Cold

We had a cold, but not un-doable, visit to the desert over the weekend. Daytime temps were low fifties, nighttime mid thirties. About ten degrees cooler at night than LA. We managed with extra blankets and our little propane heater going all night. But if longer winter visits are going to happen, we’re definitely going to have to come up with a sustainable heating solution. I’m still on the hunt for some kind of solar heating panel. 

The good news is we got all the projects done - all windows are moved into the cabin, the security camera is moved so we can see the outhouse, and the three remaining hammock poles are placed, which means next time we go out (three weeks?) we can hang and use the hammocks. 

The star of the weekend was, of course, the outhouse. In person it’s a bit more claustrophobic than I’d hoped - it’s very short and small, no room for anything but a person in there. But the good news is it works - I brought out a can of wood ash from our fireplace (safer to use than lye to help cover up the poo). I used my female urinal to pee in there, but personally I prefer my vintage porcelain one; this one has ribbed tubing and all this nonsense that just becomes a pee-filled mess. So I think I’ll buy another vintage one for the outhouse that I can just use and immediately dump out. Since there were going to be wind gusts up to 35mph the day after we left, we nailed some boards to help hold the outhouse up as it’s not properly anchored yet. I am sooo hoping our contractor can do that and put in our remaining windows and insulate sometime before we go out in the next three weeks. I think having insulation will make a world of difference keeping us warm and/or cool in there. I suppose the next project that we can be engaged in ourselves is sorting out our water situation and getting our shower going. The toilet plus a shower with hot water will make a huge step forward in our lives out there.

Now that I’m back I’m slowly trying to put the pieces of my event together - I coaxed confirmations out of my new teachers and am now working on hiring all the audio people. I want to make sure I agree on a rate now so I’m not surprised later. Already the sound and floors are running $12,000 more than they would have in 2020. I keep reminding myself, though, that if I had stuck with my old companies I no doubt would have had to pay big price increases anyway, and this sound and floors are definitely superior to what I had been using. 

I would like to make a preliminary announcement for the event on Feb 1. I worry that delaying sign ups until May 1st means I’ll lose people who already made other plans; so at least if I have information available it will keep people in the loop.