Life Out in the Country

So how is country life for this up-to-this-point city girl? Well read on and I will let you know.

Good news:

We have a tank-less, propane powered hot water heater and it is fantastic. We take nice long hot showers. We have plenty of hot water for dishes and laundry. It is compact and convenient. We are most pleased with this item.

Check out this shower. Yes, that is a stock tank for the tub. It is huge and deep and awesome. Great for baths. And plenty of room for showers -- even showers or baths of several children at a time.

Not so good:

Ticks are EVERYWHERE!! We went for a walk the other day and they did not bother us so much on the way out, but on the way back, we would take two steps and then brush three ticks off of our legs. They were in our shoes and we found some on our heads, too, of course. -- And they are all over our house. We kill gobs and gobs of them we find on the screen every day. The good news is that the kids all know the protocol now. Catch it, smoosh it with pliers, throw it away. They are pros at tick disposal.

We picked up some spray (for ants actually, but the package boasts of deterring ticks, as well) that we plan to use around the house. Not exactly organic, earth-friendly, etc, but we are going insane here and it's time to pull out the big guns. -- We have to weigh the possibility of getting seriously sick from these guys against possible side-effects from chemical spray. It looks like (after some research) the chemicals are going to win out this time. -- We are still using an essential oil blend, as well, on clothing and kids. We'll let you know how the battle goes on over the summer.

Good news:
The composting worms are working great. They are processing our "waste" and staying alive and doing their wormy thing.

That pipe now goes way out and is buried. This is an early picture.

Not so good:

Our water is still kind of yucky. We installed a whole-house filter that was supposed to help at least get the manganese out -- what was supposedly causing the yellow color and terrible taste. While the water is less yellow, it is still mildly unsatisfactory. And even with a generous helping of lemme shine (for the hardness -- which is rated "your-water-is-so-hard-you-could-practically-walk-on-it"), only 2/3 of the dishwasher loads come out clean -- most having a yellowy residue. Gordie wonders if the water will improve over time. Mary is offering up the repeated dish washing and trying not to go crazy. Water is a big deal, you know.

Fancy water filter (made specifically for rural wells) that only kind of helps.

Good news:

The good news about the water is that the reverse osmosis system we brought from our town house, is working great. It takes that filtered water and filters it more, making it taste yummy and actually look clear. So kudos there. Unfortunately it is not suited for the whole house. But by golly the drinking water is good.

Not so good:

No AC . . . yet? We actually have a heat pump we are considering putting in. But we are unsure if our solar panels will be able to power it. Gordie thinks during the heat of the summer sun, it "should" be fine. But it would be an awful lot of work to install it and find out it wouldn't work as we hoped. -- As of now, we are beginning to adapt to warmer temps in the afternoon. There is actually some pretty good airflow most days with both doors open to their screens.

Rebekah loves the outdoors. I found her up here one morning, praying the Rosary.

Good news:

I am really enjoying the layout of the new house. I love having a bathroom off my room. And the kitchen, while lacking in counter space, is very open and bright with light from both doors. The main area the kids sleep, play, and eat in, is a good size.

This cling is on one of our front doors. It brings me much joy as the light filters through it.

Plus, the kids are outside about 75 percent of the time every day. It is AWESOME. I love having outdoor kids. I am outdoors more, too. I never realized how much I missed being with "the nature" (as Gordie calls it 😊)

Not so good:

Schedules. Right now trying to find the best way to get everyone into town when the need to be, in the least amount of vehicles, is driving us a little nuts. It doesn't help that we are still trying to fix up our house in town to rent or sell and that is causing lots extra trips and stress. Hopefully things will slow down as summer comes in and we can get in a good groove.

I rearranged the carseats again and now I can almost see out the back window!

Good news:

We picked up this used commercial stove and it is a powerhouse. Six huge burners on top and an oven that fits four pizzas. It could do with a bit of a tune-up, as a couple of the pilot lights are not working quite right and it is a bit gassy smelling. But Gordie hopes to give it a good look over soon and possibly crimp off the pilot lights (so we would just light the burners from a flame each time -- but it would be much less smelly when not in use).

Not so good:

Nap time is still a work in progress. With such a tiny house and the added mix of having to drive 30 min to get to our activities, napping is not nearly as consistent a it used to be. Having Zipporah nap in the main room sometimes works and sometimes she just lays in her bed and stares at everyone. Peter can nap in our bedroom, but he rarely naps as long as he used to at our old house. We don't really have room for a pen in our room, so keeping him in bed (as in the past he might wake up and go back to sleep) if he wakes up early is not a possibility. But we are persevering. Hopefully we can find a groove -- or the kids will adjust. This too shall pass.

Samuel and Jacob going thistle hunting.

Good news:

I got a new cell phone!

Gordie has had a cell phone for a while. I have carried a prepaid cell now and then for when I wanted to be accessible. But now with Rebekah doing more activities on her own (like volunteering at the museum) and traveling 30 min to town regularly, even though we still have our landline, I decided we needed another cell phone in the mix. 

Since I am incredibly cheap -- ahem, I mean frugal. I concluded Tracfone had the best options. I went with a yearly plan that gives me 1500 minutes and 1500 texts, which breaks down into about 125 of each per month. I've only had it about a month, but keeping myself to those limits appears to be doable. 

And the bonus is that we had an old Windows smart phone floating around (because Gordie had used one and then upgraded to an iphone since a lot of the apps he needs are not compatible with the Windows phone anymore). So I get to enjoy a lot of fun perks, like a nice camera and some basic games or apps. The Messenger App for Facebook is not supported, but I figure that is for the best, since even though 1.5 mb of data is included, I plan not to use any cell data. Although I do connect to the internet at home to stream Pandora and such. I only wish the Amazon kindle app was supported, but alas, I will just have to keep using my Kindle fire for digital books. I really feel like I've won the jackpot of this awesome phone for only about $10 a month and no added temptation to spend all day on Facebook.

In Conclusion:

As with any move, we are all adjusting slowly to the newness of life. It is mildly overwhelming. Okay, that's not true. It is very overwhelming. I could barely feed, educate, and clothe these children in town. Now I have to figure out how to do it in a smaller house, with increased driving time cutting into our schedule and less consistent naps, etc. But I'm confident we will adapt. We are really enjoying being physically closer -- I think. And the outside time is just awesome. The clouds, the sky, the storms. It is absolutely amazing. Despite the struggles, I am confident it is worth the sacrifice.