Life goes on!

Well We were dug out by our Claire city angle Tim Gleason.  The best thing about Roberts county SD this far is the people.  They have been so kind.  Everyone knows everyone and for the most part are willing to help.

Its Friday now.  We have almost been here two weeks.  We still have no  water our internet. I am currently in Whapeton ND at McDonald's with all the kids in the van. Got to love wifi!   We went till the Wal-Mart.  The park and zoo here is amazingly cute.  I can't wait to bring Eric back when it's warm. 

This weeks accomplishments have been in the direction of getting the kids in school. Everything shut down on monday and Tuesday.  And with the explosion in Grand Junction has slowed down the records. Hopefully they can go to school next week.

I have a new hot water heater but now I have to worry about the coa t in th e broken hot water pipes. I really could use another 500 bucks. But that's not going to happen until the 4th of April. Ugh.  In the meantime. I am still bioling water and cleaning ip flies and a regular basis. I shaved my leggs for the first time in over a week and my hair is clean. That's something right?

Some of the pictures below are of  the deer that flock by the dozens along county road 10 and 126. 20 of them crossed in front of me yesterday. It was so beautiful. 

Speaking of storms!

There is nothing better than a roast in a Sunday evening, hanging out with the kids and staying warm. 

There is nothing worse on a Sunday night hearing the wind bang at 40 plus miles an hour. A winter storm watch as follows. 

* TIMING ...BLIZZARD CONDITIONS ARE ONGOING ...THOUGH THERE WILL BE INTERMITTENT BREAKS. CONDITIONS WILL BEGIN TO IMPROVE THIS EVENING.* WINDS/VISIBILITY ...WINDS OF 25 TO 40 MPH WITH GUSTS PEAKING AROUND 60 MPH WILL OCCUR THIS MORNING. GUSTY WINDS WILL CONTINUE INTO THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS.* SNOW/ICE ACCUMULATIONS ...ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATION OF 1 TO 2 INCHES IS POSSIBLE.* OTHER IMPACTS ...WIDESPREAD BLIZZARD CONDITIONS WILL MAKE TRAVEL NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE ACROSS NORTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA TODAY.PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS ...A BLIZZARD WARNING MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. FALLING AND BLOWING SNOW WITH STRONG WINDS AND POOR VISIBILITIES ARE LIKELY. THIS WILL LEAD TO WHITEOUT CONDITIONS ...MAKING TRAVEL EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. DO NOT TRAVEL. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL ...HAVE A WINTER SURVIVAL KIT WITH YOU. IF YOU GET STRANDED ...STAY WITH YOUR VEHICLE.&& CONNELLY

So much for starting my new job tomorow. I am pretty sure I will be snowed in.  And I am not sure how I will manage to get the kids to their school testing appointment on Tuesday and get a water heater. Ugh! He we go Again just when there is a ray of hope something eles happens. 

The pictures below are a part of what the wind storm has done. The first picture of the area behind my car is my 1/8 Mile driveway.  That's going  to be quite a dig.

Sunday, A day of hope!

Well its official,  branch life in the LDS world is much different.  We doubled the size the moment we walked in.  The members were so nice and all of them thought we were visiting. AFTER ALL WHO MOVES TO HELL ON EARTH. 

When they found out we were here to stay they looked pleasantly surprised and shocked. I gave been asked several times why we moved here.  I honestly don't know why God confirmed our prayers to move here so I just say too be closer to where Todd works most of the time. 

The branch time is only 2 hours and people travel as much as 2 1/2 hours to attend. One Sunday they have priesthood and relief society the next Sunday they have Sunday school. Primary is all together and they rarely have it.  The oldest kid was 5. There are a few young women that rarely attend.  Maybe that will change now that we have added to the numbers. And they do baptism on Sundays.  A new member from veblen was baptised today.

Emma's principle is the branch presidents wife and the other little family in the ward, the husband teaches math at Emma's school.  I am certain that this move will definitely be good for Emma if we can get through the storm.

The best part of this Sunday was knowing that even though the branch is run a little different its still the Lord's church no matter where you go.  And the second best news the church is going to help me get a water heater.  I have to track one down asap and they will pay for it. I still need to pay the plumber but I am extremely grateful. 

Heat and water hooray! ???

Wednesday Lonny came by to look at the furnace.  His full time job is delivering mail. But he knows furnaces and had a new one he could put in.  He was only asking 500 down for a 3000 dollar job.  Feeling blessed We did go for it and I offered to kiss him! He smiled and turned a little red.
By Thursday night we had heat. Now that we had heat we needed a plumber. After taking to do many people we v had a list to work with. Ofcourse we took the first one that could be here asap.  Friday and another 75 later we had cold water.  NO HOT water.  There are lines broken and We need a water heater. We still are not certain where the broken pipe is and with all the snow it may be hard to getv to them. Once I have a water heater and another 300 I can get the plumber back out here to put one in.
My patience keeps getting  crushed.

