Last night,
thoroughly exhausted, I looked at my watch. It was 5:40 pm. I lasted another
hour by sheer willpower then fell into bed at 6:30. I slept solid and deep with
no concern for the Sheba pinecones I’d find in the morning. I was too tired to
worry about anything.
I slept soundly
until fourThen, the Sheba alarm went off, so I snapped into duty looking for
pinecones, lighting the fire, fetching wood and feeding my family.
•
The second
water loss really got to me. That’s why I was so tired, I think.
Like a forest
fire started by a smoker, running out of water because a cistern/well repairman
screwed up is infuriating. Yesterday morning was horrid and it began at 3:30
am. My kitchen was full of dirty dishes from baking the cake the night before,
and I couldn’t wash them. Plus it was a particularly bad morning for the pets:
Sheba had left several pinecones and Fred was vomiting all over.
So Wednesday was
off to a very shaky start. Plus my neck and hips hurt and I was pissed. This is
the second time I’ve not had any water in the house.
My funk lasted
an hour and then I came to my senses. I put on some nice “stay cool” jazz to
keep me calm, stepped over the shredded running shoe, rawhide bones, torn
socks, detached tool box latch and both pieces of my left flip-flop; I passed
the puddle of pee in the dining room and went out under the bright shiny stars
with a bucket and a dishpan and I fetched water from one of my rain water
collectors. I boiled it, left some outside to cool and then mixed a nice sink
full of clean warm water with which to wash the dishes.
I’ll pause
while you take that in.
I am winning
this game! And …. Wait for it: I used the grey dishwater to flush Sheba’s
souvenirs away. When you’re paying half your pension for healthy dog food you
don’t think about the fact that it’s going to wind up looking like pinecones on
your dining room floor. Ah, the country life.
•
When Rod
knocked on the door I screamed: “I’m getting my bullets.”
He’d left a
breaker turned off but oh, sweet Jesus, the hot water felt good running through
my fingers again. And the cistern switch is truly fixed; I checked. Now well
water is drawn for two minutes of every hour into the cistern. I celebrated
with a (thin) piece of chocolate cake and a long shower.
•
Darrel arrived
with the new window for the studio. He put it in as you can see in the photo below.
We vetoed the cork for the top half of my walls; what’s available is just too
thin. So I suggested acoustic ceiling tiles. I want the upper walls to be
material into which I can easily push pins to post my notes, drawings, photos,
posters other memorabilia.
•
And Al turned
up. He’s a classic BS-er — a blowhard who’s full of Self and his achievements. (He’s
an actor; spare me.) His side business is cistern management; he’s putting in a
gauge so I can know what the water level is in my cistern.
I’ve spent approximately
$2,500 on my water system since I moved here — hiring inspectors and plumbers,
buying 4,000 gallons of water and buying and installing expensive switches,
gauges and filters. Next is a peroxide treatment. My cistern smells like old
dirty diapers. Al says it’s due to bacteria coming from the well. The peroxide
will shock-kill the bacteria,
But don’t worry
(in case you are coming to visit): My ultraviolet filter (that Al services)
works excellently. And I have three other filters as well so my drinking water
has no odor and tastes sweet when it comes out of the tap.
•
Yesterday
afternoon I finished raking up the forest detritus. I’m done with the yard now
except for maintenance. The backlog of work caused by a year’s neglect is
cleaned up.
•
Today Darrell
starts insulating the roof and installing a vapor barrier and then he’ll start
laying down the new Pine lumber lengthwise as the new ceiling. He’s going to
build me shelves for my paper and all my art supplies. When I move in, one way
or another, I am going to have a Studio Warming party.
•
My house is
kept plenty warm by the fire. Sometimes if the fire is low and it’s 0° outside,
I need to put on a sweater but I spend nearly every day in just a t-shirt. I
keep the guest room doors closed and often my bedroom door too. Why heat unused
rooms and I like a cool bedroom.
So my en-suite
is cold. I leave its window open and I have my wine cooler in there because it
stays cool on its own and doesn’t draw a lot of power. But … The previous owner
had a heater put into the en-suite right above
the shower. It’s on the wall and so I turn it on five minutes before I shower
and my shower cubicle is toasty warm.
•
Today, for the
first time in ages, I do not have to climb the cistern or fetch water.