JaeByrd’s Nest

72 Hours without power and I still flip the switch on as I walk into a darkened room.

Today started much like the last few.  Only warmer and better rested. Get up. Put more wood on the fire and restock the basket with wood from outside. Today we refill the tank on the generator with more gas. Let the dog out and back in. Clean up and tidy what needs it. Make something to eat. Eat. The basics.

While the rest of the world (and the other half of Oklahoma) is taking finals, Christmas shopping, and going on about their lives like normal it amazes me how our basic needs boil down to: Shelter and warmth from the elements, food and drink, and each other.

As others are getting power back and more shipments are coming in it is easier to get the supplies that have been in high demand the last few days. We get a new/second gas can so we don’t have to make as many trips to keep the generator powered.

With the generator we are now able to have some frills. Lamps instead of candles. Cooking/warming food easier. We are also able to get our business back up and running.  SwordSearcher orders fulfilled and sent out. We’re just going through emails and catching up on forums and newsgroups and such.

There is a possibility of our getting hit with another storm this weekend so we’re keeping an eye on that and as prepared as we can be for whatever happens next.

My husband Brandon gets up early and heads out to see if we can get a generator. Six hours and 3 stops/waiting lines later, in a city with still over 180,000 units without power, he comes home with a nice generator and an alternate heating source!

We get things settled and working and drive into to town for a hot meal and some more supplies.  Food never tasted so good.With the generator in place we’re able to call family and friends and catch up on everything. Recharge all the various items that have died or are close to it.

Tonight we fall asleep to the hum of our new generator with warm food in our bellies. Toasty warm we get our first good night’s sleep since the storm started on Sunday.

24 Hours later and still no power. With convoys of power trucks and workers coming in from Georgia, Louisiana and other states they say it will be as long as 7-10 days to get full power restored. Numbers are slowly coming down as they work on getting power back to high priority areas: Hospitals, shelters, fire stations, etc.

Knowing we might be in this for the long haul we go about settling in. Switching furniture around we get the couch into the family room around the fireplace. We then set about getting a good supply of firewood stocked up.

We have some big chunks of trunk and fire wood that is seasoned, but too large to burn well as it was. (Not to mention coated with ice) So we spend the next several hours bringing wheel barrels of wet chunks of wood up to the house and then splitting it with an axe.

Yes, it is still hovering around the freezing point. However, transporting all that wood and splitting it keeps us nice and warm. We get enough wood to add a few more days to the supply.

We make do and manage the best we can. Thankful for what we do have: Shelter, warmth, a stocked pantry, hot running water, a way to cook some food, a supply of batteries, a radio, flashlights, and each other.

Morning finally dawns. I look out the window and practically every tree on our street looks like it has been carelessly pruned. The branches ripped off of the trees and littering the yards and streets. Some houses have branches sitting on or leaning against their roof.   At least one house has a huge limb sticking out of the roof. The rest of the branches buried in one of the rooms of the house itself.

Power is out all over the state from tree limbs taking out the power lines and poles. The radio says we made national news and over 100,000 units are without power. With the numbers continuing to rise.  I am thankful that we still have power, our home is undamaged,  and we’re warm.

I call our local friends and family and check on them and let them know how we’re doing. Some have power and others don’t. All are safe and doing fine. I write up an email to the rest of our family (Most of our family is several hours behind us.) letting them know we made it through the storm safe and sound and at least we still had power.  Just as I’m about to hit send the power goes out.

With no central heating the house quickly starts to cool. We use the dry firewood from the patio to get a fire going and keep at least part of the house warm.  We get the rest of the rick of wood from the backyard (There is about a 1/2″ thick layer of ice over the top of the wood and the wood is soaked from the icy rain.) to under the patio so it can dry off and be readily available.

The numbers by now are in the mid to high 200,000  range for those without power. Generators are coming in and going out just as fast. We spend the night  in the family room around the fireplace.  Alternating sleeping and keeping the fire going in the fireplace.

It all started while shopping for a game. We realized our car got keyed. This time on the driver side passenger door and rear panel across the gas tank door. ( It got keyed last year on the passenger side, both doors and the rear panel.) It must of happened at the first store we stopped at. We didn’t realize it until we got to the mall and got out of the car. Lovely. Oh well, at least both sides match now…

We check the mall. No game. While eating lunch at the mall’s food court my son’s tooth finally decided to pop out mid-bite. A little excitement and worry, but there is the tooth in a piece of honey chicken. Later that night he worked his other tooth out. (Yes, all he wants for Christmas is his two front teeth.) I think he was worried it would come out while eating again or worse yet while sleeping!

I also decide that even though it is a bit earlier than usual that I would go ahead and make my hair donation now. Even though it will be a few inches shorter than it has been after my other donations. It grows long enough to donate every 2-3 years or so. So I cut off 10″ to send to Locks of Love. My hair is still middle of my back in length.

Sunday night.

As night falls an ice storm rolls in. Icy rain while it is just below freezing outside. We’ve had several ice storms since we moved here and it hasn’t been that big of a deal for us. We’ve lost power once or twice, but only for a few hours at most. We drift in and out of sleep to the sounds of thunder and pouring rain.  

