Dire weather predictions for next week! Starting on Friday the 10th of January, ice storm is supposed to hit, plus snow. 2-3 inches of snow in the south is devastating for us because there is no snow/ice equipment and nobody knows how to drive on this stuff. Many houses are built up on blocks, not on a slab, for heat, not cold, so pipes freeze. Plus mobile and manufactured homes like mine.
So I galvanized myself into action, preparing for the worst.
Yesterday I went to town and bought 6 gallons of milk, poured a little off the top and put in the freezer. I don’t want to run out of milk for Spot the bottle lamb. Technically he is 6 weeks old and I could wean him, but I don’t like weaning so young. I don’t know about yall, but in the South where ice and snow are generally only found in the freezer, people panic. Yep, we are all going to DIE! Quick, we need bread and milk to survive! Go to the grocery store and take it all. And they do. So hopefully I’ve got Spot stacked up on enough milk, I’ll maybe get some more next week.
I bought buckets. I’ll turn water off for this fun event. I fill buckets with water, put in bathtub along with a handy dandy coffee can. Voila! I coffee can of water will flush the toilet!
I got 2 more tac lights, more batteries and zip ties because I fix destruction with zip ties.
A feed store in a neighboring town was on Facebook pleading for people to come get pallets. I packed 20 in my pickup and strapped them in tight.
I don’t have a lot of faith in the hoop shelter in the front field. Hurricane Beryl picked it up and flung it across the driveway into the middle field. I took it apart, stomped the cow panels flat, threw them over the fence and rebuilt it. The sheep tap danced on it on a full moon night. I came out to one side flat and the other side a big hump. Sigh…..
I ran a rope through it, tied to tractor bucket and pulled it back up. It’s still listing to one side. I’m pretty sure if it takes on ice and snow, it will collapse. It is built for our ferocious HEAT! Not ice and snow, not tap dancing wanna be sheep ballerinas, and definitely not for hurricanes.
Does this look like it would survive snow and ice on it? I don’t think so. Sure don’t want my sheep in it when/if it does. When the Texas Five (yes it was them) had their party on the hoop shelter, their pointy hooves punched holes all in the brand new tarp I had just put on it. BAD SHEEP! It is patched with duct tape. I put up that gate to keep the troublemakers off their house!
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I’ll close the gate to that, so none get hurt. Between now and next Friday, I’ve got to build them a sturdy Pallet Palace that won’t collapse. Y’all wish me luck. As in maybe it won’t ice and snow….
That was yesterday. Now the weather Liars are saying it’s not going to be so bad for Texas. The wind, ocean current and temperature, clouds, Jimmy Hoffa, Ghosts from Christmas past, present and future, have had pity on us poor helpless against cold weather Texans and moved the storm over a little to go dump on ….. it looks like maybe Louisiana. That makes me feel bad, Louisiana has just had a horrible event on New Year’s Eve in the French quarter, they can send the bad weather back to us.
So now this morning I have 20 pallets to unload. Might as well go get 20 more this morning. WTH.
