Backwoods Wife

Paper jumble

 

The kind of paperwork I'd rather be doing - drawing with Riley in the woods.

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Ugh.  I don't know why I have such an issue dealing with paperwork.  The bills get paid on time and important correspondence is attended to, it's just the filing part afterward that I seem to have a problem with.  I have stacks of paper.  I have boxes filled with stacks of paper.  I even have boxes filled with filed papers.  Most of it is probably no longer relevant or more valuable than firestarter.  However, I can't actually know that until I look at each paper, file, and box.  Sigh.  Time to get it done.  I have been sorting and throwing away papers a bit this week and have been amazed at the energy returning to me.  I'm not sure if it is the dealing with the papers themselves that is so freeing or that I am finally acting on that which has been nagging me for so long.  In any case, the resulting feelings are good ones.

 

The best sleep in recent memory

Well, last night was probably the best sleep I've had in several weeks.  Emma has been teething lately and so I've been woken up frequently at night while those slow moving chompers came in.  My "best sleep" probably isn't what many of you would think of - it wasn't perfectly silent, it wasn't uninterupted, and it wasn't a marathon snooze, but it was gooo-ood.  Yes, you know you're a little sleep deprived when children talking in their sleep, babies waking you to nurse, strange and fascinating dreams, and a wood-weevil crawling on you and later, biting your face (miserable things creep out of the firewood every now and then) constitute a good sleep.  On another sleep related note - we ordered a new mattress yesterday.  I might feel completely human by the end of November.  Lovely!

Sick day

It's official.  Now two kiddos have a stomach bug of some variety.  Today is going to be a busy one at home I figure.  I was already planning on washing bedding today, now it is not an option.  Hopefully, like most stomach bugs, this will leave as quickly as it arrived.  We will have a day of stories and gentle food and naps.

Too cold!

Brrr.  This is our coldest weekend of the year so far.  The temperature was fairly steady yesterday at about -39C.  We drove 2 1/2 hours to a neighbouring town yesterday to go to the dentist.  It was so cold that our van wouldn't start, even though it had been plugged in.  Thankfully, our old 4-Runner started and so we all piled into that instead.  The kids were dressed in snowsuits and boots and Dwayne rigged up a piece of cardboard as winter front so the heater would work better.  The steering column was almost frozen stiff, it was all Dwayne could do to steer around 90 degree corners.  No driving for me!  If he can barely manage it, I certainly wouldn't be able to.  It was too cold for most critters as well.  The only brave souls were grouse and a few ptarmigan, but it was so cold that they didn't even try to fly off the road as we drove right beside them.  Oh, we did see a fox on the way home as well.

Our generator wouldn't start last night so Dwayne used the 4-Runner to jump start it.  Today we weren't so lucky.  The 4-Runner would not go and neither would the generator.  As we would normally use the generator's power to plug in the 4-Runner we had to go to plan b.  After putting a small fire on in an old frying pan and placing that under the 4-Runner for a while Dwayne was able to get the 4-Runner to start.  He then used that to start the generator.  I guess it ran for about 20 seconds, made a terrible sound, and died.  Lovely.  It will have to be completely rebuilt.  For now, we will have to revert to smaller generators that we will keep inside the back door when they aren't in use so they will start in the cold.  

Also, our on demand hot water heater froze up yesterday and so we are without running hot water for today.  Thankfully, we can heat up water on the wood stove or on the propane stovetop.  The hot water heater pipes are copper and split in a spot where they can be soldered so it shouldn't be too difficult to fix.

Everyone is playing near the wood stove today.  The kids have set up shop over there with play dough, cars, pillows, and assorted other toys.  They are taking most of their food and drink over there today too.  Riley still braves the cold in just her underwear.  I have no idea how she does it.  She is currently sitting on the floor beside my chair in the coldest area of the house with next to nothing on, building a "big, big buiding" out of Duplo.  I am freezing just looking at her.  I, by contrast, am wearing wool socks, leggings, jeans, a tank top, a cotton sweater, a hoodie of Dwayne's and my toque.  Yes.  And I am definitely not overheating.  Oh, amazingly enough, Riley is wearing socks as well!  

Me: "Are you cold Riley?"  

Riley: "No."  

She did not get her warm bloodedness from me...

 

I am off to tackle putting away a mountain of clean laundry as I can't do much water-wise until Dwayne comes home with the smaller generators and the hot water heater part.  

Off to work and to stay warm!! 

Plumbing and Moose Hunting

Hrmn.  There seems to be a correlation between plumbing problems and Dwayne going away moose hunting.  The last time he was away for an extended period of time hunting we had issues.  We have the same ones today.  Blech!  I'm off to pour my eco-friendly dish soap and some near boiling water in the toilet.  I hope it works...

