Monday is overcast here in Northern Coahuila and the chickens were scratching around for scraps as I washed dishes on the table outside our room. I rinsed a load of wash and hung them on the line, starting another load since the water was still on. It’s sort of like choreography, making the laundry sync with the water supply…I like it and it keeps me on my toes.
Hanging clothes on a day that might bring rain is another thing. Do you hang them anyway, hoping it won’t rain? Or do you hope they’ll get a second rinse if the rain DOES come? I guess I am rattling on, but those are things I consider. Certainly rain in itself isn’t dirty, but the wind brings the dirt and the worst case scenario is I have to wash them over again.
Once, when we first moved to Mexico in 1994, I washed all my clothes by hand, and hung them on my little clothesline I had instaled, only to watch them fall in the dirt when the line fell under the weight of those wet clothes. I sat on a bucket and cried…it was a hard lesson. It had taken me all day to wash them, and since we had to wait for the “pipa,” ~the man with the water tank that drove through town to bring water to the people for a price, it was especially discouraging. But it was a good lesson. Never hang heavy, wet clothes on a weak clothesline.
I am enjoying a cup of coffee while Bill rests from a rough night, still sick. He seems to feel better this morning but is still a little weak.
Our electrical system is somewhat challenged here. When the coffee pot begins its re-warming process, the fan slows down. Can’t have too much going with this little electric source. But it sure makes you appreciate you have electricity at all.
Our first year in Mexico, we didn’t have electricity in the little house we rented, although I brought my appliances along with us when we moved there. We used the fridge for food storage, as well as the microwave. It was such a blessing to have flashlights and candles, and I read to my children at night by flashlight. We would all snuggle up in the bed, listening to the old time radio shows out of Southern California, when the radio would catch the signal. The kids loved it and so did I. I think it was a great experience for all of us. They learned Spanish faster than I did, I think. My children were 12, 9 and 4 then. It was the beginning of our 7-year-long ‘Great Adventure!’
When we finally did have the house wired for electricity, we only lived there a few months before we moved to another house in a town nearby. That little house had electricity and water in a faucet outside. It even had a shower and a flushing toilet, that flushed when you poured a bucket of water in to the bowl. Kinda neat, huh?
After living there two years, we moved into a bigger house made of adobe, and it had running water in the sink and the bathroom shower, and a hole in the bathroom floor, but no toilet. We had an outhouse that had a bicycle tire tube for the door hinge and when you went to use it, it made our turkeys announce your arrival and departure, because the bike tube squeaked. What a kick, huh? I thought it was funny, but not all of my friends did. After a while, we installed an indoor toilet and it was great. But to me, since the water source there was unreliable also, the outhouse was always the trustworthy place to go. No need for water. And you got used to the sound of the turkeys after a while….
So much for old memories.
We are grateful for your prayers for us, and it’s also encouraging that you read our blog. God is doing wonderful things here and we feel that dividing walls are coming down, as we keep praying for that here in the area. May God be glorified!
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