There are many things that I still have to learn, like which electrical appliances I can run at the same time. I have been very cautious doing the obvious things. I shut off the air conditioning when I run my vacuum and one night I used my NuWave oven and decided that the a/c should probably be shut off at that time also. However, one night while making dinner, I used the microwave to heat up a few things. I know that I have used it before, but I am guessing that I must have just gotten lucky during those times, because this night I blew a breaker. Danny was working late and I did everything that I could think of. I checked the outside connection (we have a surge protector out there), I looked at the breaker box...one of them seemed to be thrown and I messed with it a little. That didn't work. I pulled out the manual and read it...that didn't help, so I went back to the breaker/fuse box and stared at it for a time. Staring didn't seem to help either. The trailer was really starting to get warm so we opened a few windows and I decided to sit outside and wait for Danny. I probably spend 20 minutes getting eaten alive by bugs before he finally arrived home, walked in the house, opened the breaker box, tossed a switch and WA-LA, power. He is amazing like that. I am blessed beyond words.
We have had several nights of rain. WOW, can that get loud. One night we were sitting at the dining table saying grace when it really started coming down. We couldn't even hear ourselves. It was sort of comical. It rained cats and dogs that night. Our site is quite a bit unlevel. It has a major backwards slope and outside the front door, we were flooded. I keep a jug of cold water on the picnic table and Jacob tried to brave the weather but said that it was 'too squishy'. By morning, our fancy astroturf carpeting that we keep at the front door was covered in mud and our shoes were soaked...mine had actually floated several feet away. But it was all good...nothing was damaged and we all survived it. Sleeping was actually enhanced by a slow pitter-patter of rain on the roof.
The kids are still in public school. It's a 30 minute drive each way, morning and afternoon. It is time consuming, but I promised them that they could finish out the first 9 weeks. Honestly, I don't know that I would have accomplished so much around the house if they had been here.
For the first week, we were using the bathhouse for our showers. We had not gotten the propane tanks filled, so there was no hot water. I cannot tell you what a blessing it is to have hot water and be able to shower in the trailer. If you have ever been camping, you know how it is to use the bathhouse. Now don't get me wrong, when camping in a tent, a bathhouse with HOT water, even cold water, is a blessing. But we are talking about 'fulltime living' here. And the bathhouse just wasn't cutting it. I mean, forget the spiders and torn curtains with total lack of privacy. And forget the fact that you have to rush in hopes of not running out of hot water before you were done. The WORSE part for me is having to wear 'shower shoes' and not ever really feeling like you have clean feet. Even if you manage to scrub them well in the bathhouse, you still have to walk back through the grass and dirt to get home. They are NEVER clean. I cannot believe how great it was the first night that I showered in the trailer. What a luxury!!! It is tiny...and you truly feel like a giant while standing in it, but there is nothing like stepping out and being able to go to bed with clean feet. The next morning while I was still relishing in the pleasure of clean feet, I thought of John 13:1-17, where Jesus washes his deciples' feet, and I thought of Simon Peter saying, "not just my feet, then my hands and head as well". I know that there isn't a whole lot of connection there, but I thought, "how wonderful it is to have clean feet" and I thanked God for my many blessings.
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