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Abigail: Four Months w/o Hot Water


GeoBQn

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Yeah, she has a post about this, actually; about how hard it is not to care about being praised for your piety and good works. She even admits it's a bad thing, but here she is, wanting to be recognized for her holiness.

I guess that whole bit about Jesus telling his followers to not let their left hand know what their right hand is doing when performing acts of charity is lost on Abigail. We won't even get into how much he disapproved of ostentatious prayer.

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Poster Abigail, I do feel guilty every time I start a blogger Abigail thread.

Thank you!

I guess that whole bit about Jesus telling his followers to not let their left hand know what their right hand is doing when performing acts of charity is lost on Abigail. We won't even get into how much he disapproved of ostentatious prayer.

She has so much to learn or at least pay attention to following. She'd be so much better off living her live privately.

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We lost power about a week during an ice storm -- and occasionally we lose it for a few hours or days during tornado season. We just boil water for dishes when it happens. It's inconvenient but not impossible. Bathing, though, would be much harder to accomplish -- but also not impossible -- with boiling water, obviously mixed to a comfortable temp.

I have lived for long stretches -- and intend to do so again shortly -- without a fossil-fuel-powered device called a "water heater."

However, that doesn't mean going without hot water.

As several folks have mentioned, water can be heated on the range, woodstove, or even passively by the sun. When I was first living off-grid, we would heat water on the woodstove. Then we'd pour that into a bucket that was fitted with a spigot near the base, add cold water until the preferred temperature was reached, then hang the bucket from the ceiling over the bathtub. I preferred my water really hot, so I added less cold water, and showered just fine in about a gallon and a half of water. My boyfriend went for a bit less scorching, but a bit more volume, so he had probably closer to 2 gallons. This is certainly not the comfortable hot showers the first world is used to, but it was by no means a hardship. It just took a little cleverness to figure out how to hang a hook from the bathroom ceiling (later we had a high shelf over the tub that the bucket sat on, worked the same way but didn't have to lift it as high) and how to put a spigot in a bucket.

I have heated water for dishes on a woodstove, and also using a solar oven. You can also wash dishes in cold water although that works best if you don't have oily food remnants. (I also can't speak to the proper hygiene for infants as mentioned above.)

All that said, the idea of "suffering for god" sounds pretty crazy to me.

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Come on, Abigail. God said not to pray loudly where everyone can hear you, or disfigure yourself when you fast. If you're "suffering" (and I doubt this really is), for God, it's really not holy to brag about it.

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Reminds me of one of the things my (former Catholic priest) dad would say when some minor irritation would come up. He'd smile sanctimoniously and say "Offer it up to Jesus, through Mary, with a SMILE!"

It's kind of sad that my family in-joke is the way Abigail actually lives her life.

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Suffering with cold water showers for months on end is stupid. We live in the country and loose power a lot, 4 or 5 times a year, there are only a handful of homes on our line so we usually are one of the last places fixed.

We keep 30 or more gallons of water in 5 gallon water jugs, since we can't run our pump, we can flush toilets, heat for dishes and bathing and even hand wash clothes if necessary. We heat water on our woodstove in winter, or use our camp stove. We have a 2 gallon plastic sprinkler can I got at Kmart from the garden department. We fill it 3/4 full of room temperature water, then add hot water to make it comfortable. One person stands in the tub and another sprinkles enough on you to soap down, then use the rest of the water to rinse off.

When my son was in Afghanistan, he bought a solar shower on Amazon and had it shipped to his base. It has a 5 gallon black plastic bladder you hang in the sunshine, and a hose and nozzle you can spray yourself with. He could fill it with water from bottles if the water supply ran out.

It's stupid.

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So, uh, St. Petersburg, Russia, the cultural capital of the country that holds the most abundant and diverse natural resources of any other, had this thing where they'd cut the hot water every summer for "pipe repairs", but all the money would get stolen and so they'd have to "repair" them all over again the following year. Fire ordinances prohibited us from installing water heaters because something something I don't know (read: my grandparents refused to bribe the relevant officials). Throughout some of high school and most of college (2001-06), I perfected the ole boiling-water-in-a-bucket trick, followed by the mixing-hot-with-cold-and-pouring-over-self-using-saucepan routine. In our case, we literally had no other choice (well, the bribe thing was always on the table). In Abigail's case, she's an idiot.

