no running water

It didn't happen on purpose. We didn't seek out housing that lacked something so fundamental as running water because we were trying to save the world or the whales or the whatevers. This is just how things worked out and I am glad it did because it means we don't live downtown, it means our front yard is a field of horses, followed by a line of trees, followed by a slope, followed by another field of horses, followed by more trees and then the river and then, wait for it, MOUNTAINS!

For example: Early this morning I was outside and I noticed a single line of footprints in the snow. On closer inspection, Squanch attributed them to a fox. This fox makes up the bulk of the traffic in front of our cabin for the last week. Of course there are Raven's in our airspace, they heckle us from time to time, but I can deal with that.

Life without running water. RADICAL Eh? Apparently. It's one of the first things that came up when the issue of a certain neglected northern reserve close to a diamond mine was in the daily news. "How do they live? How deplorable for the government to let them live like that!" I have never been to this reserve, and I don't mean to belittle the issue, but whenever I heard mention of the no running water detail my first thought was: "Big deal."

Because it really isn't a big deal for us. Of course this is only because there are many places we can go to acquire free, clean, safe water.

• BLUE JUGS - Drinking, dishwashing, sponge bathing, face washing, teeth brushing. We have about 6 of them and we refill them at a nearby service station (gas / convenience / laundromat / showering place) where many other beardy locals draw water from as well.
• LAUNDROMAT - Laundry and showering facilities for Me (same place as above)
• WORK - showering facilities for Squanch
• RIVER - summer supply of all non-potable watering needs such as: laundry, watering garden, showering in the bathing house equip with a woodstove for warming water, and this spring, will be equip with a paloma for on demand water heating purposes (all those treeplanting camps we lived/worked/ran are coming in handy). 

Let's be clear:

I miss bathtubs. Words cannot express how spectacular baths feel when you can't have one at will. I am getting goose bumps just thinking about it. Today, I'm listening to Greg Brown while making lasagna and trying to keep the baby happy aka alive and there is a line in one of his songs "I want to buy you the biggest bath tub in the world." And to me, right now, those are the most romantic lyrics ever.

flood

So the other morning when I woke up to the sound of water and thought it was the rain outside my bedroom window, well, it wasn't the rain. It was a burst pipe in the apartment below us where the rodentia couple live. They have been on their little rodentia vacation for about a week now and while they were gone their little rodentia world got a bit wet.

We alerted our landlord when we noticed our water pressure had become super low. My Manquanch had a shower and it was just drip drip... Type A landlord brushed it off as probably the city and the construction But later that day Squanch discovered a river of ice flowing from one of the rodentia's window sills and called the landlord who freaked and came up from the city to check it out. All I could hear from up stairs when he finally arrived was "OH SHIT. Oh man-o-man o-man." I was just waiting for the F-bombs and they eventually came but only after I thought the poor man was going to burst into tears as he dialed every plumber he knew and kept getting no response. Rodentia have no idea life as they know it has changed and are off in rodentia lala land. I hope they have renters insurance, but who ever does?