Camping on The Land

Our new house, "The Cottage" is getting much closer to being done. This weekend we spent a good chunk of time "camping" there. 

The kids were playing Ships and Sailors when we first arrived. This is Five Men Rowing.

Paul keeping it clean. That boy loves to vacuum!

Rebekah spent a lot of time in this position. She is a bookworm for sure!

First, Updates:

Power

We have electric power from the solar panels. The panels are doing great pulling the power and the batteries are doing great storing it. After buying an inverter that was twice the cost of the first one we got, we are quite pleased this this system.

Heating and cooking.

We have a propane heater (with an electric blower) and it is working well. It is a bit loud, but we are adjusting to the sound -- like any heater, it takes a little getting used to. We have our gas range moved out, but are waiting on new orifices to fit it for propane. They should be in later this week. Fortunately we have an outdoor propane grill we cooked on this weekend.

Water

We have a propane water heater (tankless) and I imagine it is fine, but we haven't really tested it because we're having a slight water issue. We shocked the well as we were supposed to, but even after letting it run for numerous hours, the water remains urine colored and brings up sediment. We are hoping to test the water again this week and see if we can figure out what needs to be done. We are complete newbies when it comes to dealing with wells.

The water heater is the upper box on the right. (It's hooked up and all now -- this picture is a little old.) The box on the left is for the well, along with the blue pressure tank.

Plumbing -- poop.

Despite the water being bleh, the plumbing in the new house works well. The sinks run and the toilets flush. Speaking of flushing toilets, the worm bin (aka "natural septic" or "composting toilet system") is in place. Gordie still needs to run the laterals from it, but the worms are there and being fed.

The worms are in this tank.

The Take-Home

Pros

We are really enjoying our somewhat isolated environment. Although the house is small, the rooms are actually quite large. And leaving the ceiling open, coupled with the patio doors letting in so much light, makes the entire house quite inviting and comfortable to me.

Demonstrating some natural light. -- I was going to wait until everything was "clean" to take a picture, but then I figured I might never get one taken!! But in my defense, that mess on the freezer is Gordie's tools and such. 😊

Peter LOVES being outside. He was happy as a claim to play outside for HOURS, just picking up dirt or toddling around or playing in his little log cabin. He is a free-range child. Who knew?

The big kids are especially excited about the KCC (Kids Command Center). Grandpa and Grandma gave this old communications bunker to them for Christmas. We gave it a good wipe down this weekend. Once Gordie gets the two holes patched we plan to move out the "big kid" toys (like legos and board games). Gordie says it won't be hard to run a power line to it and we can just pick up a little propane heater for it, as well.

KCC -- Kids Command Center

Everyone was pleased with the mats being the floor in the main room. And we hung a few toys (the ones that could be moved again -- as we have not planned it all out yet) and those were a big hit.

Cons

The wind. So so so much Kansas wind and no trees! I commented to Gordie that it almost felt like we were on a ship at night as the wind blew and buffeted the house. Granted, everything held and all was fine. But the noises kept Gordie uneasy -- worrying something might break or be wrong. I imagine we will grow used to this.

And Finally, More Pictures 😊

Mom splurged and got the kids pomegranates. They LOVE pomegranates! Here they are patiently waiting for Rebekah to separate them fairly (as I only got three, so the had to share). 

Master Bath

Parents' Bedroom

Got a couple of the cabinets up. We are planning to put one of the ones on the floor in each of the bathrooms.