The Great Texas Freeze

 In February Texas and a few other states were predicted to get snow and ice and some of the lowest temps seen in a while. We were only supposed to get about 4-6 inches of snow but the temps were going to be in the single digits. I didn't think this was a big deal at all. Just another winter day in Kansas. But Texas was in a panic. Stocking up on water, firewood, etc. In fact on our neighborhood Facebook page everyone was panicking and telling people to fill their bathtubs with water and all these crazy things I would never do for a 4-6 inch snow fall. I thought people were crazy!

The first day of snow fall wasn't a lot, maybe an inch but it was really cold. What I didn't know was the energy system in Texas is not built to handle THAT cold of temps ALL over the state at the SAME time. The entire state was freezing and as a result there was not enough energy to go around. That night around 2 A.M. our power went out. And that was the start of our rolling blackouts. We woke up and the house was about 65 degrees. And we got about 4 more inches of snow. Again not a lot but down here it's enough to cause trouble. There are no street plows or salt trucks driving up and down the roads. Schools closed, business closed and it was like the covid shut down all over again!

From the first blackout for about 3 days our power would be on for about 30-45 mins and then shut off for about 45-60 mins. Off and on...off and on. It was BANANAS. It dropped to about 61 in our house but thankfully our heater continued to kick on every time the power came back on...our neighbors were not so lucky and had to go stay with friends. Whenever the power came on I would run around like crazy, trying to make breakfast, lunch, or dinner as fast as I could, making sure I plugged the kids' electronics in, at night running around and lighting all the candles so we had some light, then running around to blow them out because didn't have a lot candles to waste.

We have a wood burning fireplace but never used it so we didn't have any wood. Brett and our neighbor ventured out to try to find some and about 4 hours later came back with wet wood and a few cases of water. Unfortunately the wood didn't burn very well because it had been out in the snow. So we shut the flue and bundled up. 

Luckily we have an awesome street. Anything anyone needed someone had it. We did a lot of sledding together and then we decided (since no one was driving anywhere) we would hook up the sled to the Jeep  and pull them up and down the street. It was so much fun! The kids LOVED it and even the adults participated. We played endless board games and did a lot of sledding.

What we also didn't realize is that every time the power went out...our neighborhoods water supply would stop pumping water. So by the 3rd day of power outages there wasn't a lot of water...which would be why people said to fill your bathtubs with water. We filled our bathtub with snow and brought in coolers of snow so we could use it for dishes. And then we got the notice to boil all water we did get. Which continued for a few days after the power came back on and we had water again. That was a pain! 

By the start of the next week it was in the upper 80's. We were very lucky that we still had heat and that none of our pipes froze. Many across the state were not as lucky. I think we did a pretty good job of keeping the kids entertained and treating it like an adventure. They never once complained about anything and loved running around and blowing the candles out, getting to skip school and do all the sledding. All this after covid we kind of felt like we were playing Jumani! And as crazy as it was, it was so much more fun than stressful. And if this ever happens again I'll be prepared to fill my tub with water and stock up on candles!