Lazy Sunday on a Houseboat

Had lots of people asking how things are on the houseboat.  The answer I give is 'cluttered'.  I'm slowly unpacking but it is really amazing how much stuff I still have!  The end is in sight though, I"m getting down to the last sets of boxes so hopefully I can start having people over soon.

It is a beautiful day in Seattle, we've had rain and wind but today is amazing.  Friday night was my first real storm and while it was tippy it wasn't too bad. 

Happy Puppy enjoying the sun

The advantage of having 353 square feet is that it's relatively easy to clean :) today I'm working on the kitchen, cleaning the counter, putting dishes away and trying to organize all the things.  I have put in my first 'tiny house' functionality with hooks to hold mugs.

Mugs and Instant Pot rings

I may have found a boat handyman person, he is going to try to get over this week to start giving me estimates.  I have a laundry list of things, but once I know the cost I can start deciding.  The biggest thing is some shelving, modifying the bed and moving the hot water tank to under the bed so I have more space in my closet.  Oh I need more shelves, so may shelves.

Beginning automation

I have mixed feelings about home automation.  Part of me wants to automate *all the things!!* but the other part of me wants privacy and doesn't necessarily trust all of these companies who want me to install an app to use their individual automation items.

I do trust Alexa and Amazon's security, as long as I am not a dumbass.  I am also limited by 30 amps, and while modern automation technology doesn't use a ton of power when compared to the AC or a heater, it does add up.

I have had an Alexa since the first pre-sale, and I love it.  Yes it listens, yes by activating different 'skills' I am enabling whoever wrote those skills access.  I do limit what skills I use and currently it is only automation it is hooked up to is the Roomba (because how cool is that??) and the door lock.

I started with August's third generation lock.  When considering automated locks I very much wanted to make sure that a key would work in case everything dies.  A friend told me the horror stories about how someone couldn't leave their house because the firmware was updating.  True or not, it makes a good point.  My lock does not replace the deadbolt, it just turns it.  It works with Bluetooth and Wifi and it physically turns the deadbolt.  I also have a keypad so I can give someone one time access, or for the same friend mentioned above, this way he doesn't have to download an app. So far I'm happy with it. 

Back in SD I was automating all the things, here I'm going to take a bit more time and be a bit more discerning when adding things.  I haven't done lights yet, I keep going back and forth on Philips.  I don't think motion detectors are going to be useful since my neighbors and wildlife is so close.  I don't have central heating or AC so that isn't possible to automate. I may consider blinds depending on price and amount of power used.

The one thing I do want to get is humidity sensors, even if they don't integrate with Alexa.  I want to put sensors all over the hull with a way for them to report to me the humidity levels down there.  That isn't automation as much as early warning on possible damage.  I also need to put timers on big appliances, though I go back and forth on if those should be good old fashioned timers or something fancy.  Either way many less automation opportunities and I'm surprisingly ok with that.

Goodbye Summer -- here comes the long dark

It's raining, and the forecast says it may do this all week.  You'd think the whole 'living in Seattle' thing would not make this a sad thing, but it is.  It is a mixed feeling this year however, so that is an improvement.  Summer is over and now we have the slow decent into cold, dark, and dreary.

I spent most of my adult life in San Diego, and it just doesn't rain much down there.  I was concerned moving up to Seattle that the long dark winters would be detrimental to my mental well being.  I've made it through three of them so far, and while they're not easy I can deal.  I do mourn a bit in September every year.

See there is nothing more amazing than Summer in Washington.  It doesn't get too hot (though hotter than it used to, I insist on AC), the days are gloriously long, maybe 8 hours of darkness, it is amazing.  The summers are why I've decided to buy in WA.  But something that amazing must be paid for, and oh do we.

Our winters are relatively mild, snow is rare (first winter I was here didn't didn't even snow once), while it gets cold it doesn't get *cold*.  I went to college in Utah and grew up in New England, I know cold,  it doesn't get that cold here.  But we are lucky to get 8 hours of daylight, it's overcast for a good majority of the time and it is just depressing.

So I sit here on my houseboat listening to the rain.  I think this winter will be at least a little bit different.  Being on the water will make storms much more exciting, and it will probably be a bit colder, but the sound of rain on the boat is very soothing.  Sitting on my couch with my dog listening to the rain is something that I have found I enjoy. 

I need an oil heater, I'll dig out my winter clothes and the fuzzy socks will get used.  Heating the boat will be interesting but I think I can deal.  Getting things from the car to the boat might be a challenge, but I have a cart and I'm already getting groceries from Instacart so I think I'll be ok.  I am going to need to decide what to do with the plants (and make sure that any I bring inside are not harboring spiders) and bring in the ones that won't make it through the winter along with securing the ones that can't come inside, Mr Japanese Maple I am looking at you.

