Sometimes you get caught up in the daily grind and can forget just how good you have it. This can be anything from a good job and family or more basic things like electricity and water. I can tell you first hand that I have experienced both this year. Obviously COVID has made a mess of travel and get togethers of friends and family but what I had not planned for was the loss of power and water for a week in frigid temperatures. Believe me, that will make you appreciate the basics like flushing a toilet!

It has been said that when things get tough, you will instinctively rise to the occasion and persevere. I can attest to this at 21 Acre Wood. Everyone stepped up and did their part. Fortunately, I had cut down many trees this past year building up a stockpile of firewood that needed to be split. I will tell you, nothings makes you feel more alive and old as splitting wood with an Axe. We had plenty of oil lamps for lighting and we had propane and kerosene heaters to keep us and the well house from freezing.

We were more fortunate than some. We didn’t lose any of our chickens, though they did get a touch of frostbite, and I only had one pipe break inside the main house. My Airstream is going into the shop in a week. The furnace could’nt keep up and failed in the cold. It may have some freeze damage as well.

One positive thing was the lack of electronic devices. We played cards, talked, read and even made up games to pass the time. I will cherish that memory.

It was very cold and my body ached like it had been used as the training dummy for a MMA fighter. However, it’s nice to know that when push came to shove, we could handle whatever life threw at us.