It's week 3 and I've been tested with 2 very rainy nights. Monday it rained hard and steady from about 6:00 p.m. till 2:00 a.m. My tent was dry and my tarp covered patio was fairly dry. The rain would pool up on top of the tarp and occasionally run off over the edges in waterfalls that splashed mightly on the concrete sending drops out in a 6 foot radius. I had to prop my feet up on a chair to keep them dry, but I managed. Dinner in the parlor stove on rainy nights is a challenge. There is no inside grate to put food on and the one eye on top is too far above the flame to really heat much at a high temperature. It's OK for warming bath water but to actually boil something would take a raging fire in the stove for a good while. So, Monday night I burned the foil-wrapped packets of meat and vegetables that I put inside the stove on a grate I fashioned out of a grilling basket minus the handle. I did realize my mistake (too close to a too hot flame - duh!!!) and think I can correct it. The menus for cooking on the parlor stove are limited by the cooking area. I do much better on the open fire.
Last night (Wednesday) we had thunderstorms with high winds, lots of lightening and tornado watches. I only knew of the tornado watch when Larry informed me of it after the fact when I woke this morning. During the night at about 11:00 p.m. I did wake and begin to take stock of how appealing my tent might be to a bolt of lightening and decided that most of my rig was fiberglass and nylon so not much of a target. I did begin wonder if my beautiful tall aluminum stove pipe would be in jeapordy. But my tent, stovepipe and I all survived the storm and my tent stayed dry and I slept "most" of the night. I did wake a little grouchy and my husband realized he'd better give me clearance for a bit.
I think week three is grinding on me a bit. I realize that I have already answered my question of "Can I do it?" with a "Yes!", but now I must continue on to determine the answer to the question "Would I want to live like this - and to what degree?" I'm sure there are other questions that I did not have in the beginning that will come to me as I proceed and those will be probably more important than the first two. So I gotta keep goin' and experience everything in it's fullness.
(Or I could chunk it all now and sleep on sheets that don't feel moist and see things more than just dimly after dark, and eat a meal that isn't tinged with woodsmoke, and snuggle on the couch with my hubby and watch an episode of "Heros" or "House", and not face the daily anxiety of wondering if the neighbor lady will creep over to my fence and try to figure out what the heck are those strange watery sounds coming from the other side of her fence in the mornings (it's the 2 G bath)
No, I think I'll keep going.
Later friends,
Kate
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