We’ve been without power for a week. It’s not a huge deal this time around because the daytime temps have been above 40° and we have the Little Buddy to warm us up at night. We spend the days at work where we can charge our devices so that’s been fine. Our backup plans work.
Of course we shouldn’t have to be out of power. The reason we are is mostly due to timing. A week ago we filled up the gas cans, which was painful. But before adding gas to the extended run tank we decided to let it go dry so we could take out the generator for an oil change. It had been a week since we added the last ten gallons, so we figured it could go dry at any time. It lasted until 11:45pm on Sunday night.
Who wants to get up at midnight to do generator maintenance? Nobody! We agreed to take care of it after work the next day. Cue the backup heat. We went back to sleep.
Now, an oil change only takes 15 to 30 minutes. We should have power, right? Except that the starter pull cord broke. To fix that you have to take the entire thing apart using a socket that apparently got lost from the tool kit. So all week we’ve gone to work with the plan of fixing the thing in the evening, only to get home and say screw it we’re tired.
Today I don’t work. I woke up ready to tackle the generator. I even watched a video on how to do the job before I went to sleep in case my phone died before morning. Then we actually argued about who was going to fix it. I believe it is my responsibility to know how to do stuff. Chris feels responsible to take care of the hard stuff. After a bit I had to agree that his plan to acquire the missing tools before doing the work made the most sense.
So here I am, at home with no power and a phone that was at 5% and dropping. I might have to spend the day without it! Oh no! Then I remembered my backup battery. It sat on the shelf for a year through heat and extreme cold. Would it have power still? Yes! It read 100%. I plugged in my phone and happily got charging.
The moral of the story is that you should have backups, even if you don’t need to use them. You should maintain them in good order and remember that they’re there so they can do their job when you need them.
As soon as the generator is back online I’m going to put my battery back to charge.
One is the view just outside my door at 9 this morning. The other is from 2am. (Again, the benefit of the midnight bathroom run.) Soon both of these will disappear.
Aurora season ended a week ago at my job. Last week was all about closing things down and cleaning up before the break. I don’t think I was really prepared for the break. With the extra daylight and the busyness of season’s end I seemed to be more energized than usual. I had momentum so it was almost a shock when everything was done. Now I have to readjust.
In the last two weeks I ran several private shuttles at odd times. I drove to the Castner Glacier twice, once with a church group, then again as driver for a staff outing. I did some laundry and cleaning at the shop and showed up on last Thursday ready to do some more, only to discover that I wasn’t scheduled. That was okay. I did my own laundry and worked on a quilt until the needle broke. I had a massive headache anyway so it was a good thing to rest.
Okay now it’s picture time. A picture really is worth a thousand words because I could never fully convey what it’s like with mere words. Even photos are barely adequate. Most of this has to be lived and even then it barely seems real.
Driving down to Delta. Inside the glacier there are bands of gravel in the ice. The pebbles and dirt just float there.(Shhh, don’t tell him I put in a pic of him.)View of the world.The river was breaking up south of Salcha.
So now I have to shift toward summer. I have a lot of things that need to be done and I will have to crank out a list soon to make sure it isn’t really the same five items rotating to look like infinity. But for now I rest a bit. The world isn’t ready for me to start on all the things I want. That will come later. There is a season for everything.
It has been two months exactly since my last post. I never mean to go that long between posts, but life is kinda weird. Either I feel like it would be just another weather report or things are so crazy that I have no energy to put words together at the end of the day. Ideally I would get into the habit of a weekly or even a daily post. We’ll see if I get there.
So the first thing on my list is that I want to acknowledge what should have been. I had a FB memory pop up this morning.
Today is what should have been my 27th anniversary, but this year will mark 10 years that he has been gone. I keep wondering what George would think about this crazy adventure we’re on. If he was here we would have made a lot more progress, that’s for sure! He had more energy than any ten other people I know. But I don’t know if he ever would have been on board with coming to Alaska. The month he spent on a longliner ruined his opinion of the frozen north. At one point he swore he would never come up here even for a summer vacation trip. Maybe that’s part of why I like it up here. It’s my adventure. I’m living my dream, not his. I certainly don’t feel the weight of dates so much anymore.
