Water

When you move to the high country you'll hear things like "be sure and drinks lots of water" and "it's important to stay hydrated" and it's true.  For most, the first week can be uncomfortable to say the least.  You'll experience headaches, chapped lips, and a feeling of lethargy due to the lack of oxygen. There are things you can do like guzzle 3 or 4 gallons of water a day (know the location of all bathrooms near you) and take aspirin as needed.  There are additives to water, one called acclimate works fairly well if you can stand the taste.  Me. I prefer rolling into a ball and praying to jeebus until the feeling passes.

Which brings me to the real water issue.  Everywhere in our new home we found little notes about conserving water.  The previous owner has regaled us with stories about peeing off the back deck to discourage bears and mountain lions from poking around.  Taking water from the creek out back to fill the Jacuzzi (yes, I realize I'm complaining about water but have a Jacuzzi) and the ever popular "if it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down" to name a few. Oh, how we rolled our eyes at it all.

Cut to yesterday, laundry day.  No biggie really, it's just we two O and I.  Two loads of laundry, one load of dishes, two showers, a couple of necessary flushes of the toilet, and 3 or 4 gallons of water from the tap. That is, until I began to prepare dinner.  It was going to be pasta with meat sauce and a salad.  First things first, I begin by filling the pot I'm going to boil water in for the pasta and ... nothing!  The first thing that runs through my head in times like these is what did I do now?  Of course, water is at it's lowest availability at this time of year and I've used too much.  Plan B, the Almont Resort and burgers.

So, here I stand on my back deck some hours later peeing around the perimeter of the property, oh I can go on for minutes these days.  As I do, I think about low flow shower heads, baths on Saturdays, and wearing clothes until they walk on their own and then buying replacements instead of washing them.  Of course this won't be necessary, I just need to adjust or roll back into a ball and pray.