When we first moved into this house back in August 2011, our friend John described living here as 'glorified camping'! Although it is *much* nicer than that, there are things about the house which make it a bit more difficult to live in than in the States. Our water situation is always an issue. We have piped river water which we use for laundry and outdoor use. We also have a cistern located out front which is filled by rain water for cooking and theoretically drinking. During the dry season we normally purchase rain water to put into the cistern. Moving in this time, the cistern had been drained so we purchased a few hundred gallons.. only to find that the cistern was dirty and the newly purchased water couldn't be used for drinking or cooking. That was a disappointment and a cost. SO, the next step is to have someone (Grant has volunteered!) to climb into the small opening on top of the cistern, climb down a narrow ladder into the inside of the cistern and clean it out so that we can fill it back up with clean water. (stay tuned for that fun post! :-) )
In addition, the laundry is always an issue for us. This time Grady decided to purchase a larger washer/spinner and attach a small filter onto the river water line so that our clothes come out cleaner. Already I see a difference in the amount of time laundry takes and I am SO grateful! Before we had a much smaller washer/spinner which was much less efficient. Between the larger capacity and the filtered river water things are going much smoother now! We absolutely love this house and are so grateful for the opportunity to return back to the same place. It is such a blessing that the little girls especially can settle back in so well since they both have many fond memories of this home.
My new washer/spinner
Grady affixed a hose to the machine as well as a valve to the pipe that I can switch off and on the water, instead of holding the hose to fill.
Great set up Daddy! Thank you!
We brought down some very ugly outdoor wicker furniture.. we decided to cover over the chipping-off paint with some new paint. Ashley takes advantage of the lovely sunny weather and spays a new coat of paint on it.
Looks nice Ash!
Butter is so expensive here! We found some cream on sale which Ashley and Amanda have been using to make butter at home. It is a blessing to have fresh butter
Ryan fixes the school room screened windows. There are so many fewer bugs in the house now! Thanks Rye!
Laura eats on the rough table
Poor Gracie is sick again..
Dad and Mom check out the back yard, trying to figure out a place for the dog run
Our 'chop chop' boys
Pretty fruit in our back yard
.. and flowers
Sitting around eating dinner
Time to finish the table!
Lots of helpers!
Yeah! Such a nice table Daddy!
Mandy takes a moment to play the piano
Our ladies decide to make the first batch of Belizean cookies!
Mmmmmmm.. oatmeal cookies hot and tasty
The girls get their new kittens. Grace named her kitten Mittens and Laura named hers Francis
Grant makes himself a great shelf for his bedroom! The boys love the moderate weather here which allows them to be outside every day, rain or shine!
Ryan starts building a bridge/walkway over the muddy part of our yard
He takes off for a short sunset bike ride! (We love BELIZEAN sunsets!)
2 comments:
I am also battling the river water issue on wash days so you are not the only one. Ours is very grimy and always wanted to plug the sieve behind the washing machine till my husband installed a sieve in the line elsewhere, and now we have to constantly clean that! It doesn't make it any less brown unfortunately but at least I don't have to always remove the hoses at the washing machine every wash day. I guess that's life in Belize... But, we don't have to go down to the river to do our washing!
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