Here’s my annual reminder for everyone. Life is finite. When they put up a tombstone they put two dates and a dash in between. Everything you are and everything you will do is contained within that dash. Make the most of it. Tomorrow is not guaranteed, so make sure you live today. Find adventures small and large. Work to live, but don’t forget to live. Make that phone call, give hugs, share smiles, have no regrets. Second chances are few and far between.
Sunsets are the best! Try to zoom in and find the mountain silhouette in the background. Last night’s midnight bathroom run was above average.
Now for the adventure!
December rolled along mostly smoothly. It was cold. There was snow but it was thin enough that people were worried about their septic systems freezing up. About the only thing I remember was that on Solstice day I could hardly keep my eyes off of the sky. It was gorgeous all day!
January has been the month of crazy. We had a day where it got ridiculously warm and poured rain on top of ice roads. Then the temperature dropped and we got nearly 2 feet of snow. That all got packed into a thick layer of ice on the roads that they’re still trying to scrape off. It is not fun to drive on!
Then we had some mechanical issues to work through. The alternator on my truck died and we had to drive home on just battery power. They lasted just long enough to get us into the driveway, but the lights got dimmer and dimmer as we went. Talk about nerve-wracking! No moose were struck and we made it in one piece. Thank you God! That night the temperature dropped to -40° again and stayed in that range for nearly the next two weeks. Even though we had a replacement alternator in the back seat, there’s no way anyone wants to touch tools at that cold. The metal will burn you. Trust me. We needed to figure out how to get it to a heated shop. In the meantime we made arrangements for riding to work with our friends across the creek.
Now if having the truck go down wasn’t enough fun, when we got home from work on Sunday it was to discover that our brand new generator had gone out. At first we thought it was just out of fuel, and maybe needed some time in a warm place. No. It started sucking oil through that rubber breather tube into the carburetor. Nothing anyone did could make it stop happening. It simply wouldn’t run longer than a couple of hours before the carb was too fouled to run. The generator it replaced had quit due to a suspected electrical problem. It would give an overload warning even without things being plugged in. To top it off, our friends started having generator struggles as well. Cold may have been a factor, but not completely. We ended up moving in with them for a week until some of this could be resolved. Our RV was frozen in the meantime. Even the propane stopped flowing. Sometimes you give in for a little while and do the minimum for survival. That includes getting a couple nights of good sleep without shivering.
When things got better they did so almost all at once. The weather warmed up to zero. The old generator let itself run again. (It’s still going. The new one went to get fixed by professionals.) Being indoors and warm may have helped. The truck batteries got warmed and charged. And finally, we made arrangements to bring the truck to a church friend who has a heated shop that is much closer than the only other option we could think of. The story of how it got there is the best part.
My son and my friend’s daughter teamed up to get the truck running. First they had to convince the generator to run long enough to warm the oil pan and engine block so it could start. They put in the batteries and hoped for the best. It fired up and the clock started ticking…
The shop is about 16 miles away. They only got halfway there before the batteries gave out and the truck died on the side of the highway. Ironically, it was right next to the NAPA in North Pole. They toyed with the idea of trying to borrow a charger for the batteries, but that would take too long. Then Nena saw the tow strap. It was perfect. The hooks were small enough to work with a hook on the back of her Prius. Yes, a Prius. She hooked it up to my big truck and pulled it the remaining 8 miles to the shop. Yes, a Prius pulled my Dodge eight miles on icy roads. No, nobody got a video of it. We have plans to recreate the situation just to get video proof that it can be done…at least on level ground. The poor thing didn’t quite have enough oomph to get it up the minor incline into the shop. They had to use another vehicle for that.
So we are now back to mostly normal. The old generator is working. The new one should be home soon as a backup. The truck works fine. And then someone was made a manager at Chris’ work, then promptly manufactured an excuse to fire him so he now has no reason to not find a better place with better pay. We’ll see how that shakes out. He has some great options that have come along.
That’s my month summed up. I left out a little bit, mostly because I want to see how some things work out before I share them. I’ll try not to wait another two months before the next post.
Now go figure out how to make the most of your dash. It’s a whole new year. You have 11 months left to fill.
