Five Ducking Days

New Year’s 2023 started with a bang, or should I say a crash?

New Year’s 2023 will go down in the books as one to remember. Fooding, a blizzard, and five days without power, water or internet. We made memories, many good ones, like New Year’s Eve candlelight fondue and Tami’s Tow Truck Service. Other memories, not so much.

New Year’s Eve: Day 1

Flood Warning

We went into the holiday weekend under the threat of flooding. Our ranch sits between two forks of the river, so we become an island when it floods, but not a fantastic island with warm beaches, unicorn floaties, and half-naked hottie staff bringing you fruity adult beverages. We become an island of muddy fields accessible only by helicopter or the sheriff’s office SWAT team MRAP used for rescues.

For the first time in nineteen years, we had plans for New Year’s Eve, an early dinner at a friend’s house. We hoped to attend the party, but we were already getting notices of potential flooding over the weekend. So I spent Thursday and Friday preparing.

As we get cut off from town fairly often, we were in a good place preparation-wise, but I picked up produce and dairy at Costco and Raley’s. I filled up vehicle gas tanks and watched the river level. On New Year’s Eve morning, we watched the river levels rise. Then we started getting warnings from the National Weather Service of a severe winter storm. Wait, what? We were supposed to be preparing for flooding, not a blizzard.

Severe winter storm warning

As the day progressed, the heavy rain turned to slush and snow and finally started covering the ground. That meant it was thankfully snowing in the Sierras and not raining and melting snow, sending it downriver. Yet, the flood waters from earlier in the day continued to head downstream.

The snow accumulated while the flood waters made their way into the valley. We have about six hours from water entering the valley until they arrive at our ranch. Mid-afternoon, we went to check the bridge over the river. Hubby noticed the brown swatch across the snow from a distance, where fields were flooding one to the other over the roadway. We didn’t even get close, and we turned around and went home. Back at the ranch, we could see the wave of water hitting the ditches.

The sheriff’s office hasn’t blocked access to our road, so vehicles tried to get through the flood, but smart ones turned around.

We said we were good unless we lost power. See, this is me foreshadowing again. An hour later, we had a few blips in electricity; then, it went completely dark. I assumed everyone was out, so I didn’t notify NV Energy. As night set, Hubby noticed the front houses on the ranch had power, so I informed the power company.

Swiss fondue

What else does a Swiss girl do on New Year’s Eve when she is flooded in, snowed in, and has no power? Make fondue, of course! I had strawberries and chocolate left over from my Little One’s “Not a Party,” so I made chocolate-dipped strawberries for dessert.

We spent the evening by the fireplace, which provided some heat and light. Thankfully the night was “warm” for a winter storm.

The Grand Cherokee became our charging station; I thought it was funny when the song “Cool Night” came on.

New Year’s Day: Day 2

We woke on New Year’s Day cold and without power or water. It was an adventure; we were sure power would be restored anytime. For many years, I’ve started the morning with the first workout of the year, followed by a splurge breakfast and a dip in the hot tub. This year we started gathering more supplies.

Hubby got out our small generator to power the outside refrigerator and fridge, and promptly broke the recoil starter. We waited several hours for stores to open to purchase a generator. Thankfully, we found a rental at Home Depot.

Hubby got the power to the appliances while I moved items from the inside fridge. As I had just shopped at Costco, we didn’t have much room. I spent the day consolidating the refrigerators and freezers. I saved and cooked what I could, but the goats and Della, the chicken, celebrated the New Year with a grand feast. Items I couldn’t fit outside or feed the animals went into the dumpster. You know, expensive stuff waiting for a special occasion that never came.

Hubby connected the generator to the blower on the wood-burning stove so the heat reached farther into the family room. Then he powered the furnace, which gave us real heat in half the house. We used water bottles filled from the hot tub for handwashing and buckets of hot tub water to flush toilets.

Hubby set up my camp shower in the bathroom. He was caring and told me I needed a hot shower more. That was so sweet… or wait, was he trying to tell me something? The shower was great, but it was super cold getting out.

Friends learned of our plight and brought us a second generator once the flood water receded. As Hubby helped to set up the generator, I took my Little One to put away the animals.

I made it a whopping twenty feet before I got sucked off the road into the icy, muddy, snowy field. Darn it, with all the off-roading I do, I got stuck in my driveway.

January 2nd, Day 3

We had things down better on day three. Hubby connected the generator to the fireplace, so we had more heat. I spent the day reorganizing the holiday chaos. Each afternoon, I gathered all the LED lights and checked the batteries.

Day 4

Wait, there is a day 4?

