Natasha Fondren

Looks like a sunny, warm, summer day, doesn’t it? Yes. But no. It is cold! We’re talking high-40s cold, mid-30s-at-night cold. We wake up in the middle of the night and four cats are all huddled between Glenn and I. We stay warm. It’s cozy. It’s nice.

Until, that is, we have to go to the bathroom. Because while I never had to wake up and go to the bathroom in the middle of the night when I lived in a house, when I camp, I have to go two or three times before the sun rises.

So on go the sandals, over my shoulders goes a sweatshirt, and off I go running to the showerhouse, freezing my toes and legs and ass off. (Although, come to think of it, if it could freeze my ass off a little quicker, I wouldn’t mind.)

  But it’s such a beautiful day, I hate to spend it inside.

The campfire is cooking our lunch beside me, but because the sun is so bright, I can only see my screen if I stretch a black nightgown over my head and my laptop. I wanted Glenn to take a picture of this setup so I could prove my ingenuity, but he said, “You look ridiculous!”

So here is ridiculous me, happy as a clam, layered in two sweatshirts and a turtleneck. (Translation: My arms aren’t that fat!)

Yes, I could have cropped that better, but I didn’t want to cut out my Jeep. Isn’t she pretty? Yes. I am way too crazy about my Jeep. I dream of three weeks from now, when the top will be off, and we’ll be driving around the 80+ degree desert, the hot sun beating on our skin. Woo-hoo!

How was your weekend? Isn’t fall grand? What plans do you have for this season?

I love my life, but it’s hard work. Writing is a very sedentary activity. Still, my new lifestyle does get me moving. Aside from the exercise I get walking back and forth to the bathroom many times a day (and night), there’s doing the dishes.

I have a sink, but it’s small, and the spigot reaches out but an inch, which makes sticking a pan under there to rinse difficult. Plates? I have to turn the water on full force and angle it just so.

Which is problem, if you remember, because my grey water bucket is only about 2 gallons.

Guess how many gallons of water it takes to wash 6 plates, 20 utensils, 6 cups, 4 bowls, 5 pans, and 2 measuring cups?

That’s about a two or three days of dishes for me. And it takes 7-10 buckets of water. Which means 7-10 trips to the grey water dump, which is over 1 mile of walking, carrying a heavy bucket full of water.

Altogether, it takes about 5 hours to do the dishes and clean my little camper, top to bottom. Because it’s small, I have to clean, top to bottom, every morning, or else it looks like a disaster hit it. I only do the dishes about once every three or four days because there’s a leak that I have to clean up after doing the dishes, and I’m waiting for Glenn to get home to fix it.

Today is a Dish Day. And a big writing day, too.

Are you laboring on labor day? What’s on the schedule? Or are you having a fun day? Do tell, so we can live vicariously!