I had a calendar reminder pop up just a bit ago. Generator maintenance. I put that in for every two weeks so we wouldn’t lose track of our oil change schedule. This week it is hardly necessary. We have been forced to maintain the heck out of the thing! It has been bitterly cold lately, with highs of -15° and yet slightly humid. This causes frost to build up in the air intake, choking the engine to death. Friday it happened every 4 hours until we stayed up past midnight and completely took the thing apart to even clean out the fuel tank. It lasted two days. Last night it added hose pop-offs and oil spewing to its bag of tricks. We are starting to look at our budget to see where we will fit in a new one.
Look at that, no frost! Will it last?
With our current lifestyle electricity is the cornerstone of everything. If we lose power we have no way to heat this RV. Without heat we cannot stay in here. Our water and food will freeze. It is an actual life-threatening situation when the overnight temperatures dip to -35.
We are fine so far. Maybe a little bit sleep deprived, but the only casualty of the cold has been a bag of potatoes that froze solid. And a truck battery. (I might have jinxed us with that last post.) This cold is testing us but we haven’t broken yet.
I will say, though, this is the last winter I spend in an RV.
The last few days have been a bit chilly. Temperatures dropped below zero and kept falling. This morning is colder than we have seen since last winter.
Friday morning was -22° and the truck would not start. These temps are hard on diesels. We plugged in the block/oil pan/battery heater to warm it up and let it sit all day but still it wouldn’t start. The batteries got low, which can be the end of even a new battery when it’s this cold. So Chris brought the battery inside to sit by the heater. It spent almost 24 hours warming up. Then yesterday afternoon he put the battery back in and the truck started up. What a relief! We were down to the last bit of generator fuel and the heating oil was getting low.
Typically we use 1 gallon of gas for 8 hours of runtime on the generator. We even have a schedule we keep. 8am, 4pm, midnight keeps it running. Plugging in the truck goes through more fuel. It has to be filled every 5 hours instead. Good thing we picked up a couple extra gas cans.
Indoors is colder than most people would like. I’m finding it hard to leave my nest of blankets this morning, and even the dog has come to appreciate his sweater. (It’s a blanket you can wear!) But the Toyo keeps it 70° warmer than outside. Using the oven to make dinner helps. We would use the propane heater as a booster, but the blower went out just in time for this cold snap. I’ll have to find a replacement soon.
This was last night, comparing indoor and outdoor temps. At least 60° warmer inside!
We shrink wrapped the windows yesterday and that helped a lot with the draft. Lots of hot beverages and soup helps too. Honestly, a cabin would be easier to keep comfortable, but we’ve mostly got this figured out. We’re ahead of last year by a longshot. All systems are working so far. The only thing to do is improve.
In case you didn’t know, I have been living off grid for just over a year now. Off grid means different things to different people. I have seen some more extreme definitions include hiding your very existence from the government, but that is a topic for a very different person. My definition of off grid is simply not being connected to public utilities.
I am living on my friend’s land in an RV until I get my cabin built. There are no hookups. My friend and her family have used a generator for electric power for the six years they have lived here, though they are on the verge of getting a connection to the power company this summer.(It’s paid for and the work order is sent!) We still bring our water home in 5 gallon jugs. We still use an outhouse and have alternative arrangements for laundry and showers. This lifestyle is not uncommon up here for various reasons that I can go into at another time.
I think the reason I am writing this today is because I just changed the oil in my generator. It’s the second time I’ve ever done it since I have been up here. That doesn’t mean that my generator has been neglected, it just means that I have great support people who currently aren’t here to do it for me. I might be spoiled!
My resident experts make it so I can neglect my own expertise. Here they are last summer tearing a generator apart to figure out what went wrong.
Expert No1 is my friend’s daughter. She’s so good at making them run that she wants to become a mechanic, but she doesn’t want to do it at home anymore. She trained No2, who is pretty good himself after keeping the lights and heat on all winter. Between the two of them I don’t have much to worry about. And that’s enough bragging on them for now.
When you think about energy, what comes to mind? Often it will be words like green, renewable, fossil fuel, solar, etc. When you dig down it often comes down to electricity. Windmills, solar panels, hybrid vehicles all generate electric power that is used to do the work. We think of massive freight trains and ships running on diesel, but that fuel really powers a generator that runs an electric motor to move the vehicle.
