Saturday, January 26, 2013

frost, pipes and Mammas

With the record breaking cold we discovered a real problem last weekend:

The pipe going from our house to the septic had frozen!

And since you simply can't have 11 people living in a house with no sewer, we moved in with my mom and dad for a few days. Since their house is twice as big as ours and 1/4 as old, this was actually more like a vacation than anything, lol!

I tried to maintain my normal schedule, including introducing our new spelling curriculum as a "soft start" to school and chore zones. It worked great! My mom's house is now clean for her company next week, we actually did less housework, and we had a change of pace for a few days.

Daily visits to our house to care for animals allowed my 18yo son to work on the problem. He had it fixed by Friday morning:-) So we are back home now.

My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this month. Those we have talked with say that it is the garden variety, boring type, very small, ideal location. So it looks like this is annoying, but not really a big deal. She will have surgery next week followed by six weeks of radiation (no chemo). Then there should never be a recurrence.

My brother and uncle are coming to be with us all for the surgery, so that's good. I always enjoy visiting with both and having both here at the same time is a real treat:-) I hope they both bring their guitars!

All the trouble with the water has got me thinking again about waste systems. Part of the problems we have had over the years is simply 11 people living with a system designed for 4 or 5. If we could reduce the amount going down the drain we would be better off in so many ways. And living in the desert west, water conversation is a way of life. I wouldn't know how to live somewhere where there was plenty of water.

I do have an HE washer, so that helps. but could we somehow filter the water and use it in the garden? Hmmmmm.....

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