Surviving a Historic Winter Storm ALONE at My Remote Cabin

For the next three days, I'm going to be riding out a historic winter storm in my remote cabin for the first time. And I wouldn't say this place is exactly ready for something like this, so this could get interesting. 200 million Americans gearing up for our most dangerous winter storm in years. Arkansas has seen ice and snow before, but of this magnitude for this duration, it's quite challenging. It's finally happening. I've been waiting all winter for this. We are finally getting snow. And this is going to be the first big test of my cabin, the well, the plumbing, the mini splits, everything. Because it has yet to get cold this winter, but behold, the fun finally begins. Yes, this is my snowboard. So at this point, maybe I'm in a little bit of self-denial on how bad things could get out here. I could lose power. My pipes could burst. I could be snowed in my cabin for days. But right now, I'm just excited for snow. So I just got back from the store. I picked up a ton of different things. I have a ton of water. I brought my extra power station. So I have well over 2000 watts of power. I have Mr. Buddy heater with tons of propane. There's Dr. Pepper in my house. I have a little bit of a Dr. Pepper addiction. I really try not to drink it outside of like through hiking, but I have 10 mini cans and I'm fixing to be snowed in. Yeah, this is not going to be good. I brought extra blankets, jackets, food, all the things to possibly get snowed in. Now, today is Tuesday and the snow and ice and cold weather is supposed to start on Friday and it's going to last all weekend. For like 60 hours straight this weekend, it's going to be dangerously cold. The low one night is going to be single digits. It does not get above freezing for three or four days. I'm honestly not worried. I'm more excited than anything because I love snow. If you're new to these videos, I am from Arkansas and how it works out here when we get snow is that everything just shuts down. So snow has always been a fun, exciting time for me. Ever since I got my cabin, I've been looking forward to the first snow because I think it's just going to be so beautiful out here. So I don't know. We're going to see what happens. I'm going to get everything unpacked and get settled. We have a few things that we need to do to get prepared for this cold weather before it gets here. First things first, I'm going to make sure that all three of my power stations are charged. This is mainly because I can't afford to take three days off work. I need these to power my laptop and electronics mostly. If the power were to go out, get those all charged up. Next things next, I'm going to change out all of my light bulbs. So huge shout out to Mr. Scotty, my friend in Hawaii. He sent these rechargeable light bulbs. So basically you put these light bulbs in everywhere that needs a light bulb. And while they're in there, they get charged up. If the power goes out, they still have five hours worth of light charged within them. And they come with little attachments so you can take them out and hang it up. Also huge shout out to my friend Nancy in Florida. She made me this throw out of yarn. And this thing is so warm and wonderful. And so the day soon became night and I settled into my cabin optimistic about my fate for this storm. But I still have a few more things to get done over the next couple days to prepare before it starts to get ugly. It's Wednesday, two days before snowmageddon 2026. It's time to get a few more things done before the storm gets here. I'm gonna add a little bit more insulation to my well and well pump out there. I did get a snow shovel from Walmart for the plot. I also bought a heat lamp for the well. I'm hoping that heat lamp works because dad did install an electrical outlet but we've been having issues with it actually putting out power. It's not about getting a gas generator from Harbor Freight. The one I was looking at getting is about a thousand dollars but I don't think I'm gonna need it. And I may regret this statement so I'm on record saying it but I have about 2,500 watts of electric here. Obviously that won't run a mini split for heat. I have the propane buddy heater. You know if my well pump stops working I carry all my water in anyway. It's not like I'm drinking my water yet because I don't have my filtration system so I can definitely get by. I've got plenty of water and it may be a little cold. It may be a little uncomfortable but uh yeah it will still be better than living in a tent. I got a roof over my head. I have heating sources. I have a zero degree sleeping bag, a 20 degree sleeping bag. I'm gonna be fine. You know I'm used to like living out of a backpack so this is this is easy. Also as far as power going out I will say I'm moderately concerned about that because this summer it such as rained the power went out and that's just what happens when you live out in the country. A 250 watt heat lamp bulb. I got the well insulated on the top. I got the heat lamp in and it is warm in there. Eventually we are going to be building a better well house but this is just what we've rigged up for the season. It's been working fine so far. Hopefully it'll work fine through the snow storm. Today is Thursday and tomorrow the chaos is set to begin but there's one more errand that I needed to run before