Hauling water is just one of the simple chores that comes with life in a dry cabin. In the summer we have water in a 500 gallon tank that is gravity fed to a sink in the cabin, but in the winter we have to keep all our water indoors. So, we only use these three five gallon jugs for everything. We hang water above the sink for washing hands and dishes in a four liter bag with a hose and a clamp. The water drains into a five gallon bucket under the sink that we empty every couple of days.
Here's Andrew filling our jugs at the community well. The well is located at the beginning of our street about a mile and a half from our house. A lot of times Andrew will take two jugs on the snowmachine to get water!
Quite an icy build up in the well house. Fortunately its not too slick though.
For the record, we really do enjoy living in a small, dry cabin, and all the chores and challenges that come along with it. For us, it is all about the adventure and the low costs that come with it are just a bonus! Recently, the Alaska Dispatch published an article on cabin life off the grid and the Fairbanks Newsminer published one on hauling water at 30 and 40 below. Both are interesting and share the facts and stories from people that have been doing it for some time. The comment sections show some of the colorful people in Alaska like this guy...
"Mowry, Well, now you hit a nerve with this report. I don't want to top your story, but being and old timer I can tell you stories about hauling water in 50 to 60 below while living at the homestead on Shaw Creek Road in the late 50's. We used an old 1954 or so jeep truck with no heat inside. We hauled our water from Rosa Creek, Shaw Creek, and the Tanana river using 5 gallon GI water cans that we bought from Bobby Miller's junk yard that used to sit where the Bentley Mall now is. The holes we dug in Rosa Creek kept freezing so by the middle of winter I used a chain saw to cut the ice. At one time the ice hole was as deep as me but I had to cut down another 18 inches to get to water. Then the water rushed up and washed chainsaw oil into the water. So we ended up with oily water. But no one complained when it is down to 62 F. below. Those were the days. Our house was so cold that our water froze in the house. Anything over 5 feet from the barrel wood stove froze."
Growing up in Wisconsin was cold, too, at times. My wife remembers, when we visited in the winter, that the water in the teakettle on the cook stove was sometimes frozen in the morning.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy!