We got the tripod for our jerry can that fuels our diesel heater on Monday. We got that all set up and now we have heat! Can I even begin to tell you how glorious it is to come home from taking a shower and have it be so cold that your hair immediately freezes and to walk into your tent, have your husband light a fire in the heater, and within 15 minutes you’re toasty warm with wet, not frozen hair?! Last night we decided that low wasn’t quite as warm as we’d like to be so we turned it up to two (on a scale of off 1-7), and then we were both super hot really fast so we turned it back down to low before heading to bed. The wind blew like crazy last night! It woke both of us up. The furnace burned brighter each time the wind gusted really hard. By the time we woke up around 6:30 this morning, the heater was out. Wesley stayed in bed until 8:00ish, got up, went to town, and got more diesel. Finding a second jerry can became a definite goal for the day so at least if the heater went out we could just go outside and change the jerry cans instead of running into town to refill it.
I was supposed to take the truck into Rich Ford today to get our camper topper installed, have the brakes checked, and seatbelts fixed because neither one of them retract properly anymore. I got about a third of the way there and was chatting with the lady on Facebook marketplace about jerry cans and realized that maybe Rich Ford would only have cars to rent while our truck was being fixed. The prospect of that was so horrible that I called Rich Ford to find out if I’d be able to get a truck only to learn but not only did they not have trucks, but they didn’t have anything. I canceled our appointment for the truck to get looked at because we have one vehicle and couldn’t be without it, and went to Socorro to go to Walmart. Walmart had a great deal on hams so I got a 10 pound ham for $10 and they have the Paleo pancake mix that we like so I got some of that as well. I of course had to wait in line to get into Walmart because there was more than 75 people there, and the guy from Belen who had a jerry can for sale messaged me back so after I finished at Walmart and got water from the twice the ice, headed up to Belen and got a second jerry can. We now have enough to get through a full day. Perhaps next week when we go up to Albuquerque, we’ll be able to get some more from the lady who had four of them from sale.
Now that we have heat, we were able to hop online for community group and participate for the first time in a few weeks. After group, we headed into town for showers. Welda let us know that Jake, their puppy, was at the house and Kiki, the cat we thought about bringing home a few weeks ago, isn’t allowed inside because one of the cats is peeing inside and she’s the prime suspect right now. She was ANGRY about not being let inside- like hissing and growling angry. We got inside and then Jack, the aunt’s cat whose decided he really likes me, was angry bc he wasn’t getting the attention. It was that passive aggressive, I’ll turn my back on you bc how dare you kind of kitty anger. Jake, the pup, was super excited for attention. The first time we meet him, he was sprinting back and forth like a wild lunatic so fast you couldn’t even pet him. The second time we saw him was at thanksgiving and he was trying to mount the Great Dane all day. That was pretty funny bc he could only get his paws to her shoulder and there was no hope for him.
He doesn’t come when called so I worked on that with him while Wesley was showering tonight. He got really good at it, I mean he’s a baby with zero attention span, but he’s smart and after being drug to me by his harness a few times decided being a good boy and doing it himself was a better and much more enjoyable idea. As he focused on come, sit, and no jumping, he calmed down. Welda says I can help train him. I’m pretty excited about that. He’ll be the first small breed dog I’ve ever trained, but he’s smart and seeks to please so he should be easy to train.
The wind is supposed to be pretty quiet tonight, which is great!! It blew so hard last night Wesley ended up restaking a bunch of the tent bc tent pegs pulled up some and ropes developed slack. It was 19 degrees outside already so this heater all night is going to be amazing!! There was extra water after laundry today so I brought the jugs in so they won’t be frozen in the morning. The wash cloth I used for dinner was frozen solid but the time we got home from showering. We’ve gotten a few packages the past few days. The plan is to open them tomorrow. I know in theory you’re supposed to wait until Christmas, but I’m all for putting things to use. I think the water heater Audrey got us is one of the things that arrived today. I’m super excited about that one bc it means our hands might not get so cold!!