Showers are Overrated

I spoke too fast when I said that our frozen pipe problems were fixed.  We defrosted the kitchen sink  and thought: Problems-Be-Gone... But in the evening when we went to take a shower... Yep!  You guessed it.  Nothing.  No water.  Since it was late at night, we just made due with washing ourselves using the kitchen sink.  The next day (yesterday) we had a full day and didn't get to the water pipe issue.  tBOY and ttDOG went for a long bike ride and then tBOY went for a one-hour massage while I did arts & crafts with girlfriends on the bus.  Then we had fondue (with our beautiful new fondue set):

 We figured we would deal with the situation today.  So this morning, tBOY got to work... crawling under the bus with the hair dryer :)!

Unfortunately, after 20 minutes, there was still no running water.  We think that there are a few places where the water is frozen and the hair dryer is not going to work.  So we did the most logical thing we could think of...

We went for a bike ride :)!

We're not sure how to tackle this water pipe problem.  We hope that warmer temperatures forecasted for later this week will defrost the pipes and then tBOY might go in and redo the insulation (with more heat tape).  We decided that this can be a project for Christmas holidays.  We are not too concerned about not having running water in the shower as we can either:
1. wash in the kitchen sink,
2. wash in the shower with a bucket of warm water (from sink) or
3. take a shower at tBrother's cabin (200m from our place).

So we went to ride bikes!  But brrr... It was COLD!! My fingers and nose were frozen like the pipes :(!  ttDOG protested against the ridiculous jacket we made her wear by refusing to leave the bus (but I think she thanked us for it once we got into the forest).

The stream was half frozen

ttDOG's fav part about bike rides... treats :)!

A stop at a sunny spot to warm up and check out the view

The lake was partly frozen.
tBOY thought it would be fun to put ttDOG's treat on the ice...

ttDOG is super cautious and wasn't sure about the ice (despite the treat!)
But after a little encouragement (and perhaps a push in the bum by tBOY)...
She got it!

After our ride, I went to pick up my new skis (the bindings were put on).  The worst part about this cold cold weather is that there is NO snow on the mountains for us to try out all our new slack-country ski gear.  So sad!

I guess I'll go take my shower in the kitchen sink now :)!

Heavy Winds & Sub Zero Temperatures

Two nights ago, it was very windy outside.  We were having a cozy dinner in the bus when we heard a loud thump on the roof.  A branch had fallen hard onto the top of the bus.  We ran outside with our flashlight to check for any damage.  Luckily it fell right between the 2 skylights.  That got us concerned about our skylights though, so we had to figure out a way to protect them from other potential falling branches.  And fast! as the wind was blowing violently around us.  

We did a quick inventory of the materials we had available to us.  Unfortunately, earlier that day, I had just donated all our extra towels/blankets/quilts to the women's centre store :(!  All we had left were a few small cushions and one extra duvet that we kept for guests.  We figured that we could somehow duct tape it to the skylights... But just as we were taking the stuff out of the shed, we saw our crashpads!

Crashpads?  What are those?  Well, they're for bouldering... a form of rock climbing... but not the type with ropes like this:

Where what keeps you from the ground down below is the rope and your belayer (be careful in choosing your belayer as it can be a very long way down!)...

When you are bouldering, there is no rope...

And what's between you and the ground (and/or rocks and other hard things) is a big huge foam pad, a.k.a. a crashpad... (and sometimes a spotter...)

tBOY's best friend spotting him in Fontainebleau, France

Crashpads also make a cushy spot for picnics...

They usually come with straps so you can carry it around on your back like a big backpack...

Sometimes you even forget that you have one on...
tBOY picking and eating berries with a crashpad on his back

tBOY riding to the boulder, ttDOG trying to keep up

And if you are feeling lazy, you can just make the young people carry the crashpad...

Our 6-year-old friend :)!

Anyway... we decided to protect our skylights with our crashpads.
So armed with duct tape, a flashlight and our crashpads, we climbed onto the bus (while the winds howled and threatened to blow us off!)

Main skylight protected!

Skylight over our shower

Apart from the wind, temperatures have been below zero these days.  This morning, we woke up and found that part of our water pipe had frozen :(!  When tBOY insulated the pipes with heat tape and foam, he knew that there was a small section that might freeze... but because it was an awkward area, we just kept our fingers crossed and hoped for the best.  It didn't work :(!

So, tBOY put this little space heater to work on the section that was frozen:

And then we turned the tap on and waited.  In about 20 minutes, water started to run again :)!  Phew!

Between now and real winter, we have to create a better way to protect the skylights.  For now, it is a bit darker in here without the sun shining in through the skylights (since we actually have sun these days!)  We also need to find a way to insulate the tiny bit of water pipe to prevent freezing again.  

*My friend just called while I was typing this blog entry and told me that we are going to have record cold temperatures this weekend - Eeks!  Sigh!  I miss hot summer days...

Today a visitor/neighbour knocked on our door and gave us a present :)!  She is from France/Switzerland (French but works in Switzerland)...

(Argh!  I rotated this in iPhoto... but it remains in the wrong rotation here.... Sigh!)

It's Saint Nicholas Day.  Happy day to all!