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MaryJane's Outpost News:  Update on Jen- cause we have all been worried!  |
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Alee
outstepping
104 Posts
104 Posts |
 Posted - Feb 05 2009 : 07:23:04 AM
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Jen lives in Arkansas where they have been having the horrible Ice Storms. I got a quick email from her yesterday saying all was well but it might be weeks before she has electricity again! Right now they are hauling water from their creek and she is working pretty hard to do the day to day things like washing clothes and getting her family off to school and work! |
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mikesgirl
outbound
37 Posts
Sherri
Elma
Washington
USA
37 Posts |
Posted - Feb 05 2009 : 08:53:06 AM
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| OMG, what a tough time they must be having. Somehow I think Jen can handle it though! Good thoughts and prayers her way for a speedy return to "normal"! |
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Elizaray
outspoken
680 Posts
Elizaray
680 Posts |
Posted - Feb 06 2009 : 6:47:09 PM
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Thanks for posting about her, Alee! I was wondering where she had gone to!
Elizaray |
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Jen
Expedition Leader
1384 Posts
Jennifer
Calico Rock
AR
USA
1384 Posts |
Posted - Feb 10 2009 : 12:34:43 PM
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Hey Ladies - I'm back on the grid!! As Alee said, we had a MAJOR ice storm here that snapped power lines and trees all across northern Arkansas and beyond. You should see the forests - they are so splintered and sad-looking right now. I hope a bit of spring greenery will perk 'em up a bit, but we'll have to be careful walking around under broken limbs (known to loggers as "widow makers"). I wanted to share my latest local newspaper column with you because it's all about this wild outpost experience (see below). I've got to go pick my girls up from school, but I'm looking forward to catching up on all the forum buzz that's been brewing since I've been gone. So glad to be back!!
Here's my column...
"Life Unplugged"
This week, I'm writing to you the old fashioned way. When the power company told us 4 weeks till we'd be back on the grid, I figured I might as well buck up and get back to work in spite of it all. It's fitting for me, really, since I'm all about simple living. Putting pen to paper is yet another reminder that life doesn't run on electrical wires. In fact, life can even taste a little sweeter when we don't have everything served to us on a warm platter. Heck, I just finished washing my hair in a bucket of spring water on the front porch, and I'm cooking chicken quesadillas on the woodstove as we speak. Today, I remember just how lucky I am.
Mind you, a few days ago I was crying a different tune. I was cold, and my babies were cold (the stove can't quite cut it when the nights drop into the teens). Plus, trying to get a family off to work and school like normal people when it's dark and frigid and you can't find any clean jeans isn't anybody's idea of a good time. Let's just say I'd had it with living powerless on a 21st century schedule.
But, adaptation comes in stages, and I am moving onward. From the exciting “pioneer adventure” phase to the “this pretty much sucks” phase, I'm now heading toward acceptance. The dishes and laundry are piling up again, the carpet is only as clean as the broom can sweep it, and my toes are a whole lot colder than my freezer. If those are lemons that life has dealt me, though, then I've made my share of lemonade too. I've spent more time outside than usual this time of year, splitting wood and hauling water, and I've loved every minute. I've marveled at the way my kids hardly flinched when the power went out; they simply started creating all sorts of vivid imaginary games in the absence of TV. And how nice it's been to spend these long evenings snuggled together—the whole family reading by flashlight. That's good stuff, let me tell you.
Perhaps the best story I have to share from this experience is how, after 3 days of weathering the storm alone with 3 children, I was “rescued.” My superhero husband risked job and limb to get home from Conway after the storm hit, hiking the last mile through black night when frozen trees were crashing all around. He was frantic with worry that we might be freezing to death in a house crushed by fallen trees, so you can imagine his surprise when I greeted him in the middle of the night with a freshly fire-baked blackberry cobbler. And then early the next morning, our equally heroic neighbors cleared our entire road before we had a chance to pick up a chainsaw. These are the sorts of things that just don't happen on any average week.
I suppose that's why I actually appreciate being put in my place by forces of nature. So often, we humans get all worked up about how much control we have over everything. We even have the gall to get stressed out, and then a big icy slap in the face reawakens our sense of smallness in the world. What a relief to realize that our real job is just to survive as best we can, and if we can do it smiling, all the better. Come ice, flood, or tornado, we need only to look within ourselves—and within our community—to find the strength to get by.
One thing's for sure: life is going to keep on happening, unplugged and unruly as it may be. We'd better just hang on with both hands and ride.
(Catch my column online at www.bovesboots.blogspot.com)
Jen
Farmgirl Sisterhood Member #9
The View From My Boots: www.bovesboots.blogspot.com
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Alee
outstepping
104 Posts
104 Posts |
Posted - Feb 10 2009 : 1:02:10 PM
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| I love your article, Jen! I think so often we get so attached to our electricity and our gadgets, that we forget that we actually can live without it! |
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Mountain Girl
outrigged
237 Posts
JoAnn
Colville
WA
USA
237 Posts |
Posted - Feb 10 2009 : 1:40:03 PM
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What a wonderful article! There's wonderful lessons there. Thanks for sharing. Can't wait to hear more. JoAnn
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away. Unknown |
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RuralFarmGirl
outbound
25 Posts
Rene'
Prosser
WA
USA
25 Posts |
Posted - Feb 10 2009 : 2:38:41 PM
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Love it Jen~ glad that you are back on the grid!~ Welcome back!
Sister-hood Coordinator for MaryJanesfarm
"Circumstances made us friends, MaryJanes made us Sisters"
www.farmchicksfarm.blogspot.com
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Elizaray
outspoken
680 Posts
Elizaray
680 Posts |
Posted - Feb 13 2009 : 5:34:01 PM
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Jen- I too love your article!
Elizaray |
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Alee
outstepping
104 Posts
104 Posts |
Posted - Feb 16 2009 : 10:13:08 PM
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| Jen- I think you should post your articles over here on the forum! I am sure we would all love to read them! |
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Elizaray
outspoken
680 Posts
Elizaray
680 Posts |
Posted - Feb 17 2009 : 08:56:06 AM
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Yes! I think there should be a "Jen's Articles" topic!
Elizaray |
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Jen
Expedition Leader
1384 Posts
Jennifer
Calico Rock
AR
USA
1384 Posts |
Posted - Feb 18 2009 : 10:14:21 AM
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Thanks, ladies - that means so much to hear your encouragement! I post my columns on my blog (as often as I can remember to), but I'll try to include 'em over here as well.
Jen
Farmgirl Sisterhood Member #9
The View From My Boots: www.bovesboots.blogspot.com
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MaryJane's Outpost News: Update on Jen- cause we have all been worried! |
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Update on Jen- cause we have all been worried!
