Every two hours we feed her. She's happy in the morning...she sings a little song when she wakes up. Every morning she needs a thorough cleaning. When we put her down at night, she also sings a little song. She doesn't want to be doted upon...but she hates being ignored---so we have to carefully balance how much attention to give her. If she's left alone too long, she misbehaves, badly. If she is coddled, or played with excessively, she misbehaves, badly. Our lives are ruled by Victoria, our ThermoRossi 4900 Pellet Stove, THE BABY.
When I'm at home, my other home, if I'm cold, I hit a switch and the heat goes on. If I'm hot, I hit a switch and, Viola! air conditioning! I don't think twice, or even once, about managing my environment with the touch of a switch....until now, I CAN'T DO IT THAT WAY ANY MORE!!!
We have to go to the tower and lug a 33-pound bag of pellets up the stairs, which lasts, for those of you interested, about 8 hours, replenish the pellets in the stove every two hours to maintain an even (sort of even) temperature, decide if we're going out whether to leave her on or not, vacuum the ashes out of the stove daily, in short, focus our lives around maintaining heat in the house!
OMG...it's a complete shift in thinking and perceptions. Who said Americans are spoiled and addicted to luxury and comfort and "the easy life?" Absolutely true....so, we need to decide to do this, to survive and thrive in a climate and culture that requires more hands-on manipulation of our environment. My friend Angela said it best when she said, "it's the challenge that keeps us coming back. Facing down obstacles and winning. Carving out a life for ourselves in an environment that continually tests us...." Yeah, baby!!
And then I got a sore throat and felt achey and had sinus pressure and was cold....I needed care and feeding every two hours, not too much coddling, plenty of attention, hot tea and a blankey, a hot water bottle and a good book. Sooooo, you see, there are TWO BABIES in the house....
It's an interesting situation: at home, our other home, we have a very active social life. Not so much here, not yet. That puts undue pressure on our partner to bear the burden of all/most of our social interactions. Who can do that? What one person can meet ALL the needs of another? What one partner can be the scintillating dinner guest, the giggling girlfriend, the sports commentator, the recipe tester, the voice of reason, the sounding board, the planner, the gossip, the grown up.....???? Another challenge in our new life....How DID those pioneer women survive?
On a very personal note: my Gary is devoted to our experiment here, working to make it easy and comfortable, lugging the pellets upstairs, interfacing with the electrician and the heater technico, putting weather stripping in the door, ensuring we are warm and happy, playing Yahtzee! and Scrabble. I wouldn't want to be housebound with anyone else in the world! And he, he has the challenge of TWO babies!!
No comments:
Post a Comment