A quick note: These blog posts are not in chronological order. They are in the order of what came to my mind first but there’s a general framework. Hopefully they’ll be able to stand on their own as bits and pieces from the life of an eccentric family stupid enough to move to the frontier. 🙂
We are afraid of the water heater. It’s gas. We finally got it into our “new” used fifth wheeler yesterday and we wonder if it will blow up or something. Did we install it right? Do you have to turn it on and off manually when you want hot water? We checked for gas leaks with soapy water and sealed it up good so no worries about that. Then we watched an episode of Mythbusters where they over-pressurized some hot water tanks and they blasted off as if rockets going to the moon.
I didn’t tighten up the water hoses well enough either before we turned on the water. Water leaks everywhere and one that just won’t stop. At least it’s just a very slow drip. Tons of teflon tape on the threads and around the outside, duct tape, spray sealer..nothing works. Just put a cup and a towel over it for the night and do again in the morning. Just in case, we turned off the gas. We’re calling a real person to fix this in the morning.
So now for some context. My counselor told me to write a book so I’m writing a blog instead.
This is actually the introduction post about a family going off-grid, not for any philosophical reasons, we just liked the land and the quiet.
I’m hoping my blog is funny. We’ll find out.
Summary:
- We are a husband and wife who sold their house in western Washington and moved to eastern Washington.
- We are not perfect. Far from it.
- We don’t care that we are not perfect; and we are known to swear but we are nice (although one neighbor said we are evil but more on that later).
- I only semi know how to write so forgive me for all of the grammatical mistakes I am about to make.
- We lived in a trailer all summer of 2017 while we looked for property.
- We found property we liked. It “spoke to” my husband. 🙂
- We moved onto the property and continued to live in the trailer.
- We had a major reality check as fall progressed.
- We weren’t very well prepared financially and some things happened that made it worse but things are better now 🙂
- We made the best of things but winter sucked.
- Summer then sucked.
- Fall is here and we’re doing WAY better but some things still suck.
A lot of things DON’T suck…don’t get me wrong. We love our new lives here! It’s been one hell of a year.
Life off the grid is difficult. Things you have to think about that you now take for granted: water, shelter, power and all of the other things that are ready made if you live in town. But if you live “out there”, every little thing has to be thought through and executed in the best way you can figure out and/or afford. You have to allow for freezing temperatures in the winter and sweltering highs in the summer when planning this shit. There seems to be no spring or fall here. It seems like a place of hot or cold with little in betweens.
I have cried more times than I can count and I have laughed fewer times. Just being honest. It hasn’t been easy but it’s sure been rewarding and a learning experience so far.
Things I will talk about in the future:
- Honkers the goose
- The Spring
- The Garden
- Going Solar; Kind Of
- Winter
- Summer
- Sling Shotting and the Ball Return System
- Prospecting!
- Mushrooms; Morels
- The Shed
- The Neighbors
- The Other Neighbors
- The Antiques On The Hillside
- The New Fifth Wheeler: a Saga
- The Old Trailer: a Saga
- Insulating or Preparing For Armageddon?
- Bridgette the Truck
- Art: Making Dorodango Balls Out Of Mudd