Monday night saw us weathering a blazing gale-force storm. Sadly no rain came with the wind! Happily we had a few drops (8mm) last night and this morning; our storage had reached about 26% draw-down: one tank was almost empty after six weeks of almost no rain (2mm in that time!)
The house rocks like a Spanish Galleon in these howling winds, and it kept us anxiously awake deep into the wee hours. The Chicken House blew right over! Luckily there was just enough light for the boys and I to right it in time for the Chooks to get to bed and prop it up with a motley assortment of poles and ropes. I guess we're in for a spot of repairs and rebuilding, now; opportunity to implement the design changes I've been thinking about for a looong time, now.
We lost power around 5:30 on Monday evening, and it was finally restored around 2 this afternoon -- about 45 hours. I was getting just a bit anxious about the freezer full of Summer Tomatoes.
At least four trees came down around the place -- we're still counting. At least we won't want for firewood anytime soon. Thankfully Dale is home for university vac., and very good with helping out on these chores. I'll post some pics as soon as I get some, but things have been happening so fast, and the camera is definitely not one of the things foremost in my mind.
I confess that being without power for a couple of days has given us cause to rethink some of our priorities around getting more self-sufficient. A new fireplace (ours is rusting to shreds!) is less important than a wood-stove. A manual/wind/solar pump to move water from the storage tanks to the header tank. Rebuilding the Pizza Oven. Canning/drying/pickling as a way of preserving food instead of freezing. Building a high-efficiency freezer and/or fridge. We are getting quite a few of things right, and I feel quite please and proud of that. But still have a lot of gaps to fill!
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