So I will begin my winterization of the houseboat, try to finish unpacking and getting everything ready for the long dark.  But tonight I will listen to the rain on the roof and mourn the long warm days of summer.

It finally happened, the pup fell in the lake!

I was out on the back 'porch' this morning trying to get him to pee on his pee pad and his trainer came by.  He was so excited and was dancing around her that it finally happened, he fell in the lake!  Poor little guy was swimming around looking like a drowned rat (I don't have any pictures of him in the lake, I was trying to get him out).  He finally swam close enough that I was able to pull him out.

We learned a few things today

1. Sebastian can indeed swim
2. My arms are long enough to pull him out if he gets close enough
3. Sebastian still isn't a fan of getting wet
4. I need stairs or something so he can get himself out if needed

Wet puppy right out of the water

Puppy Recovering

Sad Wet Puppy

Identifying my frustration -- how am I using my space?

Before I get to anything else, I wanted to thank everyone who has been asking me about this Houseboat thing and tell me that they are following my journey.  It's a bit humbling to know that people are reading this!  And in being told that I realize that while I started out strong I have been slacking on writing anything and led me to trying to understand why.  I think I've hit on something.

Back when I started looking at houseboats I asked myself why I was doing it.  I'm not the person that wants to leave all material things behind and simplify my life, I did that when I moved up to Seattle.  I downsized a whole moving van worth of stuff!  I have simplified as much as I'm ever going to.  I never had big dreams of 'living on a boat', I don't know how to sail, boats were never my thing.  So why am I doing this?

Well I wanted to own again, and the housing market here in Seattle is crazy.  I miss the ocean, and while I don't want to live on salt water (it's killer on electronics and stuff) living on fresh water is a nice compromise.  I was ready to move out of Bellevue and live in a place with 'soul', I have friends on the West Side that I don't see often and I'd like to see more, without huge efforts on my own part.  But while all of those reasons are true I wasn't sure that was enough.

What I found it really came down to is the concept of using space efficiently.  The challenge of living in such a small space but doing it without giving up the things that make me happy.  Part of that is paring down the noise and seeing exactly *what* makes me happy, so that is simplification, but that isn't all of it.  Part of it is having a smaller carbon footprint, not having a lawn (most useless waste of water I can imagine), and owning my own place again, but it's even more than that.  We waste so much, *I* waste so much in my life.  I buy all these groceries that go bad, I end up buying things I don't need or only use once, or three version of the same thing because I'm not sure where the old one is and I just buy a new one.  While I am certainly a consumer, I don't need to be consuming this much, and living on a houseboat is a way to consume less.  And this is how I've chosen to do it.

So then why am I frustrated?  I bought a fantastic houseboat, it's beautiful, but it's not very space efficient.  There is dead space under my bed that would have been much better utilized by placing the water heater there instead of in the *only closet*.  I have no shelves, there aren't any of the cool space saving things that I had pictured in my mind, and somehow I didn't make that connection before I bought this place.  It's missing the things I was looking for.

Where does this leave me?  With a better understanding of my current frustrations and a goal, to incorporate all of the space saving things into this boat.  I've been reading about boats and RV's online, and amusingly enough the RV's have better 'tips'.  Some of this will need a third party to do things like put my mattress on lifts so I an use the dead space under the bed, and install shelving, but that is ok, I have time.

Now I have a goal, find the clever ways to utilize space and make this crazy 353 sq foot place my true home.

I'm still unpacking!

I know I've been a little quiet but I am still unpacking!  The new screens are in which is wonderful and I'm still chipping a way all of the boxes trying to find good places for everything.

I think the theme of the next few weeks will be shelves and where do I put the shoes?  

I am making progress, I have a suitcase full of stuff to take to my mom's when I see her in a few weeks, I'm filling up another box for storage and I have another donation box going.  Despite the fact that everything is kind of everywhere it's starting to feel like home! Kind of!

I'll post pictures and storage tips when this place is a bit more put together and I've figured that storage stuff out :)

Weekends are never boring on a boat!

I think I mentioned that we moved my boat, well today we moved it again.  The problem is that the front corner keeps banging into the dock.  Two of my wonderful neighbors helped and we moved it back, but it's not sustainable.  So I went off today to get a new fender at a local marine supply shop.

A3 Fender

The idea is to put this at the corner of the dock and it will buffer the boat.  We are going to have to retie the boat when my neighbors come back anyway, so we're good for a few days.

Right after that the internet goes out.  I crawled around in the hull for a bit and saw that everything there was ok, turns out the cable had come lose at the dock, easy fix!

One storage unit is empty and done!  now I'm down to one, which I intend to keep.  Getting ready to move my summer clothes in to have room for the winter clothing.  It may be the end of August but summer is basically over in the Pacific North West, I won't need my bathing suit again for a bit.

The screens are coming on Thursday!  The goal is to unpack and arrange things so someone can get to all of the windows.  I feel like that is kind of important in this situation.