Only to be jarred awake by the crack and crashing of tree limbs splitting off of the trees in the front yard. The trees became so coated with ice that the limbs couldn’t support the weight anymore.  All night a sound like the tinkle of breaking glass, followed by a crack, and then a crash as the limbs snap off and take other branches with it as it falls to the ground. We have a few brown outs and a short black out, but the power holds.

Seems everyone has an idea of how life in general works and is suppose to go. It amazes me the unsolicited advice given by well meaning people. Wither they know what is really going on or not. About subjects that quite frankly are private and none of  their business anyway. 

When we married young everyone assumed we must be pregnant why else get married? After we’d been married for a few years everyone told us we should be having babies by now. Once we were finally blessed with a child, and he was over a year old, everyone informed us he needed a sibling so he wouldn’t be an Only Child.

I’m still asked today when meeting new people if he is an Only Child. In that tone of voice like it is some sort of curse to be one. Must be because I’ve heard often enough how they had another child or where planning on another so (s)he wouldn’t be an Only Child! Sadder still is the assumption that we must be selfish for making him be an Only Child.

Apparently all Only Children  grow up spoiled and socially inept and everyone knows an Only Child who is just like that to prove it. I’m sure we’ve all heard someone dismiss bad behaviour saying, “Oh, (s)he’s an only child.” What about all the children with siblings who are spoiled, shy, sheltered, selfish, etc etc? Where is the, “Oh, he has all those siblings! No wonder he acts like that.” comments then?

Sharing a bedroom/genetics does not guarantee a close relationship. Having siblings does not guarantee a giving and selfless spirit. Having siblings does not guarantee a built in playmate. Having siblings does not guarantee better behavior. It doesn’t even guarantee, although increases the likelihood, of nieces or nephews.

Having siblings only guarantees just that. A brother or sister so long as you both live.

Before you dismiss behavior and character as a result of the number of children in a family consider the parenting and personality of the person and not the number of siblings they have. And before you inform someone that they need to start or grow their family think about all the things you might not know about the situation… 

 A few links to related articles and resources.

http://hoping.adoptionblogs.com/weblogs/unsolicited-comments-about-your-family-p A funny, if sadly accurate, flow chart of how people assume your life should go.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/tcw/2001/marapr/10.66.html An article on Secondary infertility and how the “Is (s)he your Only Child?” question can sting.
http://www.parentingbookmark.com/pages/SN01.htm Only Child myths and facts

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HSBCompanyBlog/227509/ Homeschooling Only One - Common Fallacies
http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content2/only.child.html Some interesting statistics regarding the Only Child. .
http://www.onlychild.com/home.html A good resource for parenting an Only
http://www.helium.com/tm/66556/children-centered-selfish-oudated I love the last line in this article.

So I know I am pretty old fashioned on a lot of things. I was an “old” sort of person even before I got “old.” Case in point: Settling down at the ripe old age of 18 more than a decade ago. But honestly…what is with the holiday music?

I’ve been listening to the radio. Something I don’t do a lot of, but I thought I’d listen to some holiday music. I must have heard at least a half a dozen versions each of:

White Christmas
Silver Bells
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
The Little Drummer Boy

Most of which were horrible. Everyone has to put their own spin on it to make it different. Talk and sing it. Rock it up. Warble/Waver every note. Give me the classics. Sing it the way we’re all used to hearing it. Bring on Bing Crosby, Anne Murray, and the late and the greats. Play me the traditional holiday songs, done in that old classic style, and call me old fashioned.

With Fall here and Winter around the corner we got to thinking about our little friends. We like to watch the birds interact with each other while eating.  

Our favorite and super easy bird feeder is to take Pine Cones, coat them with Peanut Butter, roll them in Bird Seed, and hang them up with String. We did several of these last winter and they were quite the hit with our little feathered friends. 

Milk Jug Bird Feeder:
http://www.rosebudm.com/bluebird/mjug.htm
This is a fun, quick, inexpensive, and easy project that will invite lots of birds to your yard.

Here are some more bird feeder plans:
http://www.freeww.com/birdfeeders.html

And of course you can always buy any number of bird feeder kits that can be found in various stores. Here is one particular site I found with some and easy nice kits:
 http://www.birds-n-garden.com/gifts_for_children_kits.html

Keep an eye out at Lowes and Home Depot they usually offer FREE Kids Workshops on the weekends. I’ve seen a bird feeder listed as one of the items they make.

Happy Bird watching!

The Fraser Institute: Home schooling improves academic performance and reduces impact of socio-economic factors

http://www.fraserinstitute.org/commerce.web/newsrelease.aspx?nID=4933

You don’t have to be a teacher to teach your children BETTER than what they are getting in school. Homeschooling works. Homeschoolers are socialized just fine. And all that for less than half of what the public schools pay per child.

As we close out the week I thought I’d share an article about Secondary Infertility. The struggle to conceive again. When you are stuck between the infertile, and the fertile of the world, yet not really part of either. A road that is both easier because you’ve been down it before and at the same time harder because you now know what you are missing.