How much of your life depends on electricity? If you went to the main breaker in your house and shut off the power how much would that affect your ability to do basic things? Could you cook food? Take a warm shower? Heat your home? Do you have a well pump that you rely on to provide your clean water? How would you charge your devices? How would it limit your communication and entertainment? How long do you think you could leave the power off before you start itching to turn it back on? I am not telling you to actually shut off the power, but I highly recommend it as a thought experiment. Spend a day where you deliberately take note of every time and every way you use electricity. You might be surprised by how ubiquitous it is.
The first time I really wanted to dig into this topic was last fall when Oregon was dealing with wildfire. PGE made the decision to shut off some high voltage lines that pass through the Mt Hood National Forest due to high fire danger and high winds. As a result my family in Oregon was out of power for a couple of days. We discussed the possibility of them getting a generator, but were distracted when almost the entire county was put under evacuation orders due to wildfire.
The topic came up again in winter. Remember that week that half the country got hit hard with winter weather? My family again was without power for three days and the house got kinda cold. I spent time on a phone call discussing how to use a generator without powering the whole house and how to decide what is most necessary. I’m sure that they’ll get a generator at some point, but only after a few more annoying outages.
So now you have thought about how much you use electricity. Maybe you want a generator. How much do you need? I will argue for minimalism. I will state my case based on my own experience. I will not claim expertise because my experience pool is shallow. But what I know is good enough to keep you alive and comfortable.
11 months in and it still runs like a champ.
I use a Honda 2200 generator. I am not getting paid to say this. I chose it because my friends told me that they are the most reliable, long lasting, and efficient generator they have tried. Remember, this family has exclusively relied on generators for power for the last 6 years, so I figure they know what they’re talking about. So far I’m pretty happy with the units I own. They run up to eight hours on a single gallon of fuel. I have been told that they will last up to 18 months running almost nonstop if they are properly maintained. That includes changing the oil about every 300 hours of runtime. I set a reminder on my phone for every 2 weeks. The process only takes 5 minutes.
Old oil out, fresh oil in. Time to close it up.
So how do you hook up your generator to what you need to power? I remember my mom asking where the cable was to hook up the generator to the house. If you scroll up a bit you will see that we use a standard extension cord. That’s all!
Let me be perfectly clear. Unless you buy a big whole house generator and pay an electrician to install a special switch to connect it to your home you should never, NEVER connect a generator to your home’s electrical system. There are good reasons, like not sending power back into a grid that should be dead and harming people who are trying to get the power back up. But also, a small generator like this won’t run your whole house.
What should you do? Set your generator up outdoors where the exhaust won’t build up or fill your living area with carbon monoxide. Plug in a heavy duty extension cord and run it to the house. Connect a power strip and plug in your basics. Lights, phone chargers, TV, fan, all the simple things. You might even be able to run a small AC unit to cool a single room in hot weather. The generator will let you know its limits. This is where you figure out the basics of what you truly need. I discovered I couldn’t use a hair dryer. Most heaters are not likely to work either, so you might have to put some thought into another way to keep warm. It’s probably a good idea to try it out before you really need it, too.
If you are going to use a generator you must have fuel for it. The simplest way to store it is in 5 gallon gas cans. If you are worried about it getting stale then set up a system to rotate it. Number your cans. Fill them up. Set a monthly reminder on your phone. Pour gas can number 1 into your car’s tank, then take it with you to the gas station to fill it up again. Next month do the same with gas can number 2, and continue down the line until you get back to 1. Five cans will usually last for a week with this generator. Will the power be back on by then? Most of the time the answer is yes, but it never hurts to have some extra on hand.
My power bill fluctuates with the price of gas. These cans represent one week of electricity.
Let me talk about gas cans now. The design has been messed with a lot over the last 20 years or so and most of what they tried sucked. For a while I missed the vent on the can that allowed gas to pour freely into the tank you were trying to fill. I guess the EPA didn’t like something about it so if you look at my picture above you will notice only one can with a vent. Today that is my least favorite. I call it the spitter. Every time I set it down it will spew gas at me. I hate it. The one that works best is the childproof one. It’s the one with the black and green nozzle. It took a while to figure out how to work it, but it gives you great control and has a vent integrated into the nozzle that lets air go in as fuel goes out without chugging. I fully plan to replace the spitter with another one like it before winter.
