Lord
Jesus, you are the God of all, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for
a thousand generations with those who love You and keep your commandments. Every
good and perfect gift comes to us from Your hand.
I thank you for all
that I have received. Lord, I ask that you would bless me so that I can be a
blessing to others. That You would fill my house with Your peace and Your
Presence. Give me wisdom to make the right decisions in every situation so that
You can prosper me in all that I do. Give me favor in all of my relationships,
with family, friends and coworkers. Help me to be a testimony of your love to
everyone around me. Fill my life with Your purpose, Lord Jesus.
Help me
find joy in every day, even in the smallest things. According to Your word,
surround me with Your favor as with a shield, and guard my going out and my
coming in. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit, and empower me to walk in the fullness
of my destiny. I pray in Jesus mighty name, Amen!
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
Off-Grid Laundry Day
Found a great site that had some interesting things to say about the history of laundry... around our house we are experiencing an issue with fossil fuel and so laundry is being done by hand. My husband referred to it as a Chinese laundry but it wasn't quite that production.
It was the old 2 bucket laundry system of a long gone era... heat a large bucket of water on the wood stove, add some soap and dirty clothes, bring to a boil, stir and stir the clothes. Then plop them into the second bucket of nice clear water and rinse. Once they have been rinsed, ring 'em out and hang them on a line strung across the room near the wood stove.
It isn't like tossing them a machine and letting it do all the work, but it keeps us in clean clothes. Of course they were hung in the house because we have been experiencing temps below zero fahrenheit at night and under 20 during the day. As weather warms up we will hang outdoors on the clothes line out in the sun and wind.
I will be planting a selection of fragrant flowers around the clothes line this spring. That will make laundry day a delightful aroma of beautiful things... better than any "fragrant" laundry soap or fabric softner.
Friday, January 18, 2013
Realities of Off Grid Living
So you wake up at 5am and there is only darkness... clouds have blocked out the few stars that might give a little light. You don't get to just flip a switch. You get up in the dark, grab your flashlight (because I am a girl and don't like to stumble around in the dark) and gather your clothes... in the dark you get dressed, you have to stoke the fire (in the dark), you fumble with lighting the propane light so you can see a little bit. Pour your coffee as the kids start whining about getting the generator going so they can watch early morning cartoons. You get your boots on, find your gloves, and grab your coat and head out to the generator... for the next 3-4 hours you get to pretend you live like regular folks with electricity, tv, internet and all that...
The rest of the day is spent doing chores and playing with children. Then as the sun slips down past the mountain, generator goes back on for another 3 hours or so. And then we slip into darkness to wake up and start all over in the morning.
Actually the whole TV/Internet thing is the only thing that is different than when we lived on grid. Instead of being on all the time we are limited to a short period in the morning and in the evening on short winter days and it will be even less time when the sun is up in the sky longer.
The rest of the day is spent doing chores and playing with children. Then as the sun slips down past the mountain, generator goes back on for another 3 hours or so. And then we slip into darkness to wake up and start all over in the morning.
Actually the whole TV/Internet thing is the only thing that is different than when we lived on grid. Instead of being on all the time we are limited to a short period in the morning and in the evening on short winter days and it will be even less time when the sun is up in the sky longer.
6 weeks
6 weeks... It has been six weeks since we moved in to the ranch.
I have so much to get done still! I looked around and realized I had taken a vacation from unpacking and oh there is much to get accomplished yet! We have started a list of "SPRING/SUMMER TO DO'S" things like wrapping pipes, finding a way to limit ice dams on the roof, protecting the walkway between the well house and generator from snow/ice... the list is growing as we see things that need attention.
This weekend my attention goes to getting things in order in the house. I still have a bathroom that hasn't been unpacked. Maintenance cleaning in the living room (dusting has to happen just about every day or you have a problem) Kitchen is in need of tidying and some reorganizing as some arrangements for pots and pans isn't working so well.
I am looking forward to spring... I know we need another eight weeks of winter and another 6 feet of snow and so I will be patient.
I have so much to get done still! I looked around and realized I had taken a vacation from unpacking and oh there is much to get accomplished yet! We have started a list of "SPRING/SUMMER TO DO'S" things like wrapping pipes, finding a way to limit ice dams on the roof, protecting the walkway between the well house and generator from snow/ice... the list is growing as we see things that need attention.
This weekend my attention goes to getting things in order in the house. I still have a bathroom that hasn't been unpacked. Maintenance cleaning in the living room (dusting has to happen just about every day or you have a problem) Kitchen is in need of tidying and some reorganizing as some arrangements for pots and pans isn't working so well.
I am looking forward to spring... I know we need another eight weeks of winter and another 6 feet of snow and so I will be patient.
Monday, January 14, 2013
becoming VERY frustrated with my Internet connection... it seems that there is an issue and so half the web pages I try to connect to I can't... and these are like normal ones... Facebook, Hotmail, etc. I can connect fast to any Google related page, I would assume because WildBlue and Google have some agreement. Anyway I really hope they fire off that other satellite so I can get Excede.... in the mean time I battle for simple Internet access.
The snow & freezing temperatures (minus Fahrenheit temps) have water pipes frozen, wood is low and today I am feeling just a tad discouraged. I do know that it will get better and this is just a momentary issue... I am going to make a blazing fire and hopefully defrost pipes, my husband is going to go get some wood and hopefully we will be back in bussiness today...
It isn't always easy living in a non-traditional setting but we will make it work...
The snow & freezing temperatures (minus Fahrenheit temps) have water pipes frozen, wood is low and today I am feeling just a tad discouraged. I do know that it will get better and this is just a momentary issue... I am going to make a blazing fire and hopefully defrost pipes, my husband is going to go get some wood and hopefully we will be back in bussiness today...