Why do these things seem to happen when husbands and dads are out of town?  I guess it forces us to learn something new!  That's what I'm going to tell myself anyway.  That this is actually a good thing.  Okay, maybe not good but not horrible either. ;)

Update: Plumbing situation resolved.  2 for 2 with the dish soap and hot water.  Easy, cheap, convenient, and it works!

Everything at once!

We are having some technical difficulties right now.  Here is a list of things on the fritz or needing repair/replacement:

- hot water heater (not fun!)

- electrical panel

- inverter

- water pump (not critical, thankfully! we have one to switch out to now)

- our van

It is taking a lot more thought and effort to do ANYTHING around here at the moment.  Water has to be heated up on the stove for cleaning, dishes, and kids' baths.  The adults have to go to town to shower.  The cold water only runs when the generator is on or when the generator is off, until the pressure tank is empty - not long.  The electricity only works when the generator is on - our power inverter will not cooperate, so no running off the battery banks.  

To top all of this off, I was on my way home last night after picking up replacement parts for the hot water heater from the bus depot, and showering at my parents' place in town, when I got literally 5 seconds down the road and our van died.  Would not start again.  No dice.  Ugh.  Thankfully Dad was home and was able to tow me into their driveway with the beasty wood truck.  Thanks Dad!

Poor Dwayne has been having to put in a full shift at home after he gets home from work just to try to sort all of these things out!

The kids and are home today as we are van-less.  That's okay though, it's cool and damp so we've put a fire in the wood stove, read stories, played, and made banana chocolate chip muffins.  Dishes will have to be done soon, but while the generator is running I figured I'd get my computer time in now while I can.

Running hot water is one of the most taken for granted modern conveniences.  I think it has to be my favourite "convenience"!  

4 Stalls at the 4-Way Stop

This morning I drove our old 4Runner into church.  I had not got much sleep last night due to there being 2 adults and 2 kids in the bed for most of the night, so Dwayne offered to take the kids in with him so I could have a bit more time to rest and get ready for church.  The iffy part of this plan was my driving the 4Runner.  It's a standard.  I haven't driven standard in a coon's age.  I did have a practice run a few weeks ago on a long dirt road, but I didn't have to deal with traffic or much stopping and starting.  I managed to get to church and park without stalling.  I was so excited!  I then made it from church to Mom and Dad's with no problems.  I was getting the hang of it.  WAS being the operative word.  I went to the grocery store for milk.  I lurched out of Mom and Dad's driveway in reverse, causing me to start laughing and also Dad who was watching from the driveway.  I made it to the store without further incident.  Coming back was another story.  I managed to stall 4 TIMES IN A ROW at the 4-way stop in the middle of town.  With at least 2 vehicles waiting behind me.  I coudn't figure it out.  I had been doing so well, not popping the clutch or over-revving.  After the fourth, and by now slightly embarassing, stall I realized that I was still in 2nd gear.  Back to 1st and all was fine again.  Oh well.

" It could have been worse...

it could have happened to me!"  At least that's what Pop used to say. :) Only this time it DID happen to me.  Dwayne is away moose hunting for a few days so I'm holding down the fort.  Usually Dwayne being gone forces me to do things I don't normally volunteer to do.  For example: going outside late at night to turn off the generator or anything else in the pitch dark while the wolves are howling.  (Not exaggerating about the wolves by the way.)  This time I got to deal with toilet issues.  Not my idea of fun.  Ask Dwayne how freaked out I get when HE unclogs the toilet.  I go cleaning crazy. The toilet super-clogged today.  Good thing we are well versed in using the great outdoors when necessary and that we have a large wooded property on which to practice such skills.  Makes for ultra quick "bathroom" trips especially now that it is officially freezing out there. (Yes, there is frost!  And snow in the forcast for Saturday.)  I spent well over an hour trying to plunge the blockage away.  My palms hurt.  I couldn't locate a snake either at our house (running around outside in the dark with Hendrik's flashlight) or from our neighbour, or at Mom and Dad's (driving in at 10p.m and looking in and around their house and garage with Hendrik's flashlight).  I came home and put the kids in their beds as they had fallen asleep on the drive.  (Riley had actually been asleep before we left the house and remained so the whole time.) In the end I googled.  I had nothing to lose and I was running out of options. I tried making a homemade snake from a metal coat hanger.  It took me 45 minutes to unwrap the thing first.  I got rid of all of our plain metal hangers a few years back and replaced them with plastic ones with the exception of a few that had been macramaed with some sort of fabric.  After almost getting finger cramps from dismantling the hanger and having the hook part snap off in my hands, I finally got the wire untwisted with my itty bitty Swiss army knife pliers and tried it out.  It did nothing. There was a suggestion for leaving an enzyme based product in the toilet overnight but alas! we're out of Septo-Bac.  This actually works.  I've tried it before. My last resort was hot hot water and dish soap.  I squirted a bunch of my mandarin non-toxic, ecofriendly soap in the toilet and filled up the kettle.  I dumped the almost boiling water in and waited.  A few air bubbles.  Better results than anything else so far.  Nothing doing half an hour later so I plunged again.  I think it worked.  I have to wait for the suds to subside before I can be sure. Fun, fun, fun!  It's only 1:55a.m. Oh yes, in case the toilet incident wasn't enough, we had another related incident.  Whilst I was disinfecting the bathroom after my plunging attempts earlier this evening the kids were watching TV in the living room.  On one of my trips to take dirty laundry outside I noticed an unmistakable smell.  I found this a little bit weird as the bathroom smelled clean and there was a faint aroma of bleach in the air.  I thought maybe the former odor had migrated or something.  I walked past a few moments later and figured there had to be something causing the smell.  I found it.  Fortunately, and unfortunately.  We had a dirty diaper incident in which the diaper failed to contain what it should have contained.  Ugh.  More cleaning and disinfecting and grossness.  Followed by bathing of child responsible for diaper incident and another child completely covered in chocolate pudding. Not the sort of eventful day I dream about but I'm less squeamish about the dark and about dealing with the toilet.  I suppose that is good. I anticipate needing coffee tomorrow.  Maybe a vat of it.  Too many short nights in a row.  The event's leading up to last night's late night seem incredibly mundane now.  I won't bore you.  I'm wishing for that sort of boredom myself though! :) YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!  The suds have subsided.  One happily flushing toilet!  I'm off to finish cleaning the bathroom, shower, and go sleep.  Good night! P.S. Please forgive any errors of grammar, spelling, or cohesion of regular thought.  My proof reading skills have been fumed away by the bleach!

I think I just squashed a shrew...

I went outside with the baby a couple of minutes ago to shut one of the windows and check on the outside temperature. I slipped on my leather, shearling-lined moc slippers, one of which I flipped over outside on the back stoop. I went down the steps and around the side of the house to shut the window, and then headed back for the stairs. There was a tiny, dead rodent on one of the steps. I don't think it was there when I went out the door. I'm sure I would have seen it. This leads me to believe that I may have squished it when I walked out the door. Maybe it was hiding under my slipper and I chased it out inadvertently and stepped on it???? I have no idea how it got there. It definitely has not been chewed by anything. We don't have a cat, but our neighbour's cats do visit from time to time. Maybe it was a "gift" from one of them? But it looks more like it was squashed by something or someone. Weird. Now I have a strange mix of feeling bad if I did kill it, and feeling a little grossed out that I may have stepped on it. I should have taken a picture! I've already tossed it out in the woods. It's tiny but I think I can find it. Yup, here it is. You can see how tiny the little rodent is and how it might be hard to tell whether I trampled it or not because of my cushy slippers...this side actually doesn't look as smooshed. That little pointy, white thing near its pointy, little nose is a tooth!

If you want a closer look, click on the photo to enlarge it.

So very, very itchy!

My apologies for the lack of posts lately. Things have been busy around here lately, especially since Dwayne has been back at work! Most of the long, long shifts are over now - probably just a week of them left.  15 hours straight is a long time to be at work. Also contributing to the lack of posts - me being incredibly ITCHY. Apparently I got some sort of virus that caused a crazy rash all over my body. I had cold symptoms one day and then the next day none but a rash broke out. It started on the inner parts of my forearms and has since spread to every part of my body. I am bumpy, lumpy, sometimes red, and very itchy! I saw the doctor last week and the only thing to do is take some antihistamines and wait it out. Not what I wanted to hear! It has now been 12 days of itching. Ugh. Thankfully no one else has it. In my memory this is far worse than chicken pocks or swimmer's itch or being bitten by a hundred mosquitoes. It has driven me beyond distraction a few times. There are times when there isn't any feeling of itchiness and then other times when I would like to be able to detach my skin from my body. The other thing is that in this case scratching hurts. It's not like having an insect bite where scratching can provide temporary relief. No, scratching only makes it painful and seems to make other parts of me more itchy. According to the doctor the rash is "self-limiting" which means when the rash is done doing it's thing it will stop. On the one hand I'm glad it's not an allergy, on the other hand it would be nice if it were, because then you remove the allergen and you're done. Oh well, the average virus lasts 7-14 days. If that holds true, then I should have 2 more days of this left...