Sweet Clementines in the Outdoor Shower - this is the LIFE!

OK - it's December 17th here in Phoenix, Arizona and the local temp is 75 degrees F (yes I'm gloating - y'all can get me back in the summer!)

I decided to repair to the outdoor shower to enjoy a little water therapy. I turned on the water to let it warm up - it's plumbed for hot and cold water (traditional hot water, not solar or rocket heat - YET) - and don't worry, that water going down the drain is piped right back into the landscape through one or more of the three drains at the bottom of the stall.

While the water was warming up, I wandered out to check on the veggie beds - LOOKING GOOD! Then, because they are FINALLY juicy this year - I plucked a couple of clemantines off the tree in the veggie garden and took them back with me to the shower (which was now warm). Eating in the shower? Yep. It's something that I've gotten used to because grape vines grow over the top of the shower - so I often eat grapes and shower at the same time. But it's not grape season now, thus, no more shower snacks. Until NOW!

Peeling and eating the clemantines in the hot steam of the shower acted like aromatherapy, which helped sooth the sinus headache I've had all day. Plus, by eating these little juicys in the shower, I didn't have to deal with washing my sticky hands afterward.

Eating citrus in the outdoor shower? Two thumbs WAAAAY up!

Because I'm too dang relaxed (read "lazy") from that fabulous shower to go to the work of recreating these posts on permies.com, you can see more on how the outdoor shower works here:

{Dolce Verde} Outdoor Shower: Part 1 – Design Includes a shot of our local permie handydude in the shower!! OK - settle down - it's pretty tame!
{Dolce Verde} Outdoor Shower – Part 2: The Evolution Shows shots of the grapevines.

That's funny, it's December 17 here as well.

How far is the shower from the hot water tank? You had time to wander the garden. Or, is it a demand heater sort of thing.

Rather than going to the trouble of documenting the shower details, it might be easier to set up a little web camera so you can simply narrate as the camera pans. I saw the pictures on your blog. Very nice.

Solar hot water is an obvious choice in your locale. You've mentioned the shower a few times. On solar, it would be a nice indulgence. On fossil fuels, it may be a vice.

Dale Hodgins wrote:That's funny, it's December 17 here as well.

awesome Dale. quality laugh on my end. much appreciated. cheers-

OK....it's now Dec 18th and I've read Dale's pithy humor.....

Remember, mine is a small urban property 50 ft wide by 150 ft deep. The shower is about 20 ft max from the water heater - it doesn't take long to warm up - in fact it warms up faster than my indoor shower and sinks. The clementine tree is another 35 ft away from the shower. So, by the time I turned on the shower, walked back to the veggie garden, glanced around, pulled a couple of fruit off the tree and made my way back to the shower, it was plenty hot.

Solar hot water. Yeah - don't think I haven't thought about it. Other than using a black hose and getting passive hot water (only warm in the middle of the day in the winter) - the price tag is currently out of reach (I've seen two systems go in here in the 'hood and both were in the $5-6K range - OUCH). I've also thought of running a pipe through a hot compost heap -but I don't have the space or physical energy to do that one right now. Remember, have an autoimmune condition that manifests very similar to severe Lupus - some days it's all I can do to get up in the morning (sucks big time). It has also taken 75% of my vision. So hot water is a great boon to me in terms of pain management. There was no way of getting the greywater from my indoor shower to the landscape without a LOT of modification and expense - hence the outdoor shower was built. I think I've showered indoors less than 10 times in the past 5 years. Also, in the summer time, I just turn the hot water off because the water in the pipes is already hot enough!

Re: a webcam - GREAT IDEA!! My YouTube hits will go through the roof! Actually, living where I do, there are a lot of helicopters. I'm sure there's footage SOMEWHERE (google earth??)

Nice post Jen.
I'd even go as far to say it doesn't really belong in the meaningless drivel forum.

I can see you've got a site but maybe you're own thread on Permies is in order?

Hey CJ!

I've been wondering about your PDC project and how it's progressing. Have you posted updates here? (I should probably look at your project page, eh??)

Regarding my own thread....it would be FILLED with meaningless drivel - it's my specialty.

Peas out, friend,
Jen

Nothing doing till spring. If I can get them to order scions for their apple trees that would be progress. They had a great yield on apples and I picked over a 100 lbs of drops for my animals - cows; sheep; turkeys; pigs all loved 'em.

I would like to try water catchment for my own house though, but it might only work 8 months out of 12. Rain water would be much softer than our well water which tends to scale up our on demand hot water. Actually, if I can just get my husband the plumber to install an extra hot water tank in the 3rd floor/attic to pre-heat the hot water that would be a small victory!

It's been extra cold here the last 2 months so I'm starting to think about a green house attachment in the front of the house (facing south) which would stack at least 3 functions:
Double entry to block cold from pouring in every time we open the door;
Plant starting/growing;
Get our solar panels of the ground;
and maybe even a place for a water tank.

But back to your topic...
You've got me thinking I should throw some clementine peels in the water I keep on top of the wood stove.

It's 14° outside right now and there's about a foot of snow on the ground & time to feed all animals. Woo hoo!

Cj Verde wrote:It's 14° outside right now and there's about a foot of snow on the ground & time to feed all animals. Woo hoo!

Lucky you! Kinda glad to be in Phoenix right now!