You may notice that there is a second generator in the picture of the gas cans. That is the 2200 companion generator. We bought it as a backup. There were several times that it saved us from the cold last winter. There is nothing worse than waking up at 3am, -°20 outside, and you hear the generator choking itself to death hours before the fuel should run out. It is far better to pick up the spare, top off the tank, swap it out and go back to sleep instead of trying to fix the main unit as the heat slowly disappears. Our oil heater requires power to run so if there isn’t any we get cold fast. If we can just swap them out, the struggling unit can come inside to warm up, which often solves the problem.
Of course the other benefit of the companion generator is that you can use a special cable to connect it to the other generator and run them together to double the energy output. Flexibility is a good thing to have. I’m pretty sure that the spare will put in time at the cabin site once we start building. We need power to run tools and charge batteries for the cordless.
To sum it up, our modern lives call for power. Lately it seems more and more questionable whether we can rely on the power to stay on. Having an alternative source is a simple way to keep yourself and your family comfortable. You don’t have to default to solar or wind systems with battery banks that you have to maintain. If you know how to run a lawnmower you can use a generator. The battery backup can come later.
I think I’ve covered enough ground for today. Again, I’m not an expert, but I feel that living this way for the last year gives me a good enough foundation to speak from. I encourage you to at least run the thought experiment to become aware of what you use and need. If you do buy a generator, I highly recommend trying it out for a day, even if it’s just a backyard campout. It makes a great confidence boost to know that you can take care of at least one major need.
I’ve been stuck in a rut. I’ve started and deleted a couple of posts. I have a bunch of things I’d like to write about but the words just won’t take shape. It feels a little frustrating and I haven’t been able to force my way through the block. I’ll need to find a way around.
It has been a year since I left Oregon behind. Right now I feel like I am in the same position as I was when I arrived in Alaska. I don’t have reliable transportation. (Chris is working and uses my truck. The Scone is still not working.) The cabin is still on hold. (We should be able to pull the sawmill off the property today so we can get it repaired.) I’m not working regularly. (Okay, I’m scheduled for two days a week, but they’re having their own roadblocks so it feels like no progress there.) On top of all that, when I do work my feet and body end up hurting so bad that it takes all week to recover so I can do it again.
I came across someone’s quote yesterday, “Don’t be afraid of failure, be afraid of being in exactly the same place year after year.” And that’s where my mind is. I’m seeing all the ways that I am not making progress. I feel like I’m going backwards, especially with my physical condition. It doesn’t help that I had a cold knock me down for a couple of days this week.
Forgive my whining. I don’t like to do it, but sometimes it’s like sweeping up the dust from the floor and starting fresh. My brain generates all these negative thoughts and they collect like dust bunnies in the works. You can sweep them under the rug, but that doesn’t make them go away. Saying them out loud and acknowledging them seems to work better. Bring them out into the open and cancel them with reality, then they can be collected for the trash. There will be another batch soon enough. It’s best to not let them build up.
So how am I in a different place than I was last year?
I have done a lot of healing. I don’t have nearly as much bitterness in my soul as I did last June. I know myself a bit better. I know some more of what brings me joy and I have been learning how to allow myself to settle into that. It seems simple, but it’s harder than you might think.
The cabin is actually started. The beams are in place and it looks like they didn’t settle much during mud season. That’s good. All we need is a working sawmill and a couple of days and we can have our stack of lumber. Then it’s a matter of getting the framing done and the roof on. If we put the RV on site I can even do some of the work while Chris is in town. I really should see about getting some gravel down in the parking area…
I do have a job that I like, even though what’s available over the summer is kicking my butt. I know they want me to be available for when the season starts again in August. It’s good to know that I’m wanted.
I have also learned a lot over the winter. I learned about my abilities and limits. (I can do more than I thought I could.) I learned that I can live well with less. I know I want to share some of that. I just have to get around that imposter syndrome crap! Why does it feel fake if I’m doing it?
Tamarack, or Eastern Larch,is a deciduous conifer. The needles turn gold and shed in the fall,then grow back for summer.
