The Week of the Snow and Ice Storm in Tennessee

Sunday, January 25

Well, we’ve been in Winter Storm mode since Friday night around midnight. We had a beautiful snowfall of probably 3 to 4 inches, then sleet on top of that by Saturday night. It sleeted a lot overnight Saturday night. At 3:30 a.m. I woke up to the sound of a falling tree. I think it was the tree that hit the neighbors driveway. Luckily missed their car.

I couldn’t sleep so I stayed up until 5:00 a.m. and then went to bed. I slept for an hour and then heard another thump around 6:15 a.m. so I got up again. That woke Dexter up who went and woke George up because he thought it was time to go outside. And so therefore, it was. lol

Maddie would not go and Dexter would not go. Dexter loved the snow but does not like the ice. Maddie doesn’t like either. So we have pet paper pads in the house and both have used it when they needed to go.

I made coffee in a hurry, not knowing how long we’d have until the power went out. And I boiled some hot water in the kettle and put it in a thermos so we could have hot tea later if the power went out to warm us up.

We then got freezing rain and several hours of it. I went to stand on the front porch to get some footage as I’m vlogging through the storm. And it was amazing how many limbs and trees were falling – just every few minutes. Crack, thud, thud……crack, thud, crash. The wind was blowing as the extreme cold weather front was moving in this was making the limbs give away. I wanted to stay out and listen but it was too cold. I did get one limb falling on video.

As of 6:19 Sunday night, we still have power. Although it has flickered twice in the last few minutes. Thanks to the Lord. So many are without power and I’m praying for them that they can get the power resolved quickly. Sometimes ice storms can leave people without power for days and even a week or two.

The last two days have seemed so lazy. But I did get the house redecorated with its normal decor. I have two tubs that I have emptied. I still have a few items left to put out, but I’m amazed that I got that done today. I still need to dust in some parts of the house. George fixed our dinner for lunch instead because with those icy trees swaying we didn’t know if the power would be out soon. We also got our showers in quickly too.

Tomorrow if we have power, I will have a lot to do. But I leaned into these snow days lately and tried to enjoy them. I played Farmville 2 of course and also started a new book, The Woman in Cabin 10, and that seems like it will be good. We watched Ryan Hall Ya’ll for hours on end and tried to keep the kitchen and house and pets in order. Oh, the bad news is that while putting out the decor, I had grabbed the tubs from the sunroom that the decor was in, and discovered that we had a leak and it was leading right onto an old antique chest of drawers. It had a marble top and most of the table was spared as it had a candle sitting where it was dripping and it dripped into the candle jar. But there was still water on the marble part on top. So we cleaned that up and put a bowl in there. We’ll have to see if it needs another bowl tomorrow. It’s always something.

We also think we have lost our rhododendron bush because of the ice and it breaking down. But we’ll see. I haven’t really been in the mood to do much. I’m kinda sick of Farmville 2 and honestly don’t want to do anything but I think it’s mainly because I need more sleep. My mind is weary and usually that is a sign I need sleep. I snoozed some on the sofa as George had the football game on and I’m bored with sports (sorry I am, as my house just didn’t get into it while growing up). But it wasn’t a restful sleep. Just cat naps. I’m going to try to find a night snack since we ate so early today. I’m hungry, lol. I’m craving spaghetti, but not going to fix that.

OK over and out for today.

Tuesday, January 27, 2024

Words cannot describe the beauty of the trees after an ice storm, except that you have to realize that it’s not all beauty when trees have fallen on people’s houses or power lines from the weight of the ice. So the storm is bitter sweet. Sweet also for those of us who had power, bitter for those who lost power.

Yes the sunshine was beautiful yesterday and brought some surprise melting. However by afternoon the cold temps came at sundown and the temperature dropped dramatically and actually caused the earth below us to pop loudly. We thought trees were falling around us but it was the earth below us where the bedrock was popping and shifting given the drastic temps, making loud explosive sounds. They call it snow quakes or frost quakes and there is also a scientific term for it. I’ve experienced once before, years ago while we were at Mom’s after a snow storm on a really cold night. We were lucky, no power outage.

