February Freeze

After eleven years in Houston we’ve experienced our fair share of extreme weather events. But nothing was quite like what the February freeze of 2021 brought us.

In a climate ill equipped for cold weather we got a hard dose of reality when cold temperatures arrived in Houston, and stuck around for multiple consecutive days… But lets start at the beginning of the story.

With cold temperatures and possible precipitation in the upcoming forecast I headed to HEB to get the ingredients for chili. At this point we weren’t totally concerned, and just wanted some cozy food to get us through what was sure to be some colder weather. My concern started to perk up when I arrived at HEB and found all chili supplies were either extremely low or gone all together. Luckily we had a lot of the canned stuff we already needed and I was able to snag the last bit of stewing beef off the shelf. Little did we know how comforting this chili would be in the days to come.

nevertheless we felt prepared for what was to come…

That weekend was Valentines weekend. We planned on doing a dinner out, just Jordan and I - but also went over to Katy Asian Town to try some hotpot since we don’t get these cold days very often here in Houston.

It was our first time trying this kind of dish, and it didn’t disappoint. Even if the kids didn’t eat all the elements, they had fun helping to cook it and sampling bits and pieces of meat and veggies, and of course noodles.

Sunday night rolled around, and while it was expected to get colder and precipitation was on it’s way in, we were confident that we could get to dinner and home before anything too crazy.

While it was cold and a little rainy as we left the restaurant, we thought we could still stop and maybe bowl a frame on the way home. That’s when we started to realize that things were about to get hairy. The bowling alley said we could come in for a drink but that they were closing up in the next twenty minutes or so due to the weather.

We had a drink and played a few games of pop a shot before heading back to the neighborhood and the Dowds for a nightcap. While at the Dowds the lights began flickering on and off, so we figured it was time to head home and make sure we were somewhat prepared.

We were totally shocked at the images we woke up to the next morning. This may not look like a lot, but in south Texas it’s shocking! Added to that it was also FREEZING both inside AND out. In the overnight hours the Texas grid had failed and virtually a whole city, not to mention many other parts of Texas, was out of power.

alerts were getting sent out from all different places even though we weren’t getting very reliable cell service or internet.

We went for a walk to check everything out…. Our little Texan was TOTALLY not into it. He was freezing and made it very well known that he just wanted to go home.

Once he realized that it was nearly just as cold inside as out, he was happy to bundle up and explore some.

Isla was content to stay bundled up under covers in her room ruminating on the fact that she had no wifi and NOTHING to do.

We were without power for over 72 hours. On the third day the power started flickering as the energy grid started rolling service to give people a few hours to try and warm their houses, and charge their devices. This was almost more of a tease as we were all just waiting for when it was going to fail again.

We resorted to using the gas stove to warm up,

as well as lots and lots of hot baths. We were lucky enough to still have hot water as many of our neighbors did not.

We were also lucky enough to have neighbors with a generator and good handyman sense. The Dowds ran a extension cord over to our house which allowed us to power a small amount of things whenever they were running their generator.

We cozied up on the couch with all the blankets we could find each night. Holden was having none of it and still preferred his room.

To make a bad situation even worse, Dolly got a stomach bug that just wouldn’t go away and Forrest had to dig deep in his survival reserves as we had no power in which to keep his heat lamp going. In houses that weren’t insulated for the cold weather, temperatures got down to the 40s and wouldn’t go up for days. With Dolly getting sick all over all our blankets those were quickly dwindling with no way to do laundry.

We were able to get Dolly to an emergency vet and she felt better after some meds and Forrest miraculously made it through. We checked on him every so often always fearing for the worst. He was a total trooper! When we were able to get the fire going we put his cage next to it and kept it wrapped in towels.

Most stores were closed the first few days with Target being the first to open back up. We headed over and stocked up on what we could cook on the stovetop.

The Dowds brought us hot coffee every morning which was a true lifesaver.

Holden stayed busy during the day with a lot of sensory activities.

and of course instagram was there to document it all.

It was a truly crazy experience that really puts modern living into a whole different perspective. Needless to say, in the months following, we did invest in a generator.

That weekend following we had a get together to celebrate…. and if you can believe it, I am wearing SHORTS in these photos. Never know what you’re gonna get with Texas weather!

After all the craziness we were all excited when it was time to go back to school.

The freeze of February 2021 is a time we will NEVER forget!