Mild Weather

  

  The winter, and 2012, is officially upon us. In our area winter begins around the end of October with temperatures in the teens at night and the thirties during the day. Yet, it’s been surprisingly mild. It began like gangbusters the first part of November with 10 or so inches of snow in November and high temps in the mid 20’s. Then in December, and even this month already, we experienced a couple days in the 40’s (at night barely below freezing), which melted much of the snow, except of course the snow in the trees like where our trailer is parked. Even pouring rain and a couple nights we were too warm for sleeping comfortably! The freeze at night however turned the now slush into a sheet of ice, everywhere. Thankfully it then snowed enough to get traction with both boots and tires. So staying warm in a t.t. hasn’t been too difficult thus far.

  The straw bales help enormously! Even on the lowest morning of 5 degrees. Although that morning the water lines to the kitchen sink did freeze because they run right under the front door and we didn’t have a bale there. Tom remedied that immediately. And the valves to dump the tanks froze up so Tom wrapped them with heat tape. Problem solved. A 7-8 gallon tank of propane lasts about 1-1/2 weeks, that’s with all of our cooking, baking, and hot water usage. Not bad, eh. If need be we have a portable camp wood stove we could set up for cooking, etc. out of doors.

  We sure miss wood heat, though. That’s OK; it just keeps us looking forward to when we’re in our snug little cabin home relying on good ole Stanley for all such needs.    ;)    There sure has been some gorgeous hoarfrost, though (in the photo).

  The new pup, Liam, is doing wonderfully! He is going to be such a good dog. The cattle are well; the cat is good; our dog Greer is great. In short, we're all just fine! Hope you are, too!

   

Stage One

   The first stage of winterizing the travel trailer is completed, that of stacking straw bales around it for insulation. It took 70 bales! The difference it made immediately was amazing. We can already maintain a comfortable 67-69 degrees F with mostly the oil electric heater, only using the propane furnace when we need to kick it up if very cold outside, as in less than 25 degrees. 

   The next and final stage is building a room on the side of the trailer to house the wood stove and give us a bit more room. That will be especially nice during winter when we spend more time inside due to less sunlight and cold weather. It will make a much better area for wet dogs to dry off, contain wet boots and coats, as well. It’s getting pretty dicey dodging four pairs of boots, a water hose (to keep it from freezing outside), two dogs, a cat, and cold damp coats hanging from cupboard doors!

Four Days Later

   And four days later, one of the same views only with snow!

Pretty Fall Colors

  Here are a couple shots showing the beautiful golden tamarack trees on the mountainsides. It is simply gorgeous here in autumn!

Waving "Hello"!

   Yes, we're still here! Sheesh, it's been one crazy summer I never want to repeat. Long and sad and lonely, yet at the same time peaceful and healing, too. What many of you do not know is that I spent from May until the end of October up here, in the travel trailer, with the dogs and cat and cattle, by myself 75% of the time. Tom was traveling back and forth every weekend to work on the coast. I thought at the beginning my limit to living this lifestyle would be August. I was dead on. However, things beyond our control forced us to continue. I did reach my breaking point. A few times. Let's suffice it to say there were many tearful telephone conversations between myself and Tom, as well as other family. I am infinitely grateful that we are here together now!!!!!! We are both finally full-time, permanent residents (address changed with the post office, DOL, and all!) albeit in a TT for now.

  So, what's happening in our neck of the woods? We are in the process of winterizing the travel trailer. What is involved in "winterizing" the trailer? Our version is stacking bales of straw around the trailer (which made at least a 15 degree difference instantly), and building on a little room which will contain a wood stove for more efficient, less-expensive heating. We got most of the straw bales up just in the nick of time, too - the very next morning we got our first snow... 3 inches! Being sited in the trees means that not much sun reaches the site, thus the snow is still on the ground. temperatures haven't been above 35 degrees in over a week. Welcome to winter! A trace amount of snow fell yesterday morning, and then just a few flurries today. More pictures will be forthcoming, but here is one of Tom getting ready to unload straw.    ;)

Home Sweet Travel Trailer

  Here it is, our borrowed TS -

My Off-Grid Laundry System

  No washer/dryer in the travel trailer meant I had to figure out a system to do our laundry. And hauling it into the laundromat every week was not an option. Been there, done that. This is what I came up with: 18 gallon plastic buckets, a hand washer, and a 3-bucket wringer system; plus a clothes line with pulley and wood clothes pins.

  I also use Bio-Kleen laundry soap since I know it is safe for greywater systems and the environment, absolutely no chemical anything in it. I use one bucket for the washing, one for the rinsing, and an extra for whatever. A friend who also uses the plunger-style hand washer (available from Lehman's) said using a 5-gallon bucket wasn't very effective with it, not enough room for the water to swish in and around the clothing, so Tom found these 18-gallon buckets (I know they are available at Wal-Mart) that work beautifully. We find the hand washer to be highly effective in getting the clothes clean, even towels, and it's relatively easy. I mean, listen, if I can do this with my health limitations, anyone can! Besides, building a few muscles is always a good thing.   :)

  Now, the wringer system is pretty cool, but we can't take credit for it. That would be Steve Spence who we learned it from. Take three 5-gallon buckets plus a lid, drill several holes in the bottom of one. Place one on the ground, place the one with holes inside that one, put your wet items inside the one with holes, then put the one with the lid inside/on top of said wet items, and sit on it. That's right folks, sit on it... to squish all the water out! Pretty cool, eh!!! The only thing we haven't quite figured out how to remedy is that the lip on the buckets prevents the water from being completely wrung out of the very bottom items. We think maybe adding some smooth rocks or something? If any of you have suggestions, please feel free to leave them in the comments!

  Finally, I simply take the bucket with the clothes over to the laundry line (which we also got from Lehman's). I have a chair there so I don't have to keep bending over to reach for each new article to hang. Having the pulley's is marvelous, that way I don't have to walk back and forth for hanging or taking them off. As you can tell, I am all about conserving various forms of energy! I really like the old-style wood clothes pins, too (no springs to break). I find they hold items of any thickness and haven't popped off even with the breeze. I wear an apron with pockets to keep the clothes pins in.With the lovely pine scented air and mountain breezes the laundry dries in a few hours and smells like no "clean" I've ever smelled before. It's a pure clean. The breeze also helps to soften the fabric, without any additions like vinegar or borax. I'm a purest, what can I say.   ;)

  So there you have it! From sorting to hanging on the line, two loads takes about 1-1/2 hours. Believe it or not, it's actually sort of a relaxing task!