Friday, September 01, 2006

A Covey of Quail

I've posted messages for each of the previous four days, so if you are desperate for a blow by blow account of our trip, you are in for a "treat". By the by, we're now on Oliver's Municipal Wi-Fi. While I can surf and recieve e-mail, for some reason I can't send it, even with a hotmail account. Can't figure it out. Any help appreciated. I assume we can commune through the messages function on blogger, but maybe not.

We felt badly about leaving Bill the bunny and our many bird friends behind in Calgary. But this morning we discovered that we have a covey of quail in our back yard. Big Happy! They are so cute, with their topknots and the bobbing way they walk.

I've spent the day unpacking and putting things away, a process that will take a couple of weeks, if not longer. We haven't gotten around to calling the RV repair guy yet, but will. Maybe after the long weekend.

We have to drink bottled water anyway, so for now we carry water for other purposes in a gallon jug from the spigot 10 feet from the front door. If we want hot water we have a kettle and a stove. There are showers here, so we won't even be trying to shower in this two by three bathroom. The toilet flushes with a cup of water, and washing dishes in a pan takes three or four cupfuls. As of mid-afternoon we've used a total of one and a half gallons. (Bet you used that much to brush your teeth this morning.) This kind of living is easy on the earth for sure.

The electrical system works fine. I brewed coffee with our little four cup coffee maker this morning. The only appliance we have running on AC right now is the fan. So far we've used only the DC lights, which are powered by our solar panel. We should look for an adapter so we could charge the phone, computer and any other battery-operated devices on DC.

This is very comfortable. The mornings are chilly, but a sweater and long pants are enough covering. By 10:00 am it's shorts time. Today it's supposed to be 30 degrees C., so far we've never been uncomfortably warm. That roof coating Ian put on has made a huge difference in the amount of heat that comes through the ceiling. They promised a 20 degree difference, and they were telling the truth.

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