Winter happens almost every year

Sometimes it can be very stormy. Other times it’s merely a wonderful way to reset the environment. Oh, there’s less sun, but what there is beams directly into our windows, all toasty.

Many of us love to sit and watch winter blow by because, like the ant in the fable, we prepared. The rest of us suffer great discomfort and even death because we did not.

“While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.” (Genesis 8:22, NKJV)

You don’t have to be a prepper to be sensible

This list probably is not complete. I add to it every year. But it will surely help you think and prepare and be sensible and smile. Worrying is not of God, and sometimes we worry because whe do not trust Him. Other times it is because we forget how much He has promised to guide us and how much He has protected us in the past. Read the following and ask Him if this is His way for you. ❤

• Make sure you have enough foods that do not need cooking unless you have an alternative to electricity.
• If you have electric heat, obtain another heat source, such as kerosene or fireplace or wood stove.
• If you have a fireplace, consider cooking in it. You will need covered, long-handled pans because of ash and heat, a few bricks and a grate to elevate pots, and really good potholders. Oh, also firewood, which can be inexpensive when it is not snowing.
• Rock salt or other means of de-icing porches & sidewalks.
• Plastic sheeting for over the windshield, if you park outdoors. You will love yourself if you do this. The front doors and wipers help hold it in place. Retired shower curtains are a possibility.
• More plastic sheeting to seal off drafty windows. It might not look pretty on the inside, but is a lot warmer to install there, in winter. Masking tape should hold it in place, fine. Ugly, but don’t think about it.
• Prescriptions filled. Don’t run out during an ice storm! Little known secret — pharmacies sometimes can obtain permission to dispense a few extra doses during such emergencies, even though you usually would need to return to the doctor for them. Or call your doctor and ask for a renewal until the thaw.
• Really good batteries in flashlights. Extra batteries. Candles and matches. Etc.
• A generator would be nice, with fresh fuel for it stocked up. And make sure you know how to operate it without killing yourself or a lineman.
• Extra bedding for cold nights. If one room is warm, you can live in it closed off until bedtime, then sleep under many blankets with coats on, and be warm enough. Never underestimate the power of a hat to keep you warm all over. Check children often, in the night, for covers. They can sleep with you, a few nights, and will not be psychologically harmed at all. Really.
• Water for drinking, if all power is out over a week and the tower is pumped electrically, which most are. Also, if pipes freeze or you have well-water.
• Watch the skies and think about livestock and pets. They need more feed than usual and some sort of shelter, if only a piece of plywood leaned against a building. Being wet makes them colder and hungrier, and more prone to illness, and they hate eating snow for their drinks. In fact, they love warm water, if you can make that happen. Many creatures benefit from a little sugar added to water during these times. Check with your vet for the sugar-to-water proportions.
• A bag of wild birdseed, in case your feeder is snowed under. Wet feed in the trough freezes and clogs the feeder. Birds die when they cannot access wild food sources while they are fighting off cold, wet weather. Even if you do not normally feed wild birds, do so, please, when all their normal sources are hidden under snow or ice. Sprinkle it over frozen surfaces so they can see it and ground-feed. Or even just toss out the wilted lettuce and bread crusts for them. They’re starving.
• If the lights are out, do not open fridge or deep freeze except when absolutely necessary. Check it maybe after two days and if it is too warm, use the outdoors for cooling food. Protect eggs, though, from freezing, or they will break; they are still usable when thawed, but messy. Use this time to completely defrost and clean the fridge, inside and out and under and behind.
• Make sure all vehicles are filled with gasoline; pumps at gas stations run on electricity. Not all have generators.
• If all your phones are cellular, you must provide ways for recharging them. If your phone is bundled with the Internet, you will need a cell phone. Vehicles running with an adapter in the lighter socket is an option. Hand-cranked rechargers are available, sometimes. And there are those small batteries that will recharge a phone; make sure yours are charged up.
• Read about a Hurricane Sandy look-alike during Thomas Jefferson’s days.

Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, (Proverbs 6:6, NKJV)

There you have it! Hope you won’t need it.