Hey Dad,
I talked to Grandma today. Aunt Marian has been sending texts about a storm that has knocked out the power and blocked the roads with downed trees. Grandma has been out of power for 3 days. Uncle Sam has been up there a few times to help her secure some things and shovel some snow. Marian said she'd probably be stuck at home for several days due to the trees blocking the roads, etc.
Grandma's gas heater still works so she's just reading in the tv room and keeping warm with blankets. She only ventures outside to get the dogs fed. She said if the electricity is out for much longer, she'll start burying her frozen food in the snow so it doesn't spoil.
Well, I've been working on food storage and here's a pic of our food storage room.
I finally am making good use of that 9th Ward packet you gave me years ago. I've got a 55gal drum of water for drinking, along with some 2L soda bottles filled for sanitation water. You'd be so proud of my pressure canning and wheat grinding and bread making and gardening. There's a little food storage calculator online that calculates the daily caloric needs of whoever you're storing for (by age and gender) and then you input the food you have stored and it tells you how many days/weeks/months of food you have. It even tells you that you need more calcium or Vitamin C or whatever you're lacking. I think it's a great site!! We have over 90 days right now and I'm planning on buying a 25lb sack of something food storage related from the Church each month to build our supply.
And since I can't just store beans and expect I'll know how to cook with them and eat them later, I'm learning how to use beans in everyday foods. There's even some websites with crazy chicks that grind white beans into bean flour and use that in recipes. So weird, but I've tried a few things and it's fun!
I'm even considering a chicken coop. I remember the chicken coop you had at our Knoles Court house. Simple design, but functional. That's what I'm going with. And they have something called a chicken tractor that I thought would work out great for my function. It has wheels on one side so you can move it around your yard if you want. Thought that was pretty cool.
Anyway. The girls are getting so big and jibber jabber all day long. They are both so tall, they look like 5 year olds and to remind your old Grump-Pa brain, they are only 3 1/2. They love to be outside and look for "wormies" and play in the garden and dig dirt. They still scream if they see a bug, since Aunt Aubrey freaked out at a roach, but we're working on it. "If you're gonna be outside, there are gonna be bugs, so you don't get to scream if you see one."
Ryan and I have been taking the girls to church. The step from Nursery to Sunbeams was a bit of a worry for them, but they are finally getting into it. Chloe has been asked to say the Third Article of Faith in Primary and we've been working on it each night. She's pretty good and if I start a phrase, she can repeat it and usually finish the phrase without help. Ryan has been going to PH meeting and I'm a teacher in RS. We meet with the Bishop in a few weeks and I'm hoping to get us to the temple before the end of the year. It was a promise I wanted to make to you, but never said out loud. But now, I'm saying it here. I'll make it there, Dad.
We're all happy and healthy. I guess we can't ask for more. Love you!
MUH!
