I married the smartest man

Daddy teaching kids about the different wires and J.M. standing

next to the now wired in generator.

We woke up today to a dismal start as water was still off and we knew our septic system was already to the overflow point. It did not seem like it was going to be a good day. This of course did not stop the ingenuity of my dear husband who only saw this as another challenge to his already highly skilled survival mode repertoire. He began the day by building us an