Not that we’ll be moving any time soon. We do have a long-term dream of moving somewhere eventually… maybe southern Oregon, maybe Hawaii, maybe back to New Zealand. We’ll see. Rather complicated by all the animals, though.

Speaking of Hawaii, I happened to come across this listing for an off-the-grid house on the Big Island of Hawaii. I love the look of it, though not sure I could handle the power restrictions, or slowness of satellite internet. It’s fun to dream, though.

Hawaii house

Deck

Living room

Kitchen and dining

After moving to the US and living in an apartment for a year or so, we bought a new 1522 square foot townhouse in December 2002. We imagined we’d be there for a few years, but ended up staying a decade. #ThrowbackThursday

Townhouse

Townhouse

Jenn in front of our townhouse

Living, dining, kitchen

Living room

That was quicker than predicted… the power is back on again, an hour and a half after going off. 🔌

I feel powerless… in an electrical sense. Shortly after publishing my Flock Friday post, we lost power. I’m more surprised that it lasted that long, with all the wind we’ve been having. There are a lot of trees around us, with overhead power lines, so a tree falling on a line takes it out.

We still have internet access, due to UPSes. Made mac & cheese on the gas stovetop (using a lighter) for lunch. The power company estimates it’ll be back on in a few hours, so I’ll just work on my laptop in the meantime.

As ever, the biggest inconvenience is that we have no running water when we have no power, since we’re on a well. But we prepared some jugs of water, and have other stuff to drink, so not too much hassle.

Our clothes washer had multiple issues, so it was time to replace it. We got a new LG washer and matching dryer, plus a cute little second washer that goes underneath the main one like a drawer (and a regular drawer under the dryer).

New washer and dryer

Mini washer and drawer

Mini washer closed

Washer controls

Dryer controls

New washer and dryer

Installed new under-cabinet lights in the kitchen, to replace the older light strips that kept cutting out.

Under-cabinet lights

Under-cabinet lights

Under-cabinet lights

Another thing we did yesterday was go to IKEA to buy a new bed or fold-out couch for Jenn’s office, to replace an uncomfortable couch (that the cats helped us remove). We ended up getting a nice daybed, so we now have a king-size guest bed in there.

IKEA shopping

Both cats helping remove the old couch

Daybed frame

Daybed expanded