Life runs in cycles. Every year follows a similar pattern to the year before. I guess the question is whether you are on a track going in circles or if you are in a spiral. If you’re just making your run deeper then I hope you like where you are. I’d rather be working my way up the spiral.
I think that’s enough for now. I’ll try to make more posts and fewer excuses. And I hope you will talk back to me. Ask questions. Tell me what you’re curious about. Some things about living here are slightly surreal, like having daylight all the time. That’s a post for later. For now I’ll leave you with some flower pics.
Lingnon berry flowers. They grow like a ground cover all through the forest, and are especially thick at the edges where they get the sun.Wild current. I know someone who calls them high bush cranberries. Both these and lingnon berries taste very much like cranberries. The wild roses are now in bloom.
If you have been reading this blog over the last year there has been one major theme, aside from snow. When can I get on my land so I can build?
All last summer the unusual amount of rain made my new driveway treacherous. All winter there was enough snow that we weren’t going to try. This spring we were waiting for it to melt. And now we wait for the mud to dry out some more.
My driveway a month ago. My driveway yesterday.
One of the things that kept coming up when I was looking at land a considering the purchase of the property I now own was that you always look at access and water. I know how to handle water for consumption on the property and I know where most of the water flows across or collects on the property. I’m mostly okay with that at this point. What I’m struggling with is access.
Putting in the driveway was a great starting point. Now I really need to put in some time, effort, and gravel. That means money. I think I’m going to get off my butt and call up a local gravel company to see what it’s going to cost me to get started. If I can get something done on that then I will have an easier time getting started on all the other things that need doing.
I’m so glad I bought some supplies last fall. Prices on those two stacks have gone up considerably.
Part of the reason we went to check on the property was to see if our plywood was still there. I bought a stack of 5/8 and 20 sheets of tongue and groove subfloor last fall. I’m glad I did. Bulk price on the 5/8 was under $25/sheet last year. I just checked and it’s going for $67/sheet now for the same stuff. The subfloor is over $90/sheet now where I think I paid $60. I have a slightly irrational fear that it will grow legs. Maybe that comes from where I grew up, but at this point it might be worth the bother to someone.
Clay is getting the lay of the land.
I also succumbed to temptation and tromped across more of the land. I know we’ll extend the driveway in the future. I want to put in a guest cabin or two and maybe a second residence. This place is big enough to do some interesting things. I didn’t get very far, but I love what I saw. I can’t wait.
The above picture was taken 2 weeks ago. We drove out to check on our driveway and see how accessible it might be. It wasn’t. Chris hiked the whole way in nearly thigh high snow that had begun melting away underneath. He came back exhausted.
Last week we went back to see how it’s going. The snow was only shin deep. Still too much to risk trying to drive on. If we tried to plow it off we could end up stirring up the dirt below. So we wait. The sawmill waits. The new blades and replacement parts wait. The logs wait. Mother Nature has her own ideas.
The creek is thawing on top. Ice floated free of the bottom of the creek.
Today we had to get outside for a while. The season ended for my work and while I have been going in two days per week to help with their summer projects this is a quiet time with not much to do. I have spent too much time indoors. So we went for a walk. The creek has been thawed enough to not walk across for a while now. But though the surface flows there was still thick ice on the bottom. Well, at least until today there was.
The kids had to play on the creek. Just like when it first started to freeze, the other kids had to share the fun with Chris. Being the person he is, there was no way he wouldn’t join in. He even had to request his axe so he could try to make iceberg islands. They goofed off for nearly an hour before other things called them away.
The big bloodsuckers are already out.
The thing that surprises me (though it shouldn’t) is how early the mosquitoes are out. A friend calls them “snow mosquitoes” and says that even though they are huge most of them don’t even bite. I wear my heavy sweatshirt to make it harder for the ones that do. Yes they are big. They are also less bothersome than the tiny ones that come later in the season. This year I’m getting a bug net to put on my hat. Last year I breathed too many of them.
So we’re still in a holding pattern. Winter is done. Spring is here, but not yet building season. We have a lot of the pieces, we just need to get them put together. Here’s hoping that we can start moving forward soon.
