Thursday, March 5, 2009

Are You Sure This is Georgia?

As a chicken farmer I am always checking the weather. For the last couple of weeks I saw snow showing up in the weather forecast. After living in GA for a whole three years, yup that long, I have learned from experience that snow in the forecast means one of two things: either they are talking about up in the mountains, and in that case I won't see any, or it will snow, which in my experience means a very light dusting that will be gone as soon as the sun peaks over the horizon in the wee early morning hours. In either case, having been raised in Wisconsin, snow in the forecast really means nothing more to me than a chance to laugh at southerners and their concept of snow; until this week. 

The week started with heavy rain, an anomaly in itself, since we are in this terrible drought. Then the cold moved in. I think it was Sunday afternoon that I looked out the window and said something like,"The rain looks funny." We all ran to the window to find that it was snowing big heavy flakes. T has never really seen snow in his almost four years, so we wanted to get him out there to at least catch some flakes on his tongue and see what snow was like. We rushed the process, because as I said before snow doesn't seem to last long down here. I figured that at any moment it would be rain again. 

[caption id="attachment_627" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Yay! It"]Yay! It's snowing![/caption]

  As you can see the yard was already flooding from the rain. T had fun trying to catch snow flakes and splashing in the puddles, although the picture doesn't show it too much. I think he was explaining to me the way I should jump in the puddle to make it splash or something. 

We played out there for a short time and then went in because it was getting cold, we both had colds already, so we didn't want to be out too long. 

Fast forward an hour or so, and the snow was sticking like glue to everything. The puddles were even covered with snow. The trees were covered, and the power lines were covered... And the power flickered off, and then on. Then again the power flickered, and eventually it just 

[caption id="attachment_628" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Ohhh it is really snowing..."]Ohhh it is really snowing...[/caption]

went out on us. The generator on the chicken houses fired up to keep the fans and heaters going in those houses, but for our house, where people live, we have nothing to keep heat going or lights on, or magically make my laptop work. L gathered candles and blankets as the night neared and the power still did not return. We kept hoping it would pop back on, but eventually we had to put the kids to bed bundled up like they were going to Antarctica. It was going to be a long night. 

The next morning we still had no electricity and the kids were looking a bit worse for the wear. T was getting sicker and no longer wanted to play, or eat. That is definitely a bad sign. As soon as it warmed up enough during the day L took the kids to my parents house in the next state. They had power, and the kids needed to be somewhere warm. Lucky me, I had to stay back with the farm and make sure the generator kept working and had fuel. The second night came. The house was freezing, and did you know that even double wides creak eerily at night when you are all alone in the dark with just a candle? Things went OK though, the generator had enough fuel, and didn't die on me during the night. Without fans running, it wouldn't take long at all to lose a whole house of chickens. There are so many in there and they are so big at this point that they would suffocate without the fans pulling in new air. Believe me, it was a long night wondering if I was going to lose my whole flock. 

The following day around noon the power came on and the generator shut off. I called L and let her know it was safe to return. It was so good to have the family back home in our house and have heat and power. It was two very long and stressful days and I am glad they are over. 

I now have learned that when the weather man says it may snow in Georgia, that I need to take it much more seriously. I also learned that we should really consider buying a small generator for our house so we can have heat when the power goes out. Will it actually happen? Maybe some day...

6 comments:

The Mother said...

My son is in college at Ga Tech. He's from Tx, so he was shocked when they had a little snow this winter in Georgia. I think it's the first time he's needed a winter coat.

Sally Parrott Ashbrook said...

Glad you ended up okay! The Athens area got way more snow than we did in Midtown ATL.

john said...

chicken farmer huh? how cool is that. what happens to the chickens when it gets cold? Do the kids love playing with them? anyway, im gonna post your entrecard on my blog, check it out.

Anne said...

I can't believe you lost power for 2 days. That is such a challenge (not to mention what it does to everything in the refrigerator). We often lose power but luckily it is usually for only a few hours. I am glad everyone made it through ok.

Preston said...

Glad to hear it all turned out ok. Stop by my blog and enter my contest, dude.

Ken said...

The Mother, I remember some pretty cold nights south of San Antonio where it briefly snowed. I know it can get cold down there in TX as well. I am never ready for it. That's why I left Wisconsin in the first place. I am NOT made for cold weather.

Sally, I was surprised to see how different the snow fall amounts were in different areas. We seemed to have the worst of it. Oh Lucky us... LOL

John, We have gas heaters in the chicken houses which cost a fortune to run when it gets cold. I once had a gas bill of 12,000 dollars for two months. Can't make a profit with a heating bill like that. I put up insulation on the side walls the next flock. Seems to have helped some. And about the kids, I seldom let them come up to the farm. T likes to peek in the doors every once in a while.He thinks he is a chicken farmer. Also I added your button to my page to. Thanks for the link.

Anne, We usually get lucky on the power thing also. Typically I lose power for a few minutes. Once we lost it for a few hours, but that has been it so far, until this. Let's hope this is the end of it for a long time.

Preston, I entered the contest, but I see you have so many people entering that my chances are dropping by the minute. Darn them! Don;t they know I should be the winner! LOL Seriously though, looks like you are on your way to a great turn out for your give away. Great prizes too. I may even have to post about it to get another chance or two.