We had an issue with Nevada Energy dropping us off the service list; I suspect this is why we were out of power for so long. They called once, saying our power was restored when it wasn’t. I filled out an outage report online multiple times and called twice, and the service representatives were nice but said their computer system was overwhelmed but they would put up on the service list.

I had to take my mom to Reno for a medical appointment. It was a little sketchy getting off the ranch. The streets in her neighborhood were snowed in, but great once we were on the highway. We grabbed lunch and verified the sun still existed. We stopped at Hobby Lobby which always brightens my mood.

As I had to be gone, Hubby took off work to keep an eye on the generator. He set me up a kitchen “faucet.” Before, I had been rinsing dishes using water bottles, a considerable improvement. Hot water was from a tea kettle.

Girl Power!

Hubby wanted to go to town for hot water bottles because our bedrooms were so cold. I was more than dubious about heading to town and the old-fashioned heating method, but they provided a comforting amount of heat.

We stopped using the main road to our house as we almost ended up in the creek. The other entrance was partially blocked by a stranded car. On the way home from the pharmacy, Hubby swung into the ranch around the vehicle, and the Grand Cherokee stopped moving. It didn’t matter what he did; the tires spun in 4WD low. We checked, and it wasn’t high-centered or against an obstacle but on sheer ice.

I suggested using the floor mats, but Hubby didn’t want to ruin floormats on a brand-new vehicle. So I walked to the ranch hand’s house to see if he could pull us out. We looked, but his truck didn’t have any good anchor points, and he didn’t have a tow rope. I called Hubby, and he told me to call AAA. I knew they were backlogged and they could take days to respond.

Honey Badger, my Rubicon, is still at the shop, but the truck, my unopened Christmas gift, soft shackles, and a kinetic rope were at the house. As I was already partway to our house, I decided to hike and pray that “BNT,” Big Noisy Truck, started. I was stupid when I headed to town; I wore summer hiking boots, jeans, a shirt, and a jacket. I never even thought to use my phone as a flashlight; I walked the quarter mile to the house in the dark in twenty degrees and was a frozen popsicle by the time I reached the house (the snowbank that jumped up and grabbed me didn’t help matters).

A few lights we had on at the house were like a beacon in the distance; I huddled up as much as possible and continued my journey. The first thing I did was head to the truck. I almost panicked, thinking the keys might be with Hubby. Thankfully they were in the truck. Diesel trucks don’t do well when cold, and it sputtered a few times, then powered up. Halleluja!

I headed into the house, and once my brain reengaged, I told my little one to open the boxes as I changed into clothes I should have been wearing. She wanted to go with me to rescue Hubby and Edel, who wanted a car ride. She thought it was funny the girls were the rescue party. We threw the recovery gear in the backseat and returned to the stranded vehicle. My little one kept joking that it would be funny if we got stuck too. I told her she was no longer my favorite daughter; she laughed… she is my only daughter.

In November, 5 of my Jeep ladies and I attended the basic recovery class through 775 Off-Road & Recovery Group. The group are all volunteers and donate their time to training and recovering vehicles off-road. If you are stuck off-road, you can contact them by phone or text at 775-238-3793. I have entered their information into my phone and Garmin InReach, so I can reach them if needed. They are expanding areas of coverage through Northern Nevada.

I thought I would be using skills off-road, not on the ranch. Before, I would have left it to the men to figure out what to do. They are both used to being on the ranch with tractors, not off-road vehicles. The ranch hand had found a rope to use, but it was standard. I told him there was no way I was using that rope; it didn’t have a working load limit. He looked at me like I was speaking alien. I debated between the Rhino tow strap and the kinetic rope and decided the kinetic one was the one to use.

Hubby hooked the strap on the Grand Cherokee, which has recovery points from and back. I took my end of the rope to BNT, facing away from the Grand Cherokee. But, darn it, I never realized there were no anchor points on the rear bumper. The ranch hand wanted to hook the rope on the ball hitch; I told him no way, that is a good way to die.

It would have been dangerous to take the other road off the ranch and recover from the middle of a busy but dark highway. Thankfully Dodge Trucks have hooks on the front bumper, so I turned the truck around. Hubby hadn’t used soft shackles before, so I attached them to the anchor point.

Thankfully we had cell phones for communication during recovery. I made sure everyone was out of the way, especially the “death triangle,” which I had to explain. I didn’t even have to tug the Grand Cherokee out, I slowly backed up, and it slid off the icy patch. My little one helped me disconnect the rope. Hubby had me go over the bridge first out to our house. We were halfway and looked back; no lights followed us. Darn it, the Grand Cherokee was stuck again. Thankfully this time was like the last; a light pull freed the tires from the icy road.

