Failures (or as Jill calls them "prototypes")

As I was expecting, not all of my stuff works out exactly as planned. I'm not TOO broken up about it since part of trying alternatives to conventional things is the fact that some of the ideas are just not going to be great.

Charlotte the washing machine has been removed from duty and stored in the pump house. As it turns out, it just doesn't get clothes as clean as the bucket and plunger rig which Jill was using last year. It also tends to get clothes jammed up around the agitator bar. Since it doesn't work well, I deem it a failure, at least at this point when I don't have the inclination to try and address the issues. Maybe when I get REALLY bored, I will pull it apart and see if I can make it better, but for now it is collecting dust.

The 50 gallon water barrel shower just doesn't get hot enough. I didn't think you could put something black in the sun around here and not have it become unbearably hot, but the heavy gage plastic and the volume of water apparently resist even NM sunshine. It was warmer than well water, but still on the coolish side, especially for Jill who prefers her showers to be scalding hot.

I ended up getting a black 5 gallon bucket which I covered with a glass plate (it was actually the rotisserie plate from an old microwave). I fill the 5 gallon bucket with slightly preheated water from the 50 gallon barrel and let it sit for a couple of days. It is significantly warmer, and I find it plenty warm to shower in. Jill still prefers to use the Sun Shower bag that my parents gave us.