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NEW NORMAL

Akitas find their Footing
The two dogs provided some of the most
heart-warming moments of the week. Ba-
nner, our big-boy Akita, was like a professional
athlete, getting stronger every day. He would
spend hours outside. He was content to lie on
the frozen concrete in 7-degree weather. He
would wander all over the back yard marve-
ling at the new snow. He ran across ice-strewn
fields. And he absolutely pushed us to walk
him as far as we possibly could. The cold air
must have filled his lungs with a life force that
reached way back into his ancestry, and I’m
not kidding about that! And “little” Mieko, the
80 pound Akita, ever the huntress, pursued a
new quarry in the snow, chasing after pigeons.
She even slept on the couch next to us with
cats on our laps. This is a thing unheard of for
our relentless hunter! And it’s amazing what
pets will do when they know everything is on
the line! Needless to say, their positive energy
kept us going, and we delighted in their em-
brace of the worst that winter could impose.

Aftermath
And on the Seventh Day, Mother Nature re-
lented. As the temperatures climbed back to
a normal range, Texas began to thaw out, and
we could assess the damage done. On a per-
sonal basis, we were able to thaw out the well
and restore functionality to the home. Apart
from fallen limbs we safely came through the
6 days without power. But there were many
of “Glamping with the Lecuonas” (glamour homes in other parts of the Hill Country that
camping for those who want to understand were hit with more ice, snapping power lines
English pimping of terms). Turns out a great and creating extended outages.
many people were interested to know all about The energy companies have brought in
this furnace and how to use it during a 6-day extra resources, and the restoration will take
power outage! With the grim weather and the some weeks. Texas is asking hard questions
lack of any other diversions, we found an audi- about the vulnerability of wind energy and
ence among our fellow Texans and, together, how best to harden the grid against winter
we stayed in contact via cell phone networks stress. The state is by far the biggest producer
and recharged battery power. We pulled of wind energy in the USA, despite being a fo-
bottles from the cellar, paired them up fearle- ssil fuel source, it is also a wind energy leader...
ssly with our culinary furnace, and refused to and in normal conditions, wind provides up to
give into bleak weather-imposed isolationism. 20% of power to the Texas electric grid. Wind
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