A true conservative

It’s easier to be conservative living in a trailer, to be a conservationist, to conserve.

Interesting how the meanings of those words diverge through twisted politics. But there is nothing like having to haul your house for an hour to refill it with water, and dump the sewage, to turn one toward “living lightly.”

It isn’t the money; it’s the time, the effort, the risk, the hassle. A 31 foot trailer wants to go its own way when it’s really windy on the highway, even at 50 mph.

We turn off the propane water heater at night: water heats quickly in the morning and there is no need to keep it hot all night long. The tanks are bulky to refill at one of the local stations, but propane seems like a bargain.

Gasoline for the generator is bought in $5 units, which just fills the small can. That’s a little less than 1 1/2 gallons depending on price. Each purchase will last a few nights, unless we are using the generator all day for construction. I don’t leave the generator on if we aren’t uploading or downloading or needing to recharge the house batteries.

Water. Water. Water is the hardest. I can’t haul enough for thoughtless use. Five gallon jugs for drinking and cooking fit just fine on my large cooler. But it is warm water, and lots of it, that separates living from camping and we come in just under the wire. I wash the plates outside sometimes and rinse with cold water. I shower less often and have forgone the luxury of a long soak with steaming streams running over my head and down my shoulders.

Ironically, I think the girls are showering more often, since I demand they shower whenever they can, at Elizabeth and Jon’s, or at their mother’s house when we go there so they can practice piano for the recital this Sunday.

The twins are into this conservation lifestyle. “Does this burn, Dada?” K.C. asks, holding up an empty peach cup from her school lunch. No, I tell her. We don’t burn plastic. Actually, we don’t burn paper yet, either, not in the open in this tinder-dry climate, but I wanted to start life here on the land in the trailer making that distinction. I hope someday to capture the energy of waste paper to heat the house and reduce the use of propane, trips to the dump.

But that kind of conservation is a luxury. Right now conservation is driven by the necessity of the space in which we live. Turn down the heat. Boil water for coffee on the stove. Don’t let the faucet run. Clean up after yourself and do it now, don’t accumulate, because the unnecessary is sure to get in your way, or in someone else’s way.

Living in 260 square feet demands a certain discipline. Good practice for our transition to the boat, someday.