Day 7: The Saga of the Commode, Day 3

So now that we all know exactly where and when we are…

I have to start with my most favorite part of the day: the shower. No, I am not a wizard-carpenter that somehow got a new, fully functioning shower in my bathroom today. What I did do was set up the old tub – including the surround on the back and one side – facing into my deck from the ground. From there, I lashed it to the deck with twine and straps and hung a camping shower bag from the deck. The whole get-up was next to my clothesline, from which I hung a shower curtain. It is absolutely private and will serve well for the next two weeks.

But why two weeks? Well, because the American-made tub I chose takes two weeks for delivery. That’s not getting me down, though, because I have an awesome outdoor shower!

When we last left our hero, his indoor bathroom was nothing but bare studs. Throughout the day, the remaining joists were installed, all of the subfloor layers were put down, and most of the walls were put back up. I also moved the heating register to a more logical location of the bathroom, so I can put in a bigger vanity with more under-sink storage. This required only two trips to the hardware store…

The new general design for the bathroom is this: a claw foot bathtub in a corner of the room that is tiled from the floor to a height of eight feet. The rest of the walls will get wainscoting and a fresh paint job. A new vanity and low-flow toilet are in store, too.

But for food. What happened today? Shockingly, I had some frozen pizza that was already in the house. I had this at ten a.m. I haven’t been hungry since. So with all of the challenges of the weekend, there was little failure on my food journey. There is one more slight compromise to come, however. See, with a sense of accomplishment like that I have today, a tall glass of wine is pretty much required. To do this, I went over to the Cardinal Hollow Winery. There, a local guy named Chris makes wine in his basement from locally grown fruits.

I’ve had a lot of time to think over the weekend about the next steps of this trial. Starting tomorrow, I’m cutting the grain ration in half and adding in fruits and veggies from the local farmers markets.