Wednesday, July 28, 2010

The future

As the children settle down for the night and I wait for quiet to fall over the camper, I think about the future.  One of the things is the fall and what that brings.  The most important being cooler weather and therefore able to do more longer during the day.  The intense heat of which we had one day of relief when it dropped down to the low 90s with a heat index of only 101* means rapid dehydration (a trigger for seizures for him and tachycardia for me) slows our progress and prevents us from doing some of the things we would like to do such as walk to church.  Can you imagine walking two miles going up and down dirt roads (this is not counting the logging trail we cut which is half a mile long) in triple digit heat plus humidity with three small children?  It's not like there is plumbing at the church.  There is an old outdoor pump that has not been used in decaded so who knows how the pipes are inside and how corroded it might be.  Children dehydrate too fast to do something like that.  Once we get a couple of horses and a wagon, we will use that to go to church.

We are in the new budget cycle and it has been implemented.  Plus with no $1100 surprises, I won't have to worry about lack of gas at the end of August.  That was a bit nerve-wracking on my part. 

We are going to the laundromat tomorrow since tourists will be in the lake.  Tomorrow will also be the last time we will have to do laundry else where besides home.  The truck will be back Friday which means we can fill our water tanks which means I can use the washing machine.  That will make me very happy.  Another thing  I am looking forward to us getting a couple of more wonder wash pressure washers and hooking them together and only using the machine for blankets.

We are going to start letting the goats wander here in a month or so as long as we haven't heard anymore from the mountain lion.  The chickens still free range and they are all still accounted for.  I'm not finding any mangled chicken parts.  The dogs are still around.  R's kittens are still around.  So I am hopeful.  We're going to give it one more month to be sure and then they can wander to their heart's content.

We have been doing a bit more burning then we are going to put in gourds in about a week.  It will be a late crop, but late crop is better than no crop.

We have been researching 12V and propane appliances.  There is quite the selection out there.  Some of it not as expensive as I thought.  Others of it has me saying "ouch" at the price and weighing just how much we "need" it.  It is definitely making us think and looking at various options.  For example, I am not going to spend $1900.00 on a 12V sewing machine.  I will use an inverter or sew by hand first before I throw that kind of money away.  We did find a place on line for a propane tankless water heater for a lot less than I imagined.  The question we have been asking ourselves now is "do we really need this?"  We've researched passive solar water heater systems and there is always the option of if someone wants to take a hot bath to boil water on the stove.  The propane tankless water heater is a convenience item, that much we know.  Plus, having propane is still being reliant.  We will never be 100% off the grid.  We drive and even though the truck can and has run on WVO, it still requires motor oil, tires, maintenance, auto insurance, etc.  Same with the van.  Plus, it requires gasoline.  And, we still interact with people.  We most certainly are not reclusive.  One of the things with relying on propane is with it being a combined source of petroleum refining and natural gas processing, we are relying on a system that is already facing problems of their own.  Plus, getting the tankless heater feels a bit like cheating.  We will have a propane stove, but that will not be our only source of cooking.  We also have a wood stove.  The propane stove I freely admit is a luxury.  I like to bake and use the oven quite a bit.  The wood burner does not have an oven.  I like my breads, rolls, muffins, cakes, brownies, baked chicken, meatloaf, and all kinds of other yummy items that find their way into and out of my oven.

We are going to be increasing our goat herd in the next few months.  This bit with the natural food store has me excited.  As soon as we finish with the cabin, we can turn our focus to the goats and getting more of them.  Maybe we'll get lucky and find some already in milk.  Granted I don't believe in luck, but it will still be nice to find some.  I know just who to ask as well.

Anyway, the step back with not having a truck and therefore water issues and having to do laundry at the lake and bringing water into the goats by the buckets rather than just running a hose is rapidly coming to an end.  The first thing we will do when we get the truck back is get water.  The second is get another water tank since it has not rained in over two weeks.  (Five minute sprinkles do not count.  They may knock down the dust for a minute, but it is not real rain.)  It has rained all around us, but it has not rained here.  Lack of rain and intense heat has actually had the pastor of the local church change Wednesday night and Sunday night services to a later time so he could milk at a later time.  Services were at 6:00, but he moved it to 7:00.  (By the way, I don't care what the temperature is, we are not walking these woods after dark just to go to church.  We'll drive, thank you.)

So anyway, I am looking forward to moving forward with things now that some of the hold-ups are coming to an end.  I'm getting excited and wanting to get things done and see things done.

2 comments:

Lisa A. Goff, writer, stained glass, homeschooler said...

I was just thinking about how quiet the woods must be at night . . . other than the woodland creatures, that is. Are you far enough in that you don't hear traffic, sirens, trains, loud bass sounds thumping out of cars to rattle windows, etc? That has to be niiiiiice.

Michelle in Illinois said...

I don't know how you do it all!!