Living a septic-based, semi-off grid life

Did I mention that our landlord (a very very nice man) passed away last month? His daughter (a greedy person) stands to inherit the house, and a week to the day her father passed knocked on our door wanting to know "when we're fixing to leave, she wants to sell 'cuz she's got bills.' " Whatever. Welcome to someone with a contract, from California, where we collect lawyers like Texans collect guns.

Still, it has refocused us. We were not planning on staying past the summer as it was; we knew staying here would only be temporary. It's been a good place: helping me filter through what I need to live on, what I want to live with (or without); a nice blend of "country" and off grid living. For example, our heat and hot water is propane based, from a 150 gallon storage tank on site. It's kind of nice to have "food storage" for propane, except that when we first moved in, it took two weeks for them to hook it up, so we were without hot water for that time (like in Texas August 104 degree average outside temp that's a hardship, lol.) 

I used to complain all the time about sewer, garbage and water service being tied together as a city service. Out here, water is co-op, and you do have the option of digging your own well and being water independent. We are also septic system based (which is what is prompting this blogpost) which is great (translate: free) until the septic tank is full (which is where we are now) or gets full due to heavy rain (ditto.) Then you need to pay someone to have it pumped out (out here, about $300.) We are down to one working bathroom (different bathrooms on different septic lines...somebody thought ahead!) which would be no big deal except that bathroom was built in what used to be the garage--so no insulation. It's like an icebox. Changes what time you take a shower for sure! Still, it's nice to have sewer lines independent of paying a monthly bill unlike the City of Huntington Beach which doubles/triples your bill if you don't pay on time.

We still live north and south facing. The stint of 4 days without electric in HB completely converted my kids to the advantages of north and south facing: natural daylight all day long (assuming windows). Ironically due to the garage being converted to a third bedroom, laundry and bathroom, there is only one west facing window in the whole house. Our place in HB had the same blessing: the house stayed relatively cool in the summer, a bit on the chilly side in the winter (but that's due to poor insulation and glass windows.) We had great internet in HB and pay a small fortune for practically non-existent radio wave based internet.

So as we head into house hunting season, it's starting to become apparent the things which are rising to the top of the list:

1. North and south facing, not negotiable.

2. Liking the propane life...needs to be modified so that it can run also on smaller tanks (like I did in Hong Kong), including tankless water heaters.

3. Converting to/adding complete SOLAR is top on the list. Yes, our electric bill is small (compared to California) even in the summer, but I really want to be energy independent.

4. Septic is fine, but I need to plan for "what if" when it backs up.

5. Space to garden is a must (just went to a Texas Gardening class yesterday, more later.)

6. An energy efficient wood or pellet burning fireplace is a must. In an ideal world, something which warms the house, can be cooked on, or bake in. They have them, they are just expensive.

7. I'm still thinking one-story is preferable to a two-story home.

8. An enclosed garage is a must. Getting a detached one is like a $30,000 addition to the house, so I need to find a place which already has one.

9. I'm on the fence about high speed internet. The dilemma is: high speed internet generally means living "close in" to populated areas. TEOTWAWKI high speed internet won't matter nearly as much as items 1-8, but in the meantime......it sure is a pain to be without it like I am now.

10. Luxuries: a grey water system. Double paned windows. Chickens. Bees. Living not more than 15-20 minutes away from a 24hour Walmart for those 10pm "must haves" (mostly medical issues, occasional chocolate cravings.) Not living further than 15-20 minutes from church or a hospital. An outdoor, off grid kitchen and showering set up.

I am truly grateful for my past and present inconveniences: lack of electric, lack of heat (might have forgotten to mention this place does not have central heat), lack of water, lack of sewer, lack of internet. Each one, when it occurs, prepares me more and more, and becomes less and less of a "crisis" and easily dealt with as a minor annoyance. 

Being Spiritually Centered

I may have mentioned before, my friend Wendi gifted me with some tapes by James B. Cox, on how to better become spiritually centered. One of his main views is that all "problems" are centered here in the temporal, earthly world. All solutions to those problems can be found by tapping in to the Spiritual world: seeking answers and revelation from God.

One of the things I've been working on the most is remembering my stewardships versus ownerships. As an "owner" I would focus on how "I" want to do it. As a steward, I focus on how God wants me to do it. This has had a great impact on my work in Dallas for example, where I function as the de facto COO. My favorite phrase is "I don't tell you (the owners) how to run your business, I just account for it." 

It's been a long 6 weeks by anyone's standards: baseball season has started, I've been in two major car accidents and am still recovering with a concussion from the 2nd, hence the reason I haven't blogged in quite a while. Despite circumstance, time waits for no woman, so I have found myself having to rely even more heavily on my Father in Heaven to get me through it. (Although I am experiencing that with a concussion, you actually can change the way the world tilts on its axis...lol.)

I am grateful for the opportunities to seek the Spirit rather than sink comfortably in to darkness. Friday I succumbed a bit: I had provided for DH to be comfortable in his travels which included direction on adding cash to his debit card for motel charges; instead he called late Friday afternoon wanting to know how he was going to rent a room since he didn't put money on the debit card like I had instructed. Tired, my head hurting, I was my old self, speaking brusquely. I should have instead spoken the facts calmly: you made a choice to ignore, there are natural consequences.

I've noticed it's harder to get out of a familiar rut than it is to stay out of it in the first place. Sunday one of my local church leaders spoke about how "the purpose of this life is to struggle, it's hard to get back to God." I couldn't disagree more. If one chooses to do it God's way, it's actually pretty easy. It's easy to feel the Spirit, it's easy to gain assurance you are on the right path, it's easy to have the Spirit with you always.

It's when we try to do it "our" way or the world's way, that the way becomes hard. Perhaps that is why Christ encouraged us to take His yoke upon us, because His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

Thank you for letting me blog about this. I needed a way to shift in to a spiritual center, and sharing this got me there.

Vaya con Dios.