The Glory of Running Water

Our cabin has its own well on the property. There is a miniature log cabin in the woods behind our home, uphill which serves as the well-house. An electric pump inside pushes well water through the pipes buried underground and into our faucets.
When we moved in we were afflicted with low water pressure. Most of the time it felt like each faucet was building up it's momentum before spraying out with full force. Josh assured me this problem would easily be fixed with some adjustments to the water pressure gauge but after carefully inspecting the well-house decided he wasn't technically equipped to make any adjustments.
Over a few short weeks the water pressure began to weaken to barely a trickle. I don't need to tell you how inconvenient this is in modern times, there is no other way to wash your hands, wash your clothes or dishes, flush the toilet or shower.
We had to come up with temporary solutions while the well-house was re-inspected (by a professional this time) These solutions included using paper cups and plates for the few times we ate meals at home, using bottled water to wash our hands and brush our teeth, one time I did laundry by hand with boiled bottled water and water from our creek, and Josh made a camp shower using bottled water. We would have to take turns because his design required a second person to stand on a chair and squeeze a 1/2 gallon size milk jug with holes drilled into the plastic cap in order to achieve the spray of a shower head. We would use 1/3 boiling hot water and 2/3 lukewarm for optimum comfort.
These are some of the days that can truly test your love for one another.
When eventually our pressure gauge was repaired I was so relieved and thankful I promised myself to never take running water for granted ever. While I enjoy attempting to live a more simple kind of life, this is one luxury I may never be able to live without.

Winter

I'm sitting in my rocking chair, drinking tea after bringing in two loads of firewood from underneath our porch, staring out the window at the new 2-3" of snow that is shining in the sunlight and it occurs to me I may have a minute to blog after a 6 month hiatus.

Things we learned living in our cabin this winter:
1. Be prepared.
Our first snowstorm hit in October. Right at the end of October a hurricane moved up the east coast and by some great fate collided over our mountain with a cold front moving south from the west. We got our first snowfall on a Monday afternoon! It was light and beautiful and we laughed and played in the snow falling. We drank tea and cocoa and sat by the window in the evening watching the flakes dust our trees. "We're so lucky" I thought to myself. The sky turned grey sometime around sunset and the wind began to howl. The snow kept coming. Harder and harder. I found it hard to sleep. I began wishing it would stop. After a few hours of restless sleep I woke at two am and walked downstairs from our lofted bedroom to find our windows and doors accumulating snow against them like little mini mountains. By the time the sun was rising, we were sitting under almost two feet of snow.
Josh did his best to clear a path for our car, but without a snow shovel, chains, ice scrapers, it was only a matter of time before our car ended up in the ditch across the road from our driveway. After about six hours we had the car towed out and made our one and only trip into town that day to supply ourselves. We are now fully equipped to deal with any and all snow related emergencies whenever they may arise.

2. You can never have too much firewood.
When we moved into the cabin in August, there was a gas furnace. It was not working at the time and since the weather was beautiful that time of year, I took no hurry is setting up appointments with our gas company. They had been out to inspect the unit and fill the gas tank. A part needed to be ordered for the furnace to work properly. When the snowstorm hit us in October, indoor temperatures dropped to 40 degrees. Our wood burning stove was a great help but we went through our firewood pile in one day. We would alternate our time between our bedroom which had a small electric space heater, the kitchen- standing in front off our electric oven with its door cracked open, and the living room, huddled in front of the stove burning two logs at a time.

3. Make time to blog.
Without Internet, cable or a microwave you may wonder why I wouldn't have time to scribble a few thoughts on our daily life here in the woods. Living in a simple way, such as this, has great rewards but most of it feels unimportant while it's happening. It's just life, in one of it's simplest forms.

I will write again and share more of our winter lessons, recipes to fight the cold, books that made me feel warm inside, adventures in our neighborhood and our winter wedding! Promise.