JESUS DON'T CARE, YO.

Yup, they still do this every single summer. At least last time I was there in the summer there was a heatwave on, so the cold wasn't too bad. But it's total BS with no real reason behind it, as far as I know.

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I guess that whole bit about Jesus telling his followers to not let their left hand know what their right hand is doing when performing acts of charity is lost on Abigail. We won't even get into how much he disapproved of ostentatious prayer.

Dear Abigail

From Matthew 6:1-18 (RSV Catholic Ed.)

6-1 “Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

2 “Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward. 3 But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Concerning Prayer

5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.[a]

7 “And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this:

Our Father who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread;

12 And forgive us our debts,

As we also have forgiven our debtors;

13 And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.[c]

14 For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; 15 but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Concerning Fasting

16 “And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

An Atheist should not have to school you in this.

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She is now becoming Amish (cloth line, mini refrig, no hot water) she could never become Amish, they work too hard for her (grow their own food, make thier own clothing, send their children to school, help each other out, everything that they eat they make themselves and the biggie they are frugal). She really needs professional mental health help, plus her kids need to go to school, so they can escape her craziness for a while each day.

She also did research her new form of hot water heater-they do not work well with hard water without maintence, which she will not do.

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She is now becoming Amish (cloth line, mini refrig, no hot water) she could never become Amish, they work too hard for her (grow their own food, make thier own clothing, send their children to school, help each other out, everything that they eat they make themselves and the biggie they are frugal). She really needs professional mental health help, plus her kids need to go to school, so they can escape her craziness for a while each day.

She also did research her new form of hot water heater-they do not work well with hard water without maintence, which she will not do.

To be fair, there are a multitude of versions of simple living or small-footprint living that do not equate to "becoming Amish".

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By the way, I'm shocked too that the "involuntary thing" seems to usually be temporary. The penance lasts way longer that I'm comfort with, but it always ends. For example, we rode the bus for 2 years, but now we own 2 good cars. We rented a house for 5 years, but now we own a house. We went without a water heater for 4 months, but now it looks like we could get a really great one that can last for a longer time. I'm a little different that most thrifty families I know about we don't actively "save" while we do involuntary penance. Its more like if there seems to be a "necessity" we can't do, we try to be patient and little and loving while we wait for God to fix our problem.

Uhh...those are not penances. There are places, even in the US, where most people don't own a car. Many places have poor public transportation, but if you don't own a car you will have to adjust your living situation accordingly. It can be inconvenient to take a bus/train/metro, but in large cities it's generally cheaper and more efficient than trying to drive places.

As long as you have safe and comfortable housing, renting a home is not a penance. Again, there are some people who will never own a home. Sometimes that is due to lack of money, but some people just prefer it. Maybe if Abigail were renting a home, her family would have workable appliances. Something to think about :roll:

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To be fair, there are a multitude of versions of simple living or small-footprint living that do not equate to "becoming Amish".

Abigail was the one who used the word Amish in her blog. Because Amish people have mini-fridges, of course.

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Abigail was the one who used the word Amish in her blog. Because Amish people have mini-fridges, of course.

Hmm, I've apparently become Amish myself then, without realizing it, since I recently switched to a mini-fridge myself. :lol: That's cool, I've always admired the Amish, except for the whole, you know, religion part... :roll:

I tried to read Abigail's blog, because I am truly interested in how people decide to go all primitive when not for environmental-type reasons. But there was just so much there, and so little that seemed to be about their day to day life, at least in the early years. Maybe I'll jump straight to the recent posts even though I'm usually the linear-brained doofus who insists on reading it all, and in chronological order...

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Hmm, I've apparently become Amish myself then, without realizing it, since I recently switched to a mini-fridge myself. :lol: That's cool, I've always admired the Amish, except for the whole, you know, religion part... :roll:

I tried to read Abigail's blog, because I am truly interested in how people decide to go all primitive when not for environmental-type reasons. But there was just so much there, and so little that seemed to be about their day to day life, at least in the early years. Maybe I'll jump straight to the recent posts even though I'm usually the linear-brained doofus who insists on reading it all, and in chronological order...

I will sum her up in one word CRAZY- she is doing all of this because she thinks that she lives in proverty.

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Why would anyone take cold showers for months on end? Why didn't she just pick the chicken up, rinse it off, and serve it (provided she could get it picked up within the five second rule!).

