement, so we had plenty of drinking water, but we ended up melting snow in my canning pot and my big spaghetti-pots on the gas stove top to create buckets of water to flush the toilets. We packed snow into a garbage can and pails in the garage, and it acted like a nice refrigerator and freezer for our food. The house got plenty cold though. By the time Tuesday morning rolled around, the outside temperature was only 11 degrees. Inside, it was 49. I’m grateful for the good insulation in the house. Can you imagine if we didn’t have good insulation? It sure was cold though! The pets were so cold they were huddling together and snuggling under the blankets with us. My poor seedlings were drooping…I thought I’d lost the tomatoes…but they are okay today.

I’m so happy that the power came back on. Today I am looking out through my office windows at snow covered pines that look like the Alps. I have a painting in my dining room that my mother bought from a Floral Park artist called Barrister of snow-covered pines, and it’s one of my favorite pictures in the house. Now I have this view from my own windows. And since it’s warm and I have a steaming mug of coffee at hand, I can relax and enjoy the view!

Thanks to Helen for calling on Sunday night to see if we were okay…and Patty and Ron our neighbors in Prospect for stopping by on Tuesday and offering us a grocery store run…I am grateful for all our friends here in Virginia!

These photos showing the progress of the storm, from Sunday through Tuesday. Shadow is racing around the lawn enjoying her first taste of snow. Then I have a picture of the garden trellis in the early stages of the storm on Sunday afternoon. There rest of the pictures show our driveway, Hixburg Road, and the yard covered in snow. Enjoy