We worked around their parents' busy schedule and picked the weekend, made hotel reservations, found someone to come check on the sheep and chickens and cats and rabbits. And watched the weather forecast.
Winter storm Cleon was headed our way.
The forecast was for a bit of freezing rain and then 4-6 inches of snow*. Our teen-aged animal sitter was terrified. He arranged for a back-up in case he and his dad (who had the 4 wheel drive vehicle) were stuck.
The back-up was a real Country Gal. She and her husband live in a house they built themselves, aren't connected to the grid, are real self-reliant. They also live on the ridge above us.
The ridge ABOVE us.
The morning we were to leave, she called early explaining that they might be snowed in themselves.
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| Total of about 4" of snow, not exactly record breaking. |
Bear in mind that we were only going to be away for 2 full days. We could easily leave enough food for everyone but the cold temperatures meant...
...frozen rabbit water bottles.
With two nursing does and 17 babies, access to water is important. The hutches are outside and unheated.
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| Snug behind their tarp barrier. |
The rabbits don't mind the cold and the babies are tucked into nestboxes with straw and fur and we could leave lots of food. But we still needed someone to change the water bottles at least once a day.
We arranged to leave later than we had planned, changed the water once again and put up the tarp wind barrier. We figured the bunnies would be ok that night. We were hoping someone could get here by the next day after the snow stopped.
To add to the stress level, shortly before we were to leave, I tripped and twisted my knee. It hurt bad enough that I couldn't walk without hobbling on Tom's arm and ended up on crutches. This weekend was not panning out as we had envisioned it.
But we finally drove off and, after being slowed down by unplowed roads (did I mention this is southern Indiana?) and bad drivers, we hit clear sailing for the second half of the trip. We were sure that by the next day, the roads would be clear and driveways dug out so we set about enjoying our visit.
Our carefree mood didn't last long thanks to the miracle of electronic communication.
A spate of emails and missed phone calls informed us that Teen-age boy and dad were stuck at their house. Country Gal's long driveway was snowed in and her door frozen. We seriously considered cutting our visit short and returning a day early.
Here is where we discover the value of good neighbors. When Country Gal found she was stranded, she called our nearest neighbors who live about 1/4 mile away from us on a FLAT road. They obliged and the day was saved. By the next day, Teen-age boy could make the trip. And later that day we were home.
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| No one even missed us. |
We learned a few things from our Cleon weekend: Tom hasn't lost his winter weather driving skills, our grandkids are worth the hassles we went through, and most of all, good neighbors are priceless.
* This is where our NY friends will laugh themselves silly. Yes, 4-6 inches is nothing in the Northeast, a mere bagatelle, not worth thinking about. On Skillet Road, however, it is cause for fear and trembling. There are two reasons for this: 1. Our house can only be reached via hilly, twisty roads, many not paved. 2. Southern Indiana is southern Indiana. Folks here talk with a drawl, they eat cornbread and beans, they are not real familiar with snowplows and windchills.
