Tuesday, January 03, 2006

different stuff here!

Two major differences when I arrived home tonight. First, the one I could perceive when I walked in the door, was the heat. It was not wood heat. The Hermit had hooked up our new propane heater, and now we don't have to feed a fire every two hours if we don't feel like it. And we can be gone from the house for a day or so and not have to come home to a cold house and the prospect of building a fire. I like my wood stove, but I also like the convenience this heater will offer.

The second was the Game Cube. Yes, video games. The kids hardly took time for dinner. They are enthralled. Usually, while we're in the cook shed preparing dinner, one or more of the kids will come out and encroach on our small space more than once. Not so tonight. i'm thinking I may even be able to play some music.

I know, I've thought long and hard, but I think as long as we adults impose some reasonable limits, video games are not necessarily a bad thing. For once they are, all three of them, focused on one thing, cooperating a little, and giving each other tips. The games will not replace a sunny day outside in the snow, but since the sun has not shown its bright face here in about a month, no one feels like venturing out, and I cannot blame them. It's downright dreary out there!

I just returned from a trip out to the composting toilet/outhouse with Starflower. When it is dark, I must accompany. We encountered a mouse that had fallen into the near-empty wood shavings bucket. Starflower freaked, I dumped the offending vermin outside. Such is life here!

4 comments:

R.Powers said...

My jaw drops everytime I read about how you guys are roughing it up there. Your kids are having so many life enriching memories and experiences that no video game box will warp them.
My son is our most serious video gamer and it hasn't affected his grades, athletics, or pleasure reading. Like you said, "...some reasonable limits.."
Nice mouse rescue.

Madcap said...

Funny you should mention it, I've been thinking a lot about propane heaters in the past week. We're constantly trying to plan how we're going to set things up when we finally get onto our land, and I was considering that woodheat alone probably wouldn't keep the water pipes from freezing if we left home for a day in winter. Even just setting it at 10C would be enough. It makes sense to have a backup heat source; I wish we had one here.

Rurality said...

OK I had to grin a little at the image of video games and composting toilets in the same post! :)

I used my first composting toilet earlier this year... I'd heard of them before but would hate to imagine what the unaware would think! (What the heck? Sawdust? Where's the handle to flush?! LOL.)

Deb said...

floridacracker-the "roughing it" just makes us appreciate certain amenities even more!

madcapmum-yes, a backup heat source is a necessity! I don't know how we've lived without one.

rurality-that was an unintentional, but interesting juxtaposition, wasn't it! I don't know how that mouse got into the outhouse; it would have had to run a gauntlet of about eight hungry cats.