Last night, the rain came down heavier than I’ve ever heard it before and the wind was howling so much that we lowered the roof on Tut to batten down the hatches. However today was beautiful sunshine and warm enough for T-shirts until about 4pm when the rain came again. We’ve had a few days of almost non stop rain but usually it tends to arrive suddenly then half an hour later, it’s done.
We’re not connected to mains water here. We do have three wells but after such a long, dry summer, only one has a substantial amount of water in. We don’t yet have a pump on it so for now we’re collecting rainwater in large buckets and storing it in 25 litre jerry cans but the plan is to install large water tanks to harvest the rain water for use throughout the year. When we have those, I can feel that the rain will take on a special significance because it will be replenishing our supplies. When your water is not ‘on tap’, it really makes you stop and think carefully about using such a precious resource. We’ve got systems for washing up dishes and showering that uses the least amount of water we can but still keeps everything clean!
We spent several hours working on plans for the house design. I’ve already spent many hours working it out on paper, but it’s different in real life. So we got a big ball of string and some tent pegs and a tape measure and strung out all the areas on the ground so we could really see what the space felt like. We realised one corner has a big granite rock in it so we need to see if that can be built into the house as a feature or if part of it can be removed…with some brute force. There are lots of things to take into consideration so my head was spinning. I’m going to take some time tonight to breathe and visualise the end result – sitting on the verandah overlooking the mountains and feeling that wonderful sense of achievement. Then I’m just going to take the steps I can and trust the rest will unfold naturally…because it always does. Thoughts do become things.
Our nearest neighbour, about 5 minutes walk away, walked over to see us today. His dog Lila arrived first and Joey and Lila had a great time running around. When we’re on campsites, dogs have to be kept on a lead all the time and when we’re visiting my parents, we have started keeping Joey on a lead in their garden after he went missing one day for about 30 minutes having decided to go under the fence into another few gardens. So it’s so nice that here he can run around to his heart’s content.
We’re off to the city tomorrow so good night for now!
