Movin' out

So, you may be wondering how we deal with some day-to-day necessities around here. I briefly referenced our "kitchen" when talking about the palapa. It's a two burner camp stove on a table, made out of 10 foot 2 x 4s and sawhorses. Now that we're in the shop, we've moved the cooking area inside, where we have easy access to our food and the utensils can be spread out, instead of being bunched into the dish drainer or a box. Dish washing remains an outdoor activity, until we get water brought down to the shop and a sink hooked up.

Tres models the shower

Since Tres actually has to go to work and be around other people every day (and being excessively stinky or dirty - both of which come about in short order when you're essentially camping on a sand dune in 90 degree weather every day - didn't seem wise when starting a new job), creating some sort of a shower was a priority for us. Luckily, we have someone very well acquainted with showers in the family and, between his expertise and Tres' creativity, we came up with this: a 55 gallon food-grade drum filled with water (it once held kiwi-strawberry syrup and your shower still smells slightly sweet) mounted on a wood frame that is attached to the back of the pump house. There is a shower head mounted on the bottom (it's the small white thing above Tres' head in the photo) and a tarp tied on one side, to block the neighbors' view. Showering outside is a new (to me) and pretty spectacular thing. The water, despite the sun's best attempts, tends to be pretty chilly, so it's most enjoyable in the heat of the day and done relatively quickly. We've only had a few surprises thus far, low-flying planes (there is a small airstrip directly behind us) doing repeated touch-and-gos during certain people's showers (coincidence?) and once, just as I was getting ready to go in, the realization that people often ride their horses on the otherwise quiet and undeveloped land behind our house.

And last, but certainly not least, one of the amenities for which I'm most grateful:



I should add that we've been living pretty high on the hog these past few days, as we now have a fridge hooked up in the shop. Is there greater luxury than being able to buy food days in advance and successfully store leftovers?