Day 5

Our latest estimated repair time was January 5, Day 6. After the recovery the night before, I didn’t dare attempt to leave the ranch when Hubby was at work with the truck.

I am not a very emotional person; aside from Hallmark and life insurance commercials, I’m not a crier. But I’ll be honest, on day 5, I was exhausted mentally, emotionally, and physically. I sat in the kitchen scrolling through Facebook and accomplished nothing. There was a ton to do in the house and with office paperwork, but I had no motivation to do anything.

I lay down for a nap, and my little one came running in to tell me a big white semi pulled into our driveway. I thought the truck would get stuck or end up in the creek. Then I remembered NV Energy has white trucks! So I ran out and saw the prettiest sight, a power truck in my driveway. I just heard the driver say “power,” and I said, “no, we haven’t had power in five days!” Then he repeated, “No, I said you now have power.” He apologized for our inconvenience, which wasn’t his fault. He said he would have been there sooner but got stuck for five hours. I asked him to wait until I could switch from the generator to the power lines. I was almost shocked when he pointed out the garage light was on.

It took some time to make the changeover from generator power. I panicked when we had no water; I realized I might need to reset the well. It took a few seconds, but the water pressure slowly built. My little one and I were like toddlers on Christmas morning. We ran around trying every light switch and appliance. I told her to flush every toilet because, as an online group said, “Yellow let it mellow, brown? Flush it down.” She looked at me like I was crazy. Apparently, everyone in my family but me has been peeing outside for five days! Now that is hardcore!

At 5 pm our porch and Christmas lights came on. I turned my lights off on New Year’s Day but decided to let this little light shine.

The Afterparty

I thought things would calm down once we had power, but nope. I had a week’s backlog of household cores. A laundry train lined the hallways.

The good, the bad, and the dirty

I learned some things through Five Ducking Days. There are preparations I’m glad I made. I made sure 100% of the laundry was clean. I ran the mostly full dishwasher.

Alternate power

Number one is to get a whole-house generator! Or at least a generator with the ability to plug it in a run critical items. We have debated getting one for years, but another need always seemed to arise. So after this fall’s power outage two weeks ago, I scheduled an evaluation for that Friday. I’m thankful I don’t have to wait for the flood of calls they receive.

We had a small generator but it failed. If I wasn’t getting a Generac generator next month, I would have a larger and dependable generator. I would check the generator several times a year to ensure it was in working condition.

Lighting

Thankfully I am a camp girl, and we had LED lanterns and lots of headlamps. They didn’t provide a lot of light, but enough to function. The little LED lights I had in the dining room for Christmas provided an amazing amount of light in the family room. A few in each hallway and bathroom provided enough light.

I wish I had another LED lantern. As I write this, I realize I also have solar panel cafe lights, but they likely wouldn’t have charged with the fog.

I should have listened to Hubby and my friend Mike who said I should always have a flashlight on my body. They have saved me while visiting ghost towns but I don’t keep one on me at home. My little flashlight wasn’t doing much good in my bathroom drawer; it would have been nice for my trek across the ranch at night.

Water

For us, this is especially critical. We have an on-demand well; when the power goes out, we instantly lose water. We kept a large potable water tank and had the hot tub water to flush toilets. Neither of these is convenient. I wish I had filled the bathtubs with water when I made preparations. I would have water containers at each spout for handwashing.

Kitchen Cleanup

I wish I had run the kitchen disposal and placed a strainer in the drain. We are used to throwing everything in the sink out of habit.

I wish I had immediately switched to paper plates and plastic tableware.

Stocking food

The type of food I had was another issue. Everything had to be prepped to cook. All washing was done using a tea kettle and water bottle for rinsing. What I needed were single-pot meals. I missed frozen veggies I could dump into the skillet or crock pot.

Bathing

The camp shower helped, but I wish we had more body wipes and dry shampoo.

Caring for myself

The number one thing I did not do during the power outage was care for myself. My focus was getting supplies while trying to make life as normal as possible for the family. Workouts were missed and I wasn’t sleeping well and woke up between 4 and 5 am. I was going from all day until after dinner clean up. I should have taken time out of each day to rest and relax.

Lessons learned

We take electricity for granted. It is beyond inconvenient when you lose it suddenly, especially in winter. Everyone should have a backup generator. Everyone should have backups to their backup generator.

Getting cut off by snow, flooding or other problems is always possible, regardless of where you live.

For anything critical, remember PACE: Primary, Alternate, Contingency and Emergency. Have workable solutions for every level.

Have friends you can depend on in a crisis.

While this last week was difficult, the kids will never forget the New Year’s storm of 2023.

No phone, no lights, but a motor car, giving us a single luxury,
Like Robinson Crusoe,
It’s not as primitive as can be.

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