Water, water...

It's pouring. Has been for days, tho' we had a single beam of sunlight this afternoon for a brief moment, appreciated only when it was gone, of course.

The rain is raining all around, but no water floweth through my house pipes. We lost our water a couple of hours ago, in the way these things often happen in this wilderness aerie in which I reside, without warning, or fanfare.

Just gone.

The difference between knowing one's water is about to be shut off and having it just stop all really comes down to the toilets. Preparedness is everything.

However, not for nothing am I hardened denizen of this mountain hamlet. I've just schlepped two bucketfuls of rain barrel water up three storeys to allow the upstairs toilet to continue to do what toilets do.

And now we wait. Last water outage? Five days.

And, apropos of not much, in this election season, don't forget the Municipal variety -- November 15th in this neck of the woods. Think my water will be back by then?

~kc

Clean Running Water

I've just had a shower. Pure luxury. Warm water, shampoo, shaved legs -- the whole bit. I've been without running water for 26 hours, due to a little problem re-routing the pipes on my street. Now, as is the case with these little problems, nobody knew about it before it happened, and thus I didn't leap into the shower in anticipation before-hand. Let's just say that at 9 am yesterday morning, after my exercise class with the incredible Stan -- I really needed a shower, but water was nowhere to be found.

In my little village on the side of the mountain, we've had our share of boil-water advisories, so dealing with bottled water is nothing new. But this time, I had no water at all, meaning that to flush a toilet, I had to go out to my rain barrel (which I thankfully didn't drain last week -- even though I intended to, as it was looking pretty grungy) and fill a couple of buckets to dump into the toilet tank.

But the pipes are now hooked up, the water is flowing and all is well. Even the toilets are merrily flushable, with clean water (and no leaves) shushing down the drain.

All I can think about are the people in Burma (Myanmar) post-cyclone and the others in China post-earthquake. Not many hot showers or flushing toilets being enjoyed there.

If you haven't made a donation yet, I'd like to make it easy for you. Here's a link to the Canadian Red Cross site.

https://www.paypaq.com/redcross/new/

From this single link you can direct your funds toward the campaigns they have for Burma, China and other areas in need around the world.

Another choice is Medecins Sans Frontieres, and once again from this Canadian site, you can direct your donated funds as you choose.

Enjoy your next shower!


***

While I was in the shower, I very sweetly left my dogs in the kitchen, since it is raining outside. They have lots of shelter outside, but heck, thought I, let 'em stay in. Now, as you, my cherished readers well know, I've learned my lesson with puppy Silas. I cleaned everything off the counters before heading upstairs. Both dogs were lying contentedly on their respective beds.

I came back down to this:





You will note Silas is still contentedly on a bed -- only it is Seamus's bed, since his own is now eaten. This is bed number 4 consumed by Silas.




Oh -- and I forgot my toothbrush, by the sink. Rather than lugging the water upstairs to my bathroom this morning, I brought the toothbrush down to the kitchen sink.

I call this shot 'Toothbrush Reconstructed'.





My dogs are now outside.

~kc