Yesterday the internet went out thought but Xfinity got it back up after a few hours so I could finally work on my video. I get a little nervous when I can’t do my schedule as planned. But we all know I’m not REALLY in charge so I gave in and did other things. And reminded myself I’m lucky to have power at all. Apparently Nashville had it much worse than we did here. And it was bad here, but we were closer to the rain line.

My schedule has been fun but pushy. I have a lot of things I want to work on but it IS A LOT OF THINGS. I always plan too much. But it’s kind of like, I know what I want to do or hope to do so I put it on my list in case I have time. Eventually it gets done but I always have to keep forwarding it over. For Example today:

• World Bible School
• Devo
• Check weather
• Check Mom’s bank
• Take BP Meds
• 2 loads of laundry
• Video editing
• Kitchen clean up
• Take Vitamins
• Walk on treadmill

Most of that I have done, including playing Farmville, taking a shower, folding laundry, eat lunch, and watch a YT while eating lunch, and it’s 3:22. Why do those things take so long? I scratch my head and wonder where the time goes. Here’s what I’ve not done yet.

• Swish the toilet
• Monday Morning Mindset – I keep forwarding it over – it’s to go over my last video results and discuss with myself, lol.
• Dusting
• Check Email
• Finish going through stacks of paper in my office
• Working on hobbies: scrapbooking, making jewelry, bread, and doing Hobbies
• I’m leaving the blog entry now. I have that as a To Do every day to remind me if I have time.
• Order something from Amazon
• Give Maddie a bath
• Finish up putting out the “main decor”
• Update apps on my phone.

I also have to get my YouTube going as far as sponsorships as I have my PO Box now but I need to get my Media Kit together. I knew I wouldn’t have time today to do that. So I’m just limping along compared to what I want to be doing, but I’m trying to allow myself to do what I want to do in the house too and to goof off, so I don’t burn out. But it’s just always like that especially at the start of the year and I’ll get my groove and projects going. I want to hurry up and have fun and be vlogging my Hobbies in Retirement Video, but I can’t seem to get there. Now I’m going to have to cram it all in a few days – but that is ok, if I’m not editing a video I can do it. And also Magi packing is canceled for this week so I should have time to just vlog for 2 to 3 days doing “all the things”.

Possible upcoming videos:

• Hobbies in Retirement
• Morning Routines
• Company’s Coming – Getting ready for company
• What I eat in a week
• Household Cleanout/Projects

Is there anything that you would like for me to do? Anyway, I just thought I’d pop in. I am going to see if I can finish this Ice Storm video and get it out of the way. The temp is 32 and the ice is thawing some. However, not as quickly as I’d hoped as the sun went away.

I heard roads are better today and our neighborhood road even looks better. So that is good. Ok, over and out.

Friday, January 30, 2026

It has truly been difficult to find time to blog. Wednesday and Thursday I was busy trying to get everything done so that I would have time to vlog my “hobbies video”. Successfully I’ve been able to work on my scrapbook, and also the jewelry in order to do my vlog. Today’s hobbies are my writing projects and that will be easy.

I’m washing my sheets today and also we went to the store for a few things. I needed fruit, granola, fresh salad mixes, cereal, glue for scrapbooking, oats to cook in the rice cooker, and so forth. I bought chicken to cook in the George Foreman grill to eat on for a few days and to toss protein into my salads. George bought some juices (100% juices) to make sorbet with in the Ninja Creamy. You mix juice and applesauce. Oh my it is so good. So he bought all kinds of juices so we can do the sorbets and try different flavors.

Not all of the ice has melted yet. And it’s snowing now and said it’s supposed to continue for several hours but no mention of accumulation. It is pretty looking out the window. Glad we are back home in case it sticks. lol.

I don’t have much of anything going on this week other than my own little projects. I’m getting things done, little by little. But right now I want to go reboot the laundry, and get my sheets back on the bed, and then play Farmville 2 and read. Then I will vlog me writing into my writing projects and talk about some other hobbies I have and end the vlog so I can start editing it.

So over and out until tomorrow when I post the VLOG on YouTube that goes live at 7:00 a.m. CST regarding the ICE STORM.