Notes from Nowhere

It’s Not Supposed To Be This Cold, Is It?

 

They call it unseasonable and unusual. What it is, in fact, is cold.

And that’s OK. But seriously, it really is cold. Here’s one way I know…

Water filter cracked by cold

That’s a water filter screwed into a garden hose splitter that’s screwed into my water tap. Both the filter and the splitter froze and cracked overnight two nights ago because I got lazy and didn’t disconnect them pre-freeze.

Exploded water filter

Got it all put back together yesterday with a new filter and new splitter and then got lazy again and didn’t disconnect last night. Nothing exploded though. Not quite as cold last night plus a little bit of luck.

Overnight lows have been in the 30s and even the 20s. Cliff said it was 20 degrees at this house about 8 miles from here two nights ago. So…cold. Days can get into the mid to upper 60s but more likely high 50s or low 60s.

On the other hand, the people here are warm. Here’s one way I know…

Fresh-baked cherry pie

That’s a fresh-baked 5″ cherry pie, hand-crafted and hand-delivered by my wonderful neighbor Beth earlier this week. Beth is a pie expert and it shows. It also tastes. It was delicious. Beth is renting a guest house on the property while she completes her latest book…about pie…and how pie makes the world a better place. It does!

Beth’s boyfriend Doug arrived for a visit the other day from Iowa and brought along enough venison for a 5-person Christmas Eve feast. Guess who’s coming to dinner. Right! Cliff, Linda and yours truly. How lucky are we!

Speaking of food, the only challenge in this location (aside from the cold) is that there is only one sewer tap for four locations. That was going to require that I pick up and move the 40 or so yards to the tap on a weekly or so basis. I was resigned to that. I’d convinced myself it would be character building.

But then, a kind of miracle! (Tis the season, yes?) I was made aware of a mobile sewer system (officially called an RV tote tank) that would enable me to keep the trailer in place, and simply (OK, not *so* simply) roll (or drive) the mobile unit to the sewer tap instead! A few issues with gravity notwithstanding, (working those out) it’s a pretty sweet solution, so to speak.

RV tote tank

Lastly, brother Scott sent me a few gifts that included a new shower head that makes water conservation, a critically important concept here in travel-trailer-land, more convenient. The old shower head had its flow cut-off switch right on the shower head handle which was awkward and frustrating. The new one had an option to position the shut-off gizmo right at the hot/cold handles which is a far more elegant solution. (See close-up.)

Shower-On-off switch

Also thanks to Scotty, I’m safe from bears! (Not a whole lot of bears in Arizona and none down here, but I’ll be back up in Colorado and beyond soon enough.)

Bear spray

5 Responses to “It’s Not Supposed To Be This Cold, Is It?”

  1. Debbie Ring

    More lessons learned! And that pie looks so professional! Enjoy it, your new friends, and your new gifts!

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