Oh, it's that co-dependent Abigail, that's why.

My younger son's birth parents in Colombia are both poor. Neither family has hot water. But they do have showers and I'd rather have cold showers than no showers. Little kids take baths in a tub filled with water heated on a stove. I stay with his mother because it would be rude to stay in a hotel or pension. Do I like cold showers? Not particularly but I wouldn't think of complaining.

When we were little, after WWII, we didn't have hot water either. We survived.

I hate people like Abigail. You don't find many cradle Catholics like her. It seems like it's the converts who want to be more Catholic than the Pope.

Does anyone else noticed her frequent mistakes in grammar and even spelling sometimes? I can overlook the spelling errors as autocorrect mistakes but not the grammar. She's a Smith graduate and a UW Madison law school alum so she isn't dumb.

ETA: I agree about the chicken. Rinse it off, put it back in the oven for a few minutes. I dropped my turkey this past Thanksgiving! The grease burned my one foot and I was in tears but we ate that turkey.

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I still don't understand why she has a mini-fridge with five kids? I get that she thinks it makes her holier or something, but isn't it MORE expensive to buy food every day or two and not be able to stock up when things are on sale?

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I still don't understand why she has a mini-fridge with five kids? I get that she thinks it makes her holier or something, but isn't it MORE expensive to buy food every day or two and not be able to stock up when things are on sale?

See, now you're trying to make her sound like a logical, thinking person, which she most assuredly isn't. For some reason it is wrong to have too much food sitting around. It is better to go out every day and buy stuff because if you stock up too much, you aren't relying on God, or something. Hell, it's more trusting and faithful to take your last twenty dollars and spend it on a sack of McDonald's burgers and a cheap wall hanging. This is her thinking. You could not make this up.

Personally, I value the brain God gave me and I don't see the point in testing him. I use my money with a budget in mind and buy my groceries with an eye toward the next time I know for a fact we will get a paycheck. I think it is singularly un-faithful to spend your cash willy-nilly and then expect God to supply your dinner, or your new hot water heater, or WTF ever. I don't get her at all, on a faith level or a home-ec one.

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Since when do Amish have mini fridges? Lol.

We were without hot water for awhile this summer and it was really nbd because it was summer so it wasn't misery to take a quick cold shower. We boiled water to wash dishes and bathe my daughter. I had no idea I was on my way to becoming venerable.

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When sandy hit I did the old bucket of hot water, pitcher and washcloth routine. It was annoying, but not the end of the world, and WAY better than cold showers!

I was thinking she might be poor until she got to the part where she had 2 cars and a mortgage, thus saving her from the awful penance of renting and riding buses like some kind of animal. :eyeroll: I don't have a dishwasher or laundry in the building in the place I'm currently renting. I guess I should start a personal holiness blog.

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She has two cars? I get that she probably needs a car with five kids (emergencies happen, and you can't bicycle a kid to ER and leave four at home) however, can't Jon take public transit to work?

I know of absolutely no poor people who have two cars. Usually, the one who is dropping the kids off has the car and the other takes transit or catches a ride.

And yes, not budgeting properly so they can't afford food or a hot water heater is not being poor. And I don't want to sound like a complete asshole here, but maybe they should have some savings before having a SIXTH baby? (One or two with no savings? Stuff happens. But this is the SIXTH.)

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Count and I were married 6 yrs before we had our first car, I did not know that we were doing penances, I thought it was because we could afford the parking space. Dumb me. We also lived in a two bedroom third floor walk up apartment, at that time I had 3 boys under the age of four (single then twins), so try to wrangle kids and groceries up three flights to stairs. However, during this time we had a plan and knew that if we managed our funds we would do better. Also it helped that we knew after the Count's resident and fellowship life would be great. Still our first car was 3 years old.

She just wants pity from someone and feel better than everyone else. Really sad.

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We have never owned two cars in our 21 years of marriage. I don't drive, I take the bus or walk where I need to go.

Renting is not a penance, Abigail. Sometimes, it's freaking awesome...like yesterday, when I called the manager to tell her our fridge was dying and within 2 hours we got a newer, bigger, much nicer one from the vacant apt. next door.

I thought I was just living life, but in Abigail's eyes I guess I'm freaking St. Teresa of Avila. :dance:

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