It isn't always easy living in a non-traditional setting but we will make it work...
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Frozen Pipes and Disasters
Our water situation out here is a bit different...
We have a well and there is a pump... but we have a water tower attached to the house and in the tower is a 1000 gallon water tank where we keep the water that is gravity fed into our house. It is a good system and hey it works...
Most of the time...
Last Sunday the pipes froze... then we discovered the tank had ice in it. We had let it get too low. So David runs some water to the tank hoping that would help. Well it was time to leave for church and still no water... we left the door open to the tower and off we went...
We went to church, to lunch with some amazing folks, and then to the laundry mat so the kids would have clothes for the week...
We were going to stop at my Sister-in-Laws on the way home but my husband decided he just wanted to get home... Good Thing!
We got home and someone had not turned off the kitchen faucet... and the pipes had defrosted... oh what a mess!!!! But we got it cleaned up and we learned something more about our new house... even if the pipes are frozen during the heat of the day they will probably defrost so don't leave a faucet on *grin*
We have a well and there is a pump... but we have a water tower attached to the house and in the tower is a 1000 gallon water tank where we keep the water that is gravity fed into our house. It is a good system and hey it works...
Most of the time...
Last Sunday the pipes froze... then we discovered the tank had ice in it. We had let it get too low. So David runs some water to the tank hoping that would help. Well it was time to leave for church and still no water... we left the door open to the tower and off we went...
We went to church, to lunch with some amazing folks, and then to the laundry mat so the kids would have clothes for the week...
We were going to stop at my Sister-in-Laws on the way home but my husband decided he just wanted to get home... Good Thing!
We got home and someone had not turned off the kitchen faucet... and the pipes had defrosted... oh what a mess!!!! But we got it cleaned up and we learned something more about our new house... even if the pipes are frozen during the heat of the day they will probably defrost so don't leave a faucet on *grin*
Thursday, January 10, 2013
What a Month!
December 7th we started the move... my husband grabbed a friend and the kids and I and we loaded the truck and trailer and off we went... we get to the new place and unload. My husband goes back to the old place to finish packing and get the old place cleaned up and bring the last load up to the ranch. It was suppose to be 2 days... ended up being 4... I was close to a melt down by the time he finally got back. But when he got here he had help and all our stuff.
While I was waiting for him, the kids and I played and I did a LOT of cleaning... there is 30 years of a 2 pack a day smoker smoke on the walls along with layers of dust in all the high and hidden places and the doom room that I will be attacking later... I started in the kitchen. General household cleaning products were not working... and then when David arrived he brought a cleaner that is BOMB DIGGITY...
Dirty Jobs cut through the layers of tar, smoke and dust like it was nothing. My cleaning got so much easier with this stuff!
I don't suppose it ecology friendly but sure does what it is suppose to do and after days of trying to clean and getting little progress I didn't care. It cut through the grime and it got it pretty and that is what I needed. There is so much more to do but now that the holidays and January birthdays are over I can get back to it.
The move, a cleaning, 10 days after we moved our first little storm and then a HUGE storm that brought 2 feet of snow and for days it snowed every day... a bit of craziness. It snowed again last night another 4 inches. This is the most snow we have had up here about 10 years and of course it comes our first month here...
Right now we have decided that we are just going to muddle through the winter the best we can and try not to worry too much about getting things perfect...survival... staying warm and dry and hanging in until spring gets here... then we will get to work and do what we have to do to make this work!
While I was waiting for him, the kids and I played and I did a LOT of cleaning... there is 30 years of a 2 pack a day smoker smoke on the walls along with layers of dust in all the high and hidden places and the doom room that I will be attacking later... I started in the kitchen. General household cleaning products were not working... and then when David arrived he brought a cleaner that is BOMB DIGGITY...
Dirty Jobs cut through the layers of tar, smoke and dust like it was nothing. My cleaning got so much easier with this stuff!
I don't suppose it ecology friendly but sure does what it is suppose to do and after days of trying to clean and getting little progress I didn't care. It cut through the grime and it got it pretty and that is what I needed. There is so much more to do but now that the holidays and January birthdays are over I can get back to it.
The move, a cleaning, 10 days after we moved our first little storm and then a HUGE storm that brought 2 feet of snow and for days it snowed every day... a bit of craziness. It snowed again last night another 4 inches. This is the most snow we have had up here about 10 years and of course it comes our first month here...
Right now we have decided that we are just going to muddle through the winter the best we can and try not to worry too much about getting things perfect...survival... staying warm and dry and hanging in until spring gets here... then we will get to work and do what we have to do to make this work!
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
FINALLY
We are back ONLINE!!!!! It is slower than I had anticipated an I don't understand the upload/download limits just yet but we are ONLINE!
The move has been an adventure and there have been a lot of things happening as we get use to living off grid. Tonight I have a lot to get done so I am not going to go into all the details...
Suffice to say we are moved in, we are settling in, winter hit with a vengeance and we had 2 ft of snow before we got all our wood in. But even so we have all we need for the moment and God will bring us what we need between now and when we need it.
Feeling very blessed and I will post details soon!
The move has been an adventure and there have been a lot of things happening as we get use to living off grid. Tonight I have a lot to get done so I am not going to go into all the details...
Suffice to say we are moved in, we are settling in, winter hit with a vengeance and we had 2 ft of snow before we got all our wood in. But even so we have all we need for the moment and God will bring us what we need between now and when we need it.
Feeling very blessed and I will post details soon!
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