07/21/24

Here’s what we did in our off-grid life today:

– Woke up around 4:30am. It’s too dark to get up, so we lie in bed reading our Kindles.

– At 6am we check the battery (38%), turn on Starlink and check our messages. Then I get up to feed the dogs, while Lurko plays internet games on his tablet.

– I walked the dogs in the light rain, which they did not mind. (They turn into weenies when they have to deal with mud or heavy rain.)

– I always assess the mud situation during the morning dog walk. This morning’s light rain thankfully made the ground only damp, and not super muddy. The rain stopped by 8am so it would be safe to take the car down the hill today. Today we will need to go into town for ice, but that’s it. (I feel bad for taking the car when I could just walk, but ice is heavy and would be half melted by the time I got home.)

– Ate breakfast: sugar-free yogurt from La Comer, blueberries from our local frutería, and homemade keto granola. We also finished off the Spanish chorizo, a treat we also found at La Comer. (La Comer is a fancy grocery store in Bucerias that stocks health food and imports. We shop there once or twice a month.)

– While we waited for the sun to charge the batteries, and before it got too hot, I hacked away at the jungle to keep it from taking over one side of the house. Now that rainy season has begun, the plants grow VERY quickly. The cut grass was thrown to the neighbor’s mules, who munched away happily.

– I was asked what tool I use for hacking. We do own machetes like regular Mexicans, but my tool of choice is a funky Japanese sickle that I bought off Amazon. It’s small, which makes it easy to use, and it hacks really well!

– To cool off, I plungered a quick load of laundry- some extra-muddy towels that I didn’t want to wash with the rest of the clothes. The rest of the laundry I’ll take into town tomorrow. It only costs $110 pesos to do a couple loads – totally worth it when the laundry piles up like it does during the muddy season.

– By 9am we had enough power to justify turning on the computers. Lurko played No Man’s Sky while I fixed the printer issue and printed out our absentee voting requests. Then I worked on setting up boards for the blog’s professional Pinterest account, and wrote this blog entry, while Lurko watched anime.

– I also went on an ice run, because I wanted a cold drink and we were out. 3/4 of the ice went into the cooler, and the rest went into a large drink thermos so we’d have ice inside.

– I cut up an old T-shirt while I waited for Lurko to make lunch. I have a stack of T-shirts to turn into tank tops, because T-shirts are too hot here and I don’t want to get rid of them. Upcycle for the win!

– Today’s lunch was keto pizza with turkey sausage and avocado. I took photos for the blog, since people keep asking about how we make our keto pizza crust. That will be a future entry! I have no end of ideas for blog posts.

– We each get half an avocado for our pizza, but I can only fit a quarter avocado on mine. So my dessert was the uneaten part of my avocado half, with granola poured into the empty part. I scoop out the resulting yummy insides of my avocado shell with a spoon.

– We chose to eat inside because the bugs have been getting bad and there’s not a lot of wind to keep them at bay. Once we get our power situation squared away we’ll buy a big ceiling fan for the covered outdoor kitchen. During the winter we had a nice breeze so I didn’t think we needed a fan, but thanks to the hot and muggy summer I have changed my tune!

– Speaking of hot and muggy, lunchtime is usually when we close the windows and turn on the AC. That’s when it becomes hotter inside than outside.

– After lunch, Lurko alternated between playing No Man’s Sky, Neverwinter Nights, and finishing an anime series. I wrote blog posts and fixed a problem with how blog posts were displaying on mobile phones.

– At 4pm, our Google alarm reminded us to turn off the AC before it started draining the battery. The dogs also reminded us that they would like to eat now.

– Inside stayed cool-ish until about 5pm. When it becomes hotter inside than outside, we open the windows and turn on the fans.

– We check the battery every half hour. When the display started going under 100% around 6pm, Lurko shut down his computer and switched to watching YouTube on the Roku TV, which uses less energy. I alternate between watching with him and looking at Facebook or Pinterest on my phone.

– At 6:45, we shut the inside door to keep the bugs from flying in. (We don’t have the no-see-um screen on the door. We tried using magnets to attach it, but it wouldn’t stay on.)

– I walk the dogs after the sun has dipped behind the top of our western hill, but before sunset.

– Even with the benefit of the hill’s shadow, I still come home covered in sweat, and I head immediately for the shower. The hot water works great but I do not want hot at all now!

– By 8pm Lurko and I settle on the king-sized bed to watch TV, usually the latest sci-fi or superhero fare. This week we had already finished The Boys and Star Wars: The Acolyte, so tonight we watched old episodes of Bob’s Burgers.

– We open the main door (keeping the screen door closed) an hour after sunset. We do this dance every night to avoid the biting insects, but also avoid roasting inside our stuffy house where humidity cIimbs above 80%.

-I will leave the door open as long as possible, but the dogs inevitably hear things go bump in the night, which makes them start barking. So around 10pm I have to get up to shut the door if we want any peace.

– I stay up a little while to look at Facebook or Pinterest, then read my Kindle. Tonight I’m reading The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton. When I get sleepy, I unplug Starlink and go to bed. The battery is usually at 75% around bedtime. If it gets too hot, each of us has a camping fan to point at ourselves. It works, but AC would be better!