For several weeks now, I have been thinking of little else besides bacteria. Whether experimenting with sourdough starters or contemplating where the community of mold savaging my sinuses may be festering, I am near constantly considering microbial life. However by far, the most critical microscopic bugs I have been dwelling on, are the ones that eat poop.
Laugh if you will, but when you live with two composting toilets next to your bedroom, the livelihood of these little microbes becomes a matter of the gravest concern. The big toilet at the bottom of the hill, and the unit in the Caretaker’s Quarters, have been working just fine, which is more than I can say about the W/C in the Guest Quarters. Call me a perfectionist if you wish- I do not think people paying $150 a night should have to sleep in a room that reeks of stale urine.
 |
| The Enemy |
Consequently I have been thinking hard on ways to improve the function of the john, and tried multiple solutions, such as adding peat moss, aerating the mix more often, adding more of the canned bugs (thinking maybe the ones we had in there were dead), all to no avail. It wasn’t until I was commenting to Amy a couple of weeks ago on the amount of food the sourdough required to remain healthy, that I realized that perhaps, with limited usage, maybe the little fellas in the Guest head were starving. Then and there, I embarked on a campaign to make sure they had enough food, encouraging Amy to help whenever the urge struck her.
 |
| The Weapons |
The first couple of deposits produced predictable results: the museum smelled like shit. However with perseverance, and repeated efforts, the third composting unit is working like a champion. Who would have thought that part of being a successful caretaker would involve planning where to take your daily constitutional?
 |
| The Results |
Today was supposed to be a day of high winds and thunderstorms, according to the NOAA weather forecasters in who I am losing faith. We had moderate winds, cool temperatures, brief showers, and fog at the end of the day. I used the morning to weed whack, and do “maintenance” on the Guest Quarters toilet, and was almost complete with my self-assigned chores, when Jeff Jacobs, the master of window sills, came out for a visit with a friend. I showed them the light & grounds, and discussed plans to work on the rest of the windows, and then took my leave to eat lunch. They were our only visitors today, and on the off chance that the fellas at NOAA are right, we probably won’t have any tomorrow either.
No comments:
Post a Comment