Stormy Fun, Miracles, and a Harvest Update!

Late evening Wednesday we began having thunderstorms that continued all through the night. Thursday morning it was still a bit rainy, but most of the bad storms had passed. I got up and started my morning chores and halfway through milking we lost power. No power at our house also means no water, since our well pump runs on electricity. Ususally, if a storm knocks out power we are only off for an hour or so. This time the electric company was saying that so many folks were without power, it would probably be 24 hours before they restored it!

I try to stay prepared for such emergencies. We have a 55 gallon water barrel that we keep ready, we have a gravity water filter, and have a creek running through our property (for lugging water to animals). We also have a ground pit for campfire cooking, my "outdoor kitchen" propane grill, and of course Bob's smoker/grill. So cooking food and drinking water are usually not an issue.

Since the temperatures have been in the mid-90's all week, I knew we would never be able to sleep in the house that night, so Rebekah and I decided to set up the tent to let it air out. I figured it would be much cooler in the tent than in the stuffy house. We got the tent up, built a make-shift canopy (our canopy got broken during a storm a few months ago but we still had the frame), and cracked open the monopoly game!

Miracle #1
We've had temperatures in the mid 90's all week. This IS east Texas in the middle of June. The humidity is high and so are the temps. But THAT day, the day we had no fans or air conditioning.....our high was 73º. The Lord blessed us all day with cool breezes and overcast sky!

Mom, Rebekah, and I shopped in the morning (the stores in town still had electricity), and then things heated up with a serious game of Monopoly. We played for at least 5 hours.

Miracle #2 Our power was restored that evening!!


I have to admit, I have seriously neglected our poor garden. Our pitiful cold weather plants were left to die in this east Texas heat. Our peas are toast. I mercifully ended the suffering of the beets, we got 3 that developed a bulb....the rest were struggling to survive....
The baby carrots did REALLY well, especially considering the lack of care I have given them! We harvested 1#11oz of the tastiest baby carrots you've ever sunk your teeth into!

Our asparagus is still holding strong, we have 3 ears of corn developing.....and a LOT of potatoes. I think it's high time to get things tilled, get some goat poop in there....and plant some melons and cucumbers!