Okay, so this isn’t actually where I live. It’s the cabin across the creek. My post title is ridiculously clickbaity, but my sense of humor is hiding in the back giggling like mad. The best part is that the title is my reality.
This is the RV I have lived in since July. We are totally off grid. Our wash water was brought in from the creek until the creek froze. Our drinking water is brought in using 5-gallon jugs like you would use on your water cooler at work. Our electricity comes from a generator. Our heat comes from an oil heater. Our cooking is done on the propane stove that comes with the RV. I have access to laundry and shower facilities at the shop where I park the van I drive for work. We use an outhouse as necessary. It has been an adventure and I love it. I have learned a lot from this experience.
Needs are important. So are comforts. You have to make sure that all the basic necessities are in place. Once that is taken care of, the little things are what make life more enjoyable. Sometimes a comfort is something as simple as a fluffy blanket or a new pillow. Keep it simple, but enjoy it.
Energy is vital for life. When it is so readily available you can easily take it for granted. We have to pay attention to our energy use in order to continue to have it available. If we want heat we need to have oil and electricity. If we want electricity we have to have gasoline. If we forget to pay attention we will run into trouble.
Simple is best. You can complicate the heck out of everything, but why? It’s good to let all the extra stuff fall by the wayside. If it drains your time and energy, let it go. Live simply for a while and see what you miss enough to bring it back into your life.
Cast Iron is good for everything…almost. We have a couple of cast iron skillets that we use daily now. We also acquired a pair of enameled cast iron dutch ovens that get plenty of use. We fry things, simmer things, stew things, and bake things. Pancakes, hashbrowns, eggs, steaks, soups, stew, pot roast, grilled cheese, pizza, and even layer cakes have come out of the cast iron that we use.
You can use less water than you think. You probably use more water than you realize. Check your water bill. Divide that by days of the month. How much do you use daily? We use 10-15 gallons of water per week for cooking, cleaning, and drinking. Laundry and shower are extra, but I’m not hauling that so I can’t count it. I laughed at a dishwasher commercial that bragged about using just 4 gallons per load. I use 1-2 gallons to wash dishes and I do it about two times a week.
There is a visceral excitement in finding success against nature. This isn’t quite Australia, but make no mistake. The Arctic is constantly looking for ways to kill you if you are stupid. The weather is no joke. There are animals that will eat you. The moose can be more dangerous than the bears. (Don’t try to pet them or take selfies beside them.) I am by no means as self sufficient as some of the people who live in the far middle of nowhere, but with my beginner skills I am still proud that I have done as well as I have this winter.
I asked my son what he thought he learned from the last 9 months of living off grid, and I think what he said sums it up perfectly. “You have to learn to do shit for yourself.”
Today everyone has been encouraged to become specialists. You go to college to learn your selected career and let a lot of other skills fall by the wayside. You end up paying others to apply their specialties when things go wrong. There are memes about how nobody knows how to change a tire, change their oil, fix a leaky faucet, even change out a light bulb. People don’t know how to use basic tools anymore unless it’s part of their job. Well let me tell you, a lot of these things aren’t so difficult. Knowing some of them will save you a lot of money.
We learned (my son mostly) how to troubleshoot a generator. If we had to take it into the shop for service it would take 6 weeks and cost $200 for repair. We know this because we had trouble with one that we couldn’t figure out. That was a big incentive to learn all the things to check. Professor Google and YouTube University can teach you almost everything you need to learn. Any trouble you have, someone else has run into before and someone has made a video about. Even if it isn’t exactly for the item you are working on you should be able to learn something that applies. Learn. There is no better teacher than necessity. Now he will wake up because he hears that the generator is about to quit. He’ll have his pants on and be reaching for boots before it shuts off, then be out with the backup generator to swap it out. The dead one ends up inside to warm up and be worked over. The generator tool kit comes out to take it apart and clear the ice wherever it may be. Knowing how to do this takes the worry out of the situation and certainly builds confidence.
You don’t have to live off grid in an RV through an Alaskan winter to learn things from life. You can learn things from everyday life. All you have to do is pause every now and then and ask yourself what you’ve been through and what you did right or what you could have done different to have a better outcome. Life is a journey of constant discovery. As long as you remember that you will never be bored with it. The day you stop learning things is the day you start dying.
