settling in

The issues started cropping up as we tried to get our house up and running in its new location and as we tried to get used to living in the woods out of town. It’s humid, it’s hot, and it’s no fun driving around a big town in a black car running errands every day.

“Everything in August in Florida tries to eat you,” Matt has concluded. Uwharrie needed Frontline to keep ticks at bay. Matt and I had to get in the habit of checking for them. We clipped back the vegetation and spread diatomaceous earth underneath the trailer in an effort to keep unwanted insects from the tiny house.

For some strange reason, just plugging our house without any load into a 15A breaker would trip the breaker. It took a day of troubleshooting – including a night without a/c – before our electric was online. Everything is 20A (wires, outlets, breakers), and we can easily run everything with one extension cord, it turns out. Matt just wired the permanent RV plug today.

We thought surely 100ft of drinking water safe hose was enough to connect us to the spigot. We unrolled the large coil, only to arrive about seven feet short. Another trip to Ace Hardware. Then we discovered leaks and ran out of Teflon tape. Yet another trip to Ace….

Matt cemented the drain lines together and attached 18ft of pliable rubber hose so we can vary where our gray water discharges. I thought we would have to dig a sump, but because soil here is pretty much sand with a layer of pine needles on top, our little bit of gray water drains downward instantly. We replaced our soaps, detergents, and shampoo with 100% biodegradable products and just use water sparingly.

Our composting toilet works nicely, and every time I've used it has been a thirty second philosophical exercise along the lines of "We like flushing so we don't have to deal with poop. And maybe I don't mind dealing with my poop, but I don't want to deal with someone else's. Still, we really shouldn't poop in our drinking water…." Matt replaced the lid with a “shower cap” for a better seal. We tried wood shavings at first, then switched to peat moss. No odor so far.

The only thing left to complete our tiny house is to hook up propane. So far, we’ve just been taking cold showers because it’s been so bloody hot. (I really like our shower, by the way, with its corrugated polycarbonate greenhouse panels and mop service basin.) We’ve been cooking on our backpacking stoves.

Once the house landed, I moved in my belongings, so the shelves and closet are now full. Then we started buying groceries, and we’re pleased to report that the mini-fridge and mini-pantry do have enough space. The butcher block counter is plenty of cooking room as well. I consolidated the extra building materials and our tools into a corner of the shed where we store our bikes. Matt sewed a cover for our foam mattress. We put up a corkboard above the desk. We got a PO Box and started that tedious process of changing our address. And of course, we can’t live without internet, so I came home with a mobile broadband-on-the-go device.

The bike woes: I had to repair one flat tire and replace a tool bag stolen off my bike. Matt has had three flats already and had to replace a tire and spoke.

All this during my orientation week, first week of classes, and a several long sampling trips to Silver River. We even made it over to Amelia Island to visit Kim and Carl. That was a nice vacation from all the work of settling in.