We have light!

Thanks, to Cousin Clint, we now have light at III. He kindly gifted us with a DC to AC converter and the first thing Himself did today upon arriving was to run an electrical wire and hook up an electrical outlet. We plugged a lamp in, turned on the converter and "Presto!" we have light.

Himself asked me what I thought about the light and I said, I don't know.

An electrical light is change. I guess I wonder what the next advancement will be here at III. Starting with Coleman lantern and stove, we have stepped up to cook on propane. We have a sink with a drain that runs outside (even if it is into a pail, which I carry to the garden to recycle the "gray" water) -- and now electricity! I have enjoyed roughing it here this summer, playing pioneer and, as I have said a time or two, practicing for the Second Great Depression which I was sure was inevitable when gas went up to $3.00 gallon; I thought that would squelch the economy and cause the market to crash. I was ** Prepared **!

I have learned things this summer, roughing it at III and coping with the drought at home. I have learned how much water I have wasted in the past. I have learned that I can use much less water and I have figured out ways to recycle the water. At home where I am catching the water off the roof (when it will rain) and here at III, I carry the gray water from the kitchen to the evergreen trees and the garden. Of course, I knew these things; learned as a child watching my folks and my grandparents, traits left over from the droughts of the 30s and habits of the Great Depression. Vegetable and fruit scraps always went to the chickens or to the garden and I remember dry times when the dishwater went to a flower or tree.

I also learned that I like to reuse, recycle, find a new use for an old object. For instance I want to use the cedar trunks that I have kept and cleaned up, removing the bark. At home, I like watering my flowers and vegetables, dipping the pail in the rain barrel. I do not always like carrying the peelings, the egg shells and the watermelon rinds to the garden, here or at home, but find that I do it much more often now and am glad that I am reducing the amount that has to go in the garbage bag and then to the landfill. I like finding just the thing at a flea market or garage sale, something I have needed or can use at III.

I have had fun roughing it with Himself out here at Shag III. We can do with much less than we have in Creston or even Shagbark Too. We are hardy, independent, can improvise and problem solve and we have fun while we do. So an electric bulb burning in our uninsulated hunting cabin? What do I think? I like it. It makes life easier. But even more, I like having fun and "making do" with Himself at III . . . the other side