Bracing for wind

We are expecting high winds (and a bit of rain) in the next 24 hours (Tuesday night into Wednesday morning).

The weather report is full of dire warnings about gusts up to 60 to 70 mph.

We're not the only ones impacted. It's being called a "coast to coast storm."

Ever since the "Windstorm 2015" ten years ago (considered by the regional power company to be the worst disaster in its 100+ year history), we've taken threats of wind very seriously.

I realize our weather is mild compared to the bitter cold they're experiencing in the northeast, or the catastrophic flooding hitting the Pacific northwest. Nonetheless, as with any winter weather, it's best to hope for the best but brace for the worst.

We're in a reasonably protected area, so I don't expect too much impact from the wind. What we do expect, however, is for the power to go out, perhaps for days.

The wind is supposed to hit overnight, so we spent today battening down the hatches. We cleaned up the porches, put things away in the yard, and moved hay under cover. We tied down tarps and coiled hoses.

The weather isn't particularly cold, but I brought in an extra load of firewood to store on the porch anyway.

I vacuumed the house and did laundry. We all took showers.

We tipped the porch rockers over, since we know from experience they'll get tipped anyway.

We charged all the battery backups...

...as well as our rechargeable lanterns.

We topped off the oil lamps as well.

Earlier we had drained our 1500-gallon roof-runoff water tank, predicting cold weather (the tank isn't insulated, so we drain it in the winter). However we decided to let it refill a bit, just in case we need livestock water or additional household water. 

I made an extra loaf of bread.

I also tied the cattle panels to the diagonal poles around the peaches and blueberries. High winds tend to knock over the panels, which is annoying but not damaging.

In general, however, we're pretty well prepared for multi-day power outages. We've been through them before. Besides, for all we know, this whole thing will be a big nothingburger.

But then again, it may not.

Making Irish cream

In years past, often I made homemade Irish cream as Christmas presents for neighbors ... and oh yeah, maybe a lil bit for ourselves as well. This year, both Don and Older Daughter requested that I make a small batch for Christmas.

The recipe I use is found in the incomparable book Cheaper and Better.

Here's the recipe. The ingredients should be added in the order listed:

• 2 eggs
• 2 cups sweetened condensed milk
• 1 teaspoon chocolate syrup
• 1 teaspoon instant coffee
• 2 cups vodka
• 2 cups heavy cream

1. Beat eggs until thick and lemon-colored. Slowly add the rest of the ingredients one at a time, beating well after each addition.

2. Pour mixture into clean dark bottles and let it rest for one week before drinking. Mixture will keep for up to 3 months in the fridge or 1 month on the pantry shelf. Yield: 46 ounces

The recipe multiplies very easily. This time, I chose to two-and-a-half times it.

Here are the ingredients:

Mixing the sweetened condensed milk into the beaten eggs. It's important to add the ingredients in the order listed, because the alcohol denatures the egg proteins. Mixing it incorrectly could end up with something like alcoholic scrambled eggs, eww.

Adding the instant coffee and chocolate syrup:

Mixing in the vodka and cream.

Whenever we come across dark-brown bottles, we keep them. Here I'm draining four cleaned bottles:

Filling the bottles can be tricky. In theory, shining a flashlight through the bottle will tell me the level of the fluid inside so I don't overflow the bottle. In reality, the bottles are so dark that the flashlight is largely useless.

Case in point.

A better technique is simply to use the volume labeled on the bottle itself (usually 750 ml), and measure the liquid as I pour it in.

After all four bottles were filled, I still had about a pint of Irish cream left over, so I just put it in a pint jar.

Then I labeled when the Irish cream would be ripe and ready to drink.

Here's the evening's loot. I put the bottles in a dark closet to ripen until Christmas. A couple of bottles will doubtless find their way into neighbors' homes.

True story: The first time I made homemade Irish cream (around 2005), we had no idea how it would taste. We tried it after returning home from a Christmas Eve candlelight service at our church. After tucking our weary children into bed, Don and I decided to break open a bottle of the homemade stuff and toast in Christmas. I remember we paused, glasses full, and wondered if we were about to poison ourselves. Then we took a sip. Absolutely delicious.

Honestly, this stuff is better than Bailey's for a fraction of the cost. Try it! It's easy and cheap, and it makes wonderful Christmas presents.

A word of warning: It's very strong. As in, don't-you-dare-think-you-can-drive type of strong. One glass of this and my cheeks are flushed. But man oh man, is it good. You'll never go back to the store-bought stuff after tasting this.