We live precariously with modern appliances here. Which is fine with me - my ultimate goal is to be totally off grid - invisible to all - or at least as much as possible. I want to know that I will be fine if everything crashes and we are left with no electricity or gas. Everyone has their own hobbies. Mine is figuring out ways to be totally self-sustaining and to teach the kids that if push comes to shove, they can provide the necessities without all things to which we have become accustomed.
All that is fine but I haven't yet figured out how to deal abruptly being without water. Sunday morning I noticed that the water didn't seem very warm. It was rather tepid, in fact. Thank goodness I showered before I left for church. Later that afternoon, I realized that we had no hot water. So I checked to see if the circuit breaker kicked. It hadn't. I wouldn't have been too concerned - the kids were relatively clean and could easily go a day without a shower. But I had just returned from an 8 mile run and was sweaty and stinky. Sunday afternoons during football playoffs are not a good time for things to break. The only thing that could get my husband away from in front of the television would be if the cats ran out of food (trust me - the cats can be unrelenting). So I resigned myself that we would all do our best getting clean with a big pot of warm water.
This morning we still had water albeit cold water. It was still running even though it was about 9 degrees below zero. When I came home from work though, I found my kids waiting for me in a stifling hot house. It seems that the water pipes did freeze and they were heating the house up to unthaw. The pipes thawed and soon we had running water again. Some of the water was running so well, that it wouldn't stop running! I got that fixed and hopefully by tomorrow morning, we will be able to take a shower that doesn't freeze our hair and make our body parts turn blue.
But in that two hour period that I had to run down to the cellar to turn on the main water valve every time we needed water - to wash, to fill the tea kettle, to flush the toilet, I realized how much water we used. When I think of the countries that don't have access to clean water, it really kind of makes me sick to think that not only do I not hesitate to turn on water whenever I want-not need-it, there are a lot of times that I waste it.
I wonder how those people who don't have the same access to water - fresh or otherwise--make it through the day. And could I ever be so self-sufficient that I had would not have to worry about my water supply even in the worst case scenario. If I were a braver person, I would leave the water turned off at the main valve for a week or so just to drive home the fact not only to me, but to the rest of the family on how much water we use.
But I'm not that brave and I don't thank God nearly enough that I am privileged to have clean water at the turn of a knob. In my quest for self-sustainability, I'm hoping to at least rig up a way that I can store rainwater and use it throughout the summer to water my gardens and the animals.
It's a start.