snowpocalypse begins. Toby do you want to go to the cabin? Huh? You want to go cabin? Are you ready for your first snow ever? I had to come get Toby. It is going to be his first snow ever. He's never seen snow before so I am excited for that. He has no idea what's in store but it's gonna be so fun to have him out at the cabin with me. I'm sure he will keep me warm. He loves to snuggle at night. The other thing I want to do is get the sleds but they are in the rafters so I'm trying to figure out how the heck I'm gonna get those. All right got a whole nother load of crap. All right Toby load up. Come on load up. Good boy. All right guys it's time to head to the cabin and be there for good. I think I got all of my errands done. Everything I could possibly do before the snow. I think I'm prepared. Let's do this. But I wasn't done just yet. There was still one more important mission that had to be accomplished before the snow. We're going rooster hunting. Somebody dumped two roosters down and we're gonna try to catch them. There they are. I got my friend Kelly out here. She's got chickens. She brought feed so okay she came prepared. Just go be their friends first? Yeah let's go let's go meet the chickens. Oh my gosh. They came right up. They're so hungry. This is not gonna be hard I don't feel like. I got them. That was way too easy. Okay guys roosters are saved from the snow. Last task before the snow again. Oh my gosh okay I can rest easy knowing those chickens are saved. That was the last thing I wanted to get done before this storm hit. I feel so much better yay. It hasn't even started snowing yet and I've already gotten into my snow snacks so I had some grilled cheese with this alfredo sauce. I don't know if you've ever dipped the grilled cheese in alfredo sauce but it is so good. I think I'm gonna put on like five pounds during this snowstorm. All right y'all update it is 8 11 and it has not started snowing yet but I just looked at the radar and I think in about an hour it's gonna start snowing here. The snow finally came. It started about 11 p.m last night and it snowed good amount of the night. I mean I was asleep but I could kind of hear it but we're having a second round of snow come through today so we're gonna get dumped on even more probably three or four inches already on the ground. Until this moment Toby has never seen snow in his entire life. Let's see how he reacts. Oh it's cold out here. What is that boy? What is that? Look at his little paw print. Go potty. It's soft snow. It's snowing. It's still snowing. Wow. Come on let's go potty. What is it boy? What is that boy? Go potty. Hurry up go potty. It's cold hurry up. I'm gonna let him out later off the chain so that he could just run around and stuff but it is like I think it's raining right now or sleeting so we're gonna wait till that's over and it's very very cold out. All my pipes are still working because we kept them all dripping our last night and it is so cozy in the cabin y'all. I just checked the forecast. It is 10 degrees and there's 80% chance of snow all day. That's crazy. And then there's chances of snow all day tomorrow as well. It's gonna get down to negative two tonight. Yeah that's pretty cold for Arkansas. That's pretty crazy for Arkansas. I got my quiche in the oven. Toby really wants to go outside so I'm gonna let him. It's icing. What is that Toby? What is that my boy? There it is. There goes all my pristine snow. Oh really? I want to take a minute and talk about this crazy dude Toby. He's about one year old now and he absolutely loves being out here at the cabin but being a working breed high energy dog he's always getting into something and I always worry about something going on being all the way out here at my remote cabin and now being snowed in and that's why I'm so thankful for Dutch. Dutch is an affordable vet service that gives you 24 7 access to licensed veterinarians through video chat and messaging. No matter where you are or what time it is you can hop on a quick call and get real advice treatment plans and even prescriptions sent right to you. With just a 10 minute call they can help with over 150 different conditions and pet parents save on average over $650 on vet care a year. I love that I can schedule appointments during the day at night or even on weekends. It's so quick and easy and it gives me peace of mind being out here. Toby and I want to say thank you so much to Dutch for sponsoring today's video and if you want to try Dutch for you and your fur baby head to the in my description or scan the QR code on the screen to get started. Fun fact Toby is 11% husky and it's coming out of him today he he loves the snow. Toby and I are out just walking around in the yard. It is so cold and it is still snowing. We've probably got at least a couple more inches since this morning. Look how cute the cabin looks. I wanted to grab some pictures. Gonna let it snow a little bit more but this hill is gonna be awesome for sledding later. Okay I gotta get some. My hands are freezing. I should probably do gloves or something. I don't know how to do cold. I'm from Arkansas. Toby and I don't know how to relax so we are going to take a little hike out to the lake because I want to see what it looks like. This is the road completely covered. I would say there's at least like four inches of snow on the ground at this point. There you go rain