I’ve been postponing this post – knowing that everyone expects part two to be the happy ending – but decided I couldn’t keep you hanging forever! So, part II – let’s see, as I recall, I left off with the septic system still clogged and now with a hole in the pipe as well and an ice storm closing in…
Ok, it wasn’t really an ice storm, just more sleet and snow and drizzle and other nasty cold stuff, but the bit about the septic system was true. Once again my relative (who is beyond handy and very long suffering and patient in his efforts to get us situated) came to our rescue. It required the rental of another power auger, copious amounts of warm salty water and a lot of hard labor in the cramped and cold underside of the trailer but at last the flow was flowing freely (we think – we’ve been kind of timid about actually trying it out with anything but liquids, which means we are still using our pioneer toilet). We are delaying the true test until we have running water.
So yeah, we don’t have water yet. Well we do, but only the water we drag up the hill (our little farm wagon has sure come in handy in that effort) in gallon jugs. When you have to haul your own water you develop a true sense of your water usage and the need to conserve! Of course we have limited our use of water – we don’t wash clothes or bathe at our house – we only use it for cooking, drinking and washing dishes but even so we make daily water runs. Our rainwater collection system is working well – the gutters on the barn quickly fill the 280 gallon tote – but we do run into issues getting the water out of the tote in freezing weather. When it’s warm enough we drain the water from the tote to the cistern and a recent huge rainstorm provided us the opportunity to completely fill it. It also revealed a leak in the system! The leak appears to be in the juncture between the cistern and the waterline so we are waiting for weather that is both dry and warmer to dig up that area and make repairs. In the meantime my relative has installed our new water heater and the pump and pressure tank. We are very close to being able to turn on a tap and enjoy water gushing forth!
We’ve made some progress on other fronts as well, switching the orifice so that the furnace would run on propane instead of natural gas, for instance. Unfortunately there’s another issue with the motor of the furnace so it still doesn’t actually run. We’ll need a furnace repair person to handle that problem and it will have to wait until we have the funds. So we continue to use our space heaters for now. We also haven’t figured out why the oven shoots flames when we try to use it – maybe the gas furnace guy can take a look at that as well.
We have been moving the last of our belongings from our relative’s house and trying fruitlessly to shoehorn them into our small space. We lack storage – no hall closet, linen cupboard or pantry so we are getting creative. After a month of navigating a hallway lined with boxes I decided we were sufficiently used to the narrower space – why not replace the boxes with bookshelves? Since the hall is along an outer wall they will act as insulation as well. We’ve also consigned tubs and totes to the shed – not a good long term option as they will no doubt become refuges for mice and papers will mold in the damp – but it at least gives us some elbow room in the meantime.
We hope to continue to expand storage options – under the beds, a linen cupboard of some sort in the larger bathroom, taller bookshelves replacing short ones, even, in the future adding on an enclose porch perhaps. Then we just need to get organized! But that’s all just the settling in – the normal part of moving. I’m looking forward to reaching that stage!