We also got the kids going in school. They can't start until next week sometime but the girls are excited till go back. It's funny how kids complain about school but when they are away from it for awhile they are happy to back. The social part of school is very important.  It Comes with its own challenges these days especially when your trying your hardest to keep their standards in tact but being able to talk with peirs your age is definitely a comfort. 

Ok so we have heat that's s plus now the down side.  Yes there is a downside to heat. You know all the flies that go into frozen slumber?  They come back alive when it's warm.  Holy cow! I got my hands onto some flying bug killer and it works great.  Not bad for a buck at the Family Dollar. That store  is my v new best friend.  Pathetic I know.  Here comes the gross part.  The flies are dropping dead daily and not 10 or 20 at a time.  Try 100 or more all time. Cobsitanlty wiping and cleaning srvices and sweeping up dead flies. I was going to post a picture but it makes me gag so I won't. 

The down side to having water. Its gross! There is no way i am drinking this with out testing, filtration, and softening. I am even worried about getting sick from washing dishes in it. I boil it to get out hot first and then let the dishes sit it in while it cools down. Rising it with cold is my only option right now.  I feel likevi boil water and clean flies all day. 

Below is the water pic. don't say I didn't WARN YOU!

A bad thing to a good!

Today we needed to do some more errands but not before we dropped the van back off at the mechanic. Tuesday on our way to the motel the battery light went back on in the van. It was extremely frustrating because we just paid 285 to have the alternator replaced.  But none the less they were happy to look at it.

But first we decided to go  to the only little cafe  in Claire for breakfast.  We may have met half the town. It was so  cute. All the farmer's wives atv one table and the men at the other.  The men had a morning ritual of dice game.  And the women  were ofcourse chatting it up.  They  took turns introducing them selves too us asking  about what school We are having the kids enroll in and in awe because I think We may be the biggest family v in town
Later...
There was nothing wrong with the van at all. The battery light didn't even come back on. While  we waited we met an electrition.  We had called him before about the furnace but was recovering from knee surgery so  we didn't hear back from him.  He helped a lot. And if Lonny wasn't going to work out he had temporary furnaces he would put  in for free until we were able to pay for a new one.  Are these people  for real? Never have so many  strangers been so nice. We knew we met him for a reason. Which is why We are certain the battery light came on!

Not for the faint of heart

Monday was filled with hope. Hopes for heating solutions, water solutions and a broken van too be fixed. And to top it off we needed to unload a u-haul and have it back by Tuesday. 

It wasn't hard to get the kids up and helping.  The more they helped the warmer they were.  But it was cold and tiring. The Lord  was on our side though.  No wind or very  little. 

Now here is were it gets yucky. We had to turn our in door plumbing into temporary porta potties.  And drinking water was used for more than drinking so we went through our supply pretty quickly.  I won't show you pictures of the toilet. I think you get the picture. But I am thankful for being a girl scout a LDS summiteerv and  my husband is definitely a boy scout when he needs to be. 

Our trip to town was both successful and a disappointment. Lakes Gas was the company I had previously set up with for propane.  He is also the guy who put in the furnace that was stolen.

When we got there they told us they couldn't get a furnace in until April sometime, they wouldn't take payments, and that even if they could get propane out to the house, the wall furnace  were probably too old to use and would probably kill us through the night.  That's a big fat no too carbon monoxide poisoning!

Now for the good news moment of Monday.  We set an appointment for the van.  We we dropping  it off on the way to returning the u-haul to Wheaton MN. And we got a couple of electric blankets on clearance at the little Shopko in Sisseton. Yeah more heat.

That night was much warmer. We were exhausted! The next morning Todd and I could barely move.

A rain of hope!

Tuesday was a much better day. Still no heat and the porta potty was still a horror but we got the u-haul dropped of and the Van fixed.  Now in a previous post I mention the length of our driveway being snowed in. That was today! Tim came to and did the road again for us and even went back over our driveway.  But since we had v an appointment to keep and a u-haul to return we had to shovel our way out. Ugh.  Yep Raquel and I and my husband went  to work shoveling. We had to shovels so Raquel and I took turns.  And today the man up stairs was getting his kicks because it was v Super windy! Ouch. Flying snow in your face  is never fun. I don't know what was more painful the flying snow or the 285 that was horked out for the van. 

The best part of our day was an unexpected tax return to pay b for the repair,more  heating blankets and drinking water.  

