Bath!

Tonight we got a bath and it was so nice to get clean from head to toe. It was an experience, though.

I asked Sydney to blog about it and she wasn't interested. To be honest, she didn't really want a bath. I told her it would
1) get her clean before we head into town tomorrow
2) be a story to tell
She said she'd rather tell the story of how she didn't take a proper bath for two weeks :-)

Her only comments about the bath were:
- before you start the fire in the pit below the tub, make sure to get Box of Frogs out first (he's the playful 5 month old kitten)
- when you're bathing, everything in the water was warm
- everything out of the water was freezing
- she dropped the hair conditioner and it almost rolled into the fire
- it was strange to get rained on WHILE you are bathing

I have to say I picked one of the coldest, most windy nights to have a bath. The tub is between the kitchen and the woodshed and open on the other two ends, and the wind was cruising through. There's a little tarp you can put up on one end to shield you from all the people walking by, but it doesn't cover the entire opening, and it doesn't stop the wind. There's a little roof overhead to keep the rain off, but the wind still carried some into the tub. It's been cold and wet the last few days. It snowed yesterday and we had a few flakes and a lot of sleet today.

So we fill the tub, start the fire below it, and wait for it to get warm. We lit the candles as there are no lights. Then we put a wide, thick board in the water and sat on it so our butt doesn't get burned from the heat of the fire. Sydney was a little concerned when she saw bubbles coming up from the bottom of the tub, just like you see when a pot starts to boil. You always have the option of pouring more cold water in if it gets too hot.

Sydney went in first. By the time she got out the fire was down to just coals. I threw two more long boards into the fire pit and hoped it would be enough for my bath. Sydney was right - everything under the water was toasty warm and everthing out was FREEZING. After I washed up, I felt the log burning and the flames heat the tub underneath my butt on either side of the log. I leaned back in the water and tried to get all of me under. The fire spot was right under my low back and it felt SO good, but it was so hot I couldn't stay there long. I just kept shifting around to warm different parts on my back.

The wind was bringing birch leaves in (which I kind of liked in the water) and I had to keep picking them out of my hair. I wanted to stay in the heat but it was eventually time to get out and dry off QUICKLY. Sydney and I were very happy that we started a fire in our camper before the bath as we were able to walk into a toasty space.

Typing this now with a heavy, sleet downpour on the roof. It's nice to be warm! That was a lot of work for one bath, but I still enjoyed it. Most of it :-)

Julia