Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Making the best of a bad situation


Christmas Day we still had no water, so we just made the best of it. What can you do....
We dressed up in our Christmas finery, Gerry played some tunes,

Wesley shot the best Christmas photos we have ever had with her new camera.... and we went for a walk in the woods




Instead of the Christmas meal I had planned we had easy cleanup food, salad and edamame, bread and cheese and olives. It was delicious, simple, warm and nourishing
We finally decided we had done all we could to make the best of things, but we were starting to really need baths. So we packed up the car last night and headed to a Marriott about 5 miles from our house. Since Gerry travels so much, he has lots of points, and we got a free night, warm baths and a really good breakfast this morning. Yes, we have friends and relatives that would have been happy to have us, but we were really gross and just needed to get through this together without interrupting everyone else's Christmas. It was actually a lot of fun :)
 Today, we had torrential downpours here, and lucky for us, I am a potter with lots of buckets. We collected all the rain water that poured off of my kiln shed and filled all the empty gallon containers we have been using for drinking water. This water we will use for flushing, and I will spare you the details of this unpleasantness we have been dealing with for the past week.....
The rain and cold called for my favorite orange pound cake from Ina Garten's cookbook. The house smelled like sugar and oranges, I made a pot of soup and cornbread, and then boiled water on the stove to wash up. Just like camping.... still.....

We are hoping the well fixer upper can make it out here tomorrow to get us some water going again. It's not so bad, but a grim reminder of our dependance on electricity and water. Life is pretty easy for us here in the good old USA, even with all the madness. There are so many with so much less than us, we are very blessed, just a little less clean right now.
Peace ya'll, stay tuned, more adventures to come, haha!

13 comments:

Hollis Engley said...

Well ... looking on the bright side, it sounds like a family adventure. Nothing like the Marriott for a night, I say. And Gerry likes the new guitar?

Sandy Miller said...

Wow! Running water really is such a luxury we take for granted and electricity!
The Marriott is a nice respite from no water and free is great!
I hand dug a small pond a few years back and have to say I keep a heater in it to keep it going through the winter. Everybody thought it was for the birds and then a few winters back we had water main break after water main break. Thanks to the pond we had the only working water closet in the neighborhood. My neighbor with 4 boys now has a lovely hand dug pond too :) Kept a big pot of hot water on the woodstove too. Went of for the better part of a week.... well too long! Thought it would be Spring till we got bathed :)
Hope your pump guy gets there!! What a fix to be in!

Tracey Broome said...

Hey Hollis, adventure is right, what can you do except make the best of it! Yes, Gerry loves his new guitar, playing rather well already, a born musician.
Sandy I like the sound of a pond. We are really trying to find ways to be more self reliant these days!

Dennis Allen said...

Sounds so nice you might have to turn the water off every Christmas.

Lori Buff said...

I have a friend that was born in India, he rode his bicycle 20 miles everyday to get his water for his family. Think about this and your situation does remind us just how precious clean water is and not something not to be wasted.

Amy said...

gosh, Tracey- i am away from my home now and if you were closer, would invite your family to stay there while I am gone. your perspective on this is amazing. take care! yes, running water is a luxury in some parts of the world- Happy New Year!

Anonymous said...

well, this will be a Christmas that you will remember! we had one holiday season w/o power for five days. on the 3rd day of sitting by the fireplace, able to see our breath & the boys crying from being cold, we finally gave up the camping scene too. hope you're back to water and normal soon- happy new year.

ang design said...

woohoo no more stinkies :P

Vicki said...

A Christmas to remember. Memories :)

I too would have been very content to enjoy yummy salted edamame in such a beautiful bowl - simple bliss!
And your teapot is gorgeous. I've seen them here at a shop called T2. They are lovely.

Hope the well is fixed by now.

Paul Jessop said...

Hey Tracey, Sounds like a great Christmas, the quirky ones are always looked back on as the best.
Hope you guys get sorted soon and best wishes for a great 2013.

Lori Watts said...

I lived for 4 months without running water, when my dug well ran dry in a drought. While I can't say it didn't suck - it did - amazingly, I sort of got used to it. I carried in gallons. I rigged up a little Gilligan's-Island-y shower with a watering can. And the toilet...oy.
When the water came back it was purest luxury, I'll tell you.
Sounds like you had a great Christmas, and now have a great story to tell. :)

Tracey Broome said...

Hey everyone, wow the comments all came in overnight, didn't get a chance to check in! Nice to hear from all of you, thanks!!

Laura Farrow said...

those campin' skills do come in handy!! xo