gauge tells you we got about four inches. That one's about right. There's the lake. It's almost about froze over. Oh that looks so pretty Toby. Look at that. Toby loves the snow. Well Toby and I are back from our little hike and I think it's about time to make some lunch. I'm gonna do a warm lentil ricotta dip with naan bread. Preheat the oven. I guess it's good to run the oven. It just like helps heat the house but my mini splits are doing fantastic. We're still blowing really warm air and I've got my little fireplace heater going and it is toasty in here. It is 70 degrees so pretty happy about that considering it's so cold out. Fancy ricotta wheel thing. While lunch is cooking I'm gonna be doing some computer work and then Illinois plays Purdue at 2 p.m. so I'm really looking forward to that. It's still snowing outside. Very little bitty flurries and Toby is still causing chaos. Here's my dip. It does not really look that appetizing but gonna be really really good with some naan. That looks awful actually. Oh this is definitely a comfort meal. Alright guys, don't mind that. That's just my well water but I messed up. I used this maybe three hours ago and I wasn't thinking. I shut it off. It's already frozen. Have the cabinet open. Got the heater blowing in there. Go outside. I don't remember how we plumbed that sink. All my water is fine still. Whoops. Come on Toby. I am definitely not used to dripping pipes like this. I still have a sink in the kitchen and I have my bathtub running so I still have water. Let's see what's going on. This is where the bathroom is. Well I guess he's gonna check it for me. Oh yeah, there is the sink. Well I read online that you could use like a hairdryer but I don't use those so I don't have a hairdryer or like a heat gun thing. Well, oh well. I don't think it's 46 points from Keaton Wogler. W on the road against number four in the country. This snow day could not be any better. Well that was amazing. The boys won. It was a good game. It's still snowing out. The cabin has held up for the most part. We do have one more update though. The toilet in the utility room no longer works because I think that line froze. However, I'm not really understanding why. I have a heater on it. Obviously that's not doing anything but I did forget to cover the faucet outside. Whoops. So I'm thinking that's the reason it froze but it is covered now. We're learning. We are learning and I am definitely not going to forget to keep this faucet dripping and my shower dripping because I learned my lesson with the bathroom faucet which hopefully those pipes won't explode. I don't know. If they do, they do. Get them replaced. Yeah, that bathroom still works and honestly, worst comes to worst, that bathroom just doesn't work for whatever reason. I just go outside in the woods. I think I might take Toby on one more little walk before it gets dark. It's not snowing super hard outside. The major snow's coming again at nighttime. I think we're gonna get a lot more snow tonight. That's what it's looking like. Toby, do you wanna go back out in the snow? Wanna go back out in the snow and chase the birds? All right, I think we might do that. Maybe we'll make... We're gonna go on a walk and then we're gonna make snow ice cream. Let's go explore. Look at my well house. You can tell it's warm in there. My favorite thing about snow is how quiet it is outside. It's like a different kind of quiet. I love it. We're gonna make snow ice cream. The hardest part about this is going to be trying to find clean snow that Toby has not ran through or the birds have scuttered through. It's actually gonna be quite tough. Yeah, let's see. Toby's gonna just run through everything. I'm gonna go to the open part of my yard right here. That looks good. Making snow ice cream is actually really easy. You only need two ingredients. All right, all you need is sweetened condensed milk and vanilla extract. You just take and mix it in there with the ice cream. Nope, it's not for you. A little bit of vanilla. Snow ice cream. Let's try it. It literally tastes like ice cream. Oh my gosh. I just remembered I had frozen strawberries so I'm gonna add that too. That's so good. So far I'm down one sink and one toilet but the good news is the rest of my cabin is still holding on strong but this storm is nowhere close to being over. Okay, it is coming down hard out there. Pretty sure it's all sleet right now but wow. Whoa. There's already two or so more inches of precipitation on the ground. So we went and Toby out to potty one last time and it is really sleeting. Holy cow. I think one of the boy wants his fries out here, huh? Okay. Oh, look at my GoPro mount. Holy crap, dude. We got a lot of snow last night. That's insane. Huh. My car is buried. Let's do a temperature check. Stayed so toasty warm in the cabin last night. In fact, I had too many covers on my bed so I slept on top of my covers. It's um 67 degrees in here. Mini splits have been doing great. Even like my broken mini split. I haven't been using it all winter. I just turned it off and I've been running it this whole time. So far it hasn't given me any issues. Everything's still working. I still have my faucet dripping and it is a show of water. Pretty happy. Pretty happy. Today is Sunday. Church did get canceled so we are snowed in again today. I'm gonna have a slow morning. Probably gonna meet up with my