Tuesday night everyone was a whole  lot warmer.   The owner of vthe little motel called us.  SHE OFFERED US A HUGE ROOM AT 45 BUCKS A NIGHT.  The room had three twins a full bed and two couches. The dogs were welcome. And that evening when we showed up to meet the owners. The man picked up h is phone and called Lonny. LONNY WAS GOING TO COME OUT BY 3 pm the next day and see what the deal was with the heat.
We showered and took the kids to the bar slash restaurant to eat dinner. Yes that's first time my kids ever went to a bar!
Needless to say the kids slept well that night and getting the kids up wed was hard! They wanted to stay  in
their beds and I let them.  

Wednesday morning the battery light v went on in the van.  Back into town again. We were on a mission to find a furnace so what's  another trip back into the mechanic. 

There  was nothing wrong with

The Ice Castle

Sunday March 11th we finally made it to Roberts county.  We stopped at the local grocery store to grab milk and drinking water. It was still early in thw afternoon so we figured we could unload part way and get what we most needed for the night.
Sisseton is where most of the business are and its about 15 miles from Claire and then its another 10 or so to the house.
As we drove to the house the roads were plowed but still covered in snow especially from wind drifts. Driving around here is like mini white outs.

We found out street and the front part looked ok but we  went sure. I decided that if the  little Chevy could make it the certainly a u-Hal  could do it. I was doing pretty good and then I got stuck. .. and then I really got stuck.  In about 3 feet of snow. It took a lot of digging and chains on the tires to get me out.  I had to drive backwards back to the main road. There is no turning around on the roads too these country houses.

So they we were, finally close to our new house and couldn't even make it to the driveway.  We headed back to town to find someone to hire to plow the road. Todd was ahead a me. Raquel and i and the boys had to stop and take the chains off the car because one was loose and it was going too ruin the tires and the road.  Let me just say Raquel is a bad ass! No other way to say it. Never even dealing with chains she got them off but not before cutting hand.

We finally caught up with my husband who was in the bar in Claire city which also happens to be the only place open for dinner.  Through his conversation he found an angle.  Tim Gleason had a tractor plow for snow  blowing. It was going to take him awhile to get to his farm then back out to ours.  But he was willing.  We felt extremely blessed.  We waited for well over an hour on the county road to our house.  The stars came out and filed the sky like a summer night camping. We had never seen that many stars in the winter before. It was my first "awe" moment in SD.

Here comes out angle tractor and all.  He plowed the road and our driveway and even an area to turn around the u-haul.  Now the road to our driveway is at least 1/4 mile or more.  The driveway tip the house is another 1/8 of a mile.  It took almost two hours.  This was not an easy job!  I was starting to wonder what something like this was going till cost since were pretty much broke at this point. When he was finished he shook my husband  hand and said we didn't owe him a dime.  Wow another blessing. He worked his butt off for a family of strangers.  A couple days later we couldn't get out our driveway. We knew the road was going to be an issue soon as well.  We had to shovel the driveway. The wind had covered it with 2 feet of snow half way down and too the end till the road.  Again our driveway is about an 1/8 of a mile.  Talk about a work out. 

Sunday night I walked into the house The first time. I knew u had my work cut out for me but at that point I wanted to just get everyone down for bed.  Now they say a man's house is his castle, This is my man's ice castle.  It was freezing.  The furnace was stolen and the back up wall heaters wouldn't work with out propane.  SUNDAY NIGHT IN A SMALL TOWN.  That wasn't going to happen.

We grabbed every sleeping bag and blanket box we could fine. Todd and I didn't sleep much that night we kept checking kids and wrapping up dogs into the blankets with us and the kids.  They were so cold. We managed to keep them alive and I cried with fear. 
To be continued.....

Below are two pictures.  One of the driveway to our house after good plow and the other the road into town. The road to the house is not here. I will post a picture soon.

From City life to farm life.

One of the fist pictures we saw of the home.

When we first started looking at farm land it was out of curiosity. My husband  has always had a desire to work with farm animals and he has always wanted to produce our own food. Being financially stable has always been my goal and his has always been able to provide for our own needs as much as possible. In general we compliments each other with those desires. However I will admit I would rather buy my milk than milk a cow. I rather buy my eggs than go out and gather them and I rather eat steak at Texas Road House than send a cow off to the butcher. But I know my husband desires to do these things for himself so I agreed I would try it out. Now there are a lot of details into how we acquired this particular house and when. The timing of it was definitely a gift from God but did he have to make the timing in the dead of winter?  The house pictures on this post were obviously taken in the Spring! Becasue it doesnt look like this in the Winter at all!

