Contrary to what you might believe, I don’t live in the 1800’s!

I’m writing this blog specifically because when I tell people some of the living differences up here, they are shocked! Like can’t believe people live like this shocked. I guess I was shocked at first too, but you quickly get over it and it’s just a daily part of life.

First thing, if you don’t live within the city (we live 10 minutes outside the direct city) you have to have water hauled to a tank; either above or underground, or you have a well. We thankfully have a well so we don’t have to haul or have water delivered, but when we were renting we had a water tank and had to have water delivered. A lot of people have these huge tanks in the back of their trucks..think like a hot tub but covered so the water doesn’t spill out while driving. They have water pumps which are basically gas stations for water. If you don’t haul your own water, they have big trucks like gas tanker trucks that come around to house’s and fill up your tank for you. You just call them and they come out the next day and fill however much water you want. For either of these options, it’s about 0.30 cents a gallon. Not to bad since it’s like your paying for water if you were in the city. You just have to a be a little more conscious about how much water you use and when you are getting low so you don’t run out of water. Otherwise no shower, no washing your hands and no brushing your teeth...and believe me, I learned that one very quick while at the rental! That’s why im super happy about having a well now. Granted it could dry up in a couple years, but here is hoping it doesn’t! When I told my sister I had a well, she seriously asked me if I went out every morning and filled up buckets of water and had Erich pour water over me while I showered!!!! Ummm no...It’s not that kind of well. I don’t live in the 1800’s where you have a pulley system to get water out of the well. It is 2011 after all! They have machine’s that pull water out of the well now days 

Again, if you don’t live within the city, you don’t have electric heating that you pay every month that heats your house. We have an oil tank. It’s the exact same idea as the water, except its oil. You can have it delivered or you can go to some gas stations that have the correct oil and fill up your own tank. The only difference is that oil is ridiculously expensive. Like crazy im getting ripped off, possibly might give up my first born child to have free oil for a year type crazy. Im talking $3.40 a GALLON. And guess how much most oil tanks hold? Ohhh just 300, 500 or 800 gallons. If I do my math correctly, the oil in those tanks could be worth anywhere from $1,020 - $2,720. Oh and another fun fact that I learned recently is that there is about 50 gallons on the bottom of the tank that is completely unusable. That’s almost $200 of oil I will never use. Why you ask? Because in the oil, there is lots of gunk that floats to the bottom. If you’re tank lets that gunk flow through your heating system, it will apparently clog the filter and cause other problems. JOY! Im seriously debating siphoning those 50 gallons if I ever move. Im sure they have a black market for oil. Right?! If you see me on the news in a couple years, it was just a one time deal and I just wanted my $200 back god damnit! It’s only fair that I get to use that oil since I AM paying for it! Thankfully the oil lasts us a while, but just like the water, you have to constantly check how much oil you have in your tank.

And now you’re asking yourself, well how do you check how much oil/water you have? Basically it’s the longest ruler you will ever see in your life. It’s usually got a string attached to the top so it can go all the way to the bottom of your tank. So you shove the stick down the pipe (its sticking out above ground if you have an underground tank) and then pull it up and see where the oil/water hits on the stick. Its verrrryyy scientific. There is lots of measuring and doing math to find the radius and buoyancy of the oil. Okay not really, you literally are just looking at a stick with numbers on it. I told you, verrrry scientific  and of course, you’d need two sticks so you’re not dipping your oil stick in your water tank. I can’t imagine that would be very good for you!

So those are just some of the differences I now live by. At first, it is shocking. Believe me, when I was told I had to haul water and buy oil, I thought it was super strange. And when I was told how much oil costs, you should have seen the look on my face. I think it was probably a mixture of the WTF and kill me now look.

PS I saw a moose in our drive way the other day. I tried to take a picture and it ran into the woods.

PSS Yes I live in some woods, but there are other houses nearby.

PSSS This blog will soon focus on me decorating the new house. I’ve gotten kind of obsessed with decorating on the cheap  its so much fun.

Love you all bunches and bunches of coconuts!