neighbor later. Play around in the snow but definitely wanted to warm up a little bit before we do all that. Well, I had some leftover quiche for breakfast. Toby's on my lap. Ah, gross. Ew. His nose is wet. Ew. He's bullying me. Just let me wake up first. We can go outside and play. Well, about 10 a.m. Sunday and it is still snowing. I'm just drinking a nice cup of coffee on my porch. These are the best snowshoes. Solomon sent me them a couple years ago but wow. They're perfect for the snow. So this is a situation. You can walk on top of the snow but then every two steps you post hole a little bit. There's probably like four inches of snow and then last night we got five or so more inches of sleet. So, oh, kind of crazy. I love it. Look at my cabin. Alright, we're gonna go out to the rain gauge and see what it says. Oh dude, it's full. The rain gauge has seven inches but that's not even accurate. It was like blowing. So, I would say we have about 10 inches of snow on the ground. Five inches of snow and then five inches of sleet and ice. It still looks stormy out this way. They said the sun's gonna come out at some point today but we still have some chances for snow until one. My neighbor and I are gonna meet up and try to go sledding and snowboarding. Actually, I kind of want to go try the sled right now. Okay, let's get that set up. These are my sleds from when I was a kid. It is so slick. Let's try a different sled. There's nothing more fun than sledding and I have the perfect hill. This is awesome. I did forget how tiring that is though. I can do this because I got my body all warmed up from sledding but it's pretty cold out here. I won't last long after this cup of coffee is done. Okay guys, my neighbor that lives like a mile down the road is gonna come pick me up on her side by side and we're gonna try to go snowboarding at her place. So, we're gonna load up all my gear. I'm gonna have her sled my hills. So, I'm gonna eat a quick snack, drinking lots of tea to keep warm. Toby's played outside all morning and he is tuckered out so I'm letting him rest before he goes up to Corinna's. Corinna has some dogs that he likes to run around with so he's gonna have fun. So, my neighbor just texted me she could not get her jeeps or her side by side down the road. That's how bad it is this morning. So, I might just be walking to her house. My neighbor lives about a mile away but she still hiked down to the cabin so we could hit the sledding slopes before heading up to her place to snowboard. Oh man, this is my neighbor's. She's got the best view. The lake is just completely frozen. It's insane. Wow, look at the mountains. Wow, they got a lot of snow. Up here at my neighbor's cabin, we're gonna snowboard the hill. I haven't been snowboarding in four years and I miss it. I love snowboarding. It's one of my favorite things in the world. So, Corinna is learning how to snowboard. She's got some protections for if she falls. Oh my gosh, turn around. It's a big squishy turtle to brace the falls. I don't know. I think it's gonna work great. Hi Lucy. Hi, easy. Okay, safety first. Let's do this. I'm juicy. Snowboarding is such a workout. Yeah, yeah, good job. You better move, Toby. I better move. That was awesome. Oh, stop. Oh no, tree, tree. Oh, this is so fun. Okay, we're making the hike back to the cabin. We were able to make it down with a side-by-side a little bit further, but I don't want it to get stuck because the snow is so deep. Long trek up the mountain both ways. Back home. Some Annie's, white cheddar, mac and cheese, and hotdog after snowboarding. This is about to hit. Oh, that is so good. All right, guys. The snow has officially moved out. It's sunny and beautiful outside, but it's still like 15 degrees out. We are out of the woods as far as snow, but we are not out of the woods as far as extreme cold temperatures. Tonight is going to be the coldest night of the entire year. It's going to get down to zero degrees with a wind chill of like negative 11. So, I'm a little worried. Hopefully, the cabin stays doing good with water and heat. That's going to be quite the test of times. So, hopefully, that goes good. I'm going to warm up. Toby's been playing out in the snow all day. It's probably about nap time for him and prepare for a very cold night. Beautiful sunrise this morning over the lake. Okay, let's do a temperature check. Tonight, or last night, was the coldest night of the year, and my plumbing didn't make it. Something's wrong with my toilet. It is doing an array of strange things. I don't know what's wrong with my toilet. I really don't want to use it anymore because I don't want to get water on my floor. So, now I have no toilet. You learn to just deal with what you got, and now I don't have a toilet until I can get a plumber out here to look at it. I still have burning water, though. Can't drink it. I've got a dry cabin now, and honestly, I kind of want to just put an outhouse in and call it a day. It would be so much more simple than dealing with plumbing and cheaper, and I wouldn't mind having an outhouse. Yeah, it'd be cold, but it's better than dealing with plumbing. I'm gonna end the video here because I got stuff to deal with now. Thank you guys for coming along. It was a very fun snow day. I had fun. I wish it snowed more. I love it, but now I have to deal with my cabin's problems. So, see you guys later. Bye!