After we sent in the closing money on our house we found  that someone came into the house a stole the brand new furnace that was installed. We were given a discount on the house. the price was dropped from 45k to 42k. and the down payment was dropped in half. We got a good deal from it. But we also knew about the propane heaters in the wall and knew we had a huge propane heater on the property so we figured we could heat the home temporaily through that until we got a new furnace.  We went forward into our plans and on March 7th 2013 we picked up our Uhaul and began to move our family to Claire City SD. Oh boy!

March 8th we were off to SD. our first night we planned to stay in North Platte NE. The drive was pretty easy and we were feeling good about our trip. However, we greatly underestimated the cost of gas on a 26 foot uhaul hauling a car throught the mountians of CO. the first day alone the cost of gas for just the Uhaul was over 300 dollars. and that didnt coun the Van with the kids all in it. We werent even sure how we were goin gto make it. But Our Debit card kept gettting accepted even after we knew it was far from gone. By the time we got SD our toal gas over 800 dollars and we planned for 500.
On March 9th after a stay at two room in Northe Platte we headed out what was goin gto be arrival day to our new home. NOT! Not long after we Left NE we hit SD and Oh boy!.I have never driven through a white out. Aren't ou suppose to stop and not drive through those? Ofcourse however the weather map showe on and off snow showers not complete insanity. We were doing alright throught first part of the drive. It was touchy but nothing for experienced CO winter Drivers both who also dealt with Utah Snow for years. After our first stop we were told that it was getting worse the way we were headed and the Cashier a the Gas Station said good luck. We decided we would take it town by town and stop if it got too bad, Well not more than 10 minutes on the road it hit, The Biggest freak of winter I have ever encountered. I was following my husband on the route to Mission SD. It was only 22 miles from the last stop and it took over 2 hours to do it. I have never been more terrified in my life. I dont know what was more scary. Watching my husband almost go off the road several times or knowing my son was with him and how terrified he must have been. I honked and honked and honk in plea for him to stop. He couldnt hear me at all and I was so angry. I wanted him to stop at the next pull out or driveway or anything he could find and wait it out. But there was never a place to go and in reality stopping would have been worse. We would have been snowed in and covered. It was so bad. At times I could barely see pas the end of my Van and my guide for the road was the back of the car being pulled by the Uhaul. At times I couldn't see the Uhaul and was terrified at every moment I lost site. My battery light went on halfway through the white out drive and by the grace of God we were able to make it to the parking lot of Buschs grocery in Mission SD. Only by God's hand did we make it there alive. The vans alternator was completely out and our VAn would not be able to drove any more. We knew we were going to have to wait out a storm. the grocery store owners were incrediably nice and allowed us to hang out in the deli area were there were tables for as long as we needed to. That was nie considereing we only had the Uhaul for heat and that gas mileage on that sucker was killling us as it was.  The store clerks helped us with weather road and even hotel needs for when we were finally able to get back on the road. We were not going to make it to SD that day.
When the roads were clear we decided to unload every thing from the car that was being pulled on the uhaul and put it in the van. We were going to tow the van and drive the little car through the snow. It worked but it wasn't fun. Driving my van was much more comfortable and felt safer. However I realised that driving a 5th gear car in thewind and snow can be very beneficial. I never felt like I was goin gto tip over!  We also had 3 dogs and 3 turtles we were transporting so trying to take them in the little car was going to be interesting. The dogs had to sit on the kids!



March 10th after a second stay at the Super 8 in Murdo SD 40 miles from Mission SD we were on the road again. March nineth was suppst to be a 9 hour drive day with about 700 miles. We only drove about 140. SO we had alot more to do on the 10th. We made it without any real problems. the roads were still yucky but managable. We arrived in Sisseston SD later afternoon. We grabbed a couple things from the store and headed to the house. We finally came to the Ave that lead to our driveway. and oops. How in the world were we going to get to the house. I attempted to go down the street first. It wasn't going to happen we spent over an hour gettin gme unstuck! So back to town we went to try and find help.  I had put on snow chains on my tires and when we lef tto find help in town my daughter and I realised they were still on. the road we were on certainly didnt need chains. nad it was starting to come loose, so we had to pull over and she pulled the chains off on her own. It took a long time though. and the first one was really stuck. I was so tired I told her to just ge tin the car and we would wait for Todd to noticed we werent behind him. he never noticed. He went on into town. Todd waved down every snow plow guy he could find. they all worked for the state so none of them could help us. But we were blessed to find help in a little steak house in Claire City SD. Tim came out with the tractor and snow plow and not only plowed the street but went above and beyond and plowed our drive way and even a spot for Todd to turn the Uhaul around. Although we had to wait over 2 hours for him to get there and then do the hard job we were very grateful. Thank you Heavenly Father but what we were headed for that night was so much worse. To be continued.