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This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here. Tuesday, October 07, 2008 Please let this be the last one for a while . . . If trouble indeed comes in threes, we've had our three and then some. In fact, I'm not sure which ones to count. Was it the $800 repair to the car (the first repair in 144,000 miles, but I could have done without it even so)? Finding bedbugs in our hotel room (still don't know whether I brought them home with me)? The ominous sound of water running under the trailer when we arrived home after a three day trip?I told Clarence to stay put, not that he had much choice about it, jumped out of the car, pulled the siding away from the trailer, and sure enough, there was water sluicing out from the general vicinity of the bathroom floor. Inside, I found not the flooded trailer I had feared, but it was bad enough. The hot water heater had sprung a leak, and the water was going almost straight down, through the holes I was sure were there (from the numbers of critters coming in there). That corner of the bathroom has been damp for quite a while, but it was the piping I suspected, not the hot water heater itself. Obviously, I was wrong.I called the fellow who helps me with this sort of thing (regardless of being generally handy around the house, I have chosen not to do plumbing). He wasn't home. I called again. And again. No luck. I found the cold water valve on the water heater and shut it off so we could at least have running water in the rest of the house, and then I gave up and made the best of it.By the time he called back on Sunday, I had decided not to replace the hot water heater. I've entertained this thought off and on for quite a while, but never quite had sufficient motivation to act on it. But I could use that space much more efficiently for storage, and having the floor clear makes it easier to keep critters out. I'm worried that the shower may have to be torn out to repair the rest of the bathroom floor, but if that's the case, the cost for that will be at least partially offset by not buying a new water heater.How do you manage without running hot water? Pretty easily, it turns out. It takes one kettle full of boiling water, combined with cold water from the tap, to make a dishpan full of hot soapy water. Two kettles full will turn the cold water in the washing machine as warm as I want, and three kettles full are enough for a bath. My 10-quart pot filled with hot water is enough to wash my hair, or to shave or bathe Clarence. Everything else can be done in cold water. It helps that I've lived in many situations, including parts of childhood, without all the modern luxuries. I might eventually install one of the small on-demand hot water heaters. It would make showers possible. But since Clarence can no longer bathe himself anyway, that would be a convenience only for me. And it will be interesting to see whether this affects the electric bill very much. I had already put a timer on the hot water heater to turn it on once a day for two hours, so not having it at all is probably not going to make a big difference.But please, I've had enough for now. No more challenges for a while. posted by Liz @ 4:47 PM | The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email toliz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3 KNITTING BLOGS Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits FINISHED PROJECTS -------FINISHED IN 2006------- Peruvian Cap Tutti-Frutti Socks Shelley's Socks Carol's Socks -------FINISHED IN 2007------- Chain Link Socks Baby Surprise Jacket Valerie & Friend Baby Bonnet Rainbow Baby Socks Girls Pixie Hood Mitred Square Heart Red & White Socks Coffee Cup Pot Holder Nubbins Dishcloth Garterlac Dishcloth Suede Booties Kate's Socks Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap Half Thumbless Mittens Red Mittens for Akkol -------FINISHED IN 2008------- SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE -- Blogs and websites -- Causubon's Book Club Orlov Food Storage Made Easy From the Wilderness In the Wake Listening to Katrina Survival Topics The Modern Homestead The Oil Drum Notes from a Hillside Farm -- Mailing Lists -- 12vdc Power Living on the Land Rainwater Refrigeration Alternatives Old Ways of Living POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES The political sites have moved BOOKS I'M READING How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising ARCHIVES February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 Feedjit Live Blog Stats
If trouble indeed comes in threes, we've had our three and then some. In fact, I'm not sure which ones to count. Was it the $800 repair to the car (the first repair in 144,000 miles, but I could have done without it even so)? Finding bedbugs in our hotel room (still don't know whether I brought them home with me)? The ominous sound of water running under the trailer when we arrived home after a three day trip?I told Clarence to stay put, not that he had much choice about it, jumped out of the car, pulled the siding away from the trailer, and sure enough, there was water sluicing out from the general vicinity of the bathroom floor. Inside, I found not the flooded trailer I had feared, but it was bad enough. The hot water heater had sprung a leak, and the water was going almost straight down, through the holes I was sure were there (from the numbers of critters coming in there). That corner of the bathroom has been damp for quite a while, but it was the piping I suspected, not the hot water heater itself. Obviously, I was wrong.I called the fellow who helps me with this sort of thing (regardless of being generally handy around the house, I have chosen not to do plumbing). He wasn't home. I called again. And again. No luck. I found the cold water valve on the water heater and shut it off so we could at least have running water in the rest of the house, and then I gave up and made the best of it.By the time he called back on Sunday, I had decided not to replace the hot water heater. I've entertained this thought off and on for quite a while, but never quite had sufficient motivation to act on it. But I could use that space much more efficiently for storage, and having the floor clear makes it easier to keep critters out. I'm worried that the shower may have to be torn out to repair the rest of the bathroom floor, but if that's the case, the cost for that will be at least partially offset by not buying a new water heater.How do you manage without running hot water? Pretty easily, it turns out. It takes one kettle full of boiling water, combined with cold water from the tap, to make a dishpan full of hot soapy water. Two kettles full will turn the cold water in the washing machine as warm as I want, and three kettles full are enough for a bath. My 10-quart pot filled with hot water is enough to wash my hair, or to shave or bathe Clarence. Everything else can be done in cold water. It helps that I've lived in many situations, including parts of childhood, without all the modern luxuries. I might eventually install one of the small on-demand hot water heaters. It would make showers possible. But since Clarence can no longer bathe himself anyway, that would be a convenience only for me. And it will be interesting to see whether this affects the electric bill very much. I had already put a timer on the hot water heater to turn it on once a day for two hours, so not having it at all is probably not going to make a big difference.But please, I've had enough for now. No more challenges for a while.
The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section
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PERSONAL
WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT'
"If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart.
THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME
Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3
KNITTING BLOGS
Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits
FINISHED PROJECTS
SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE
POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES
BOOKS I'M READING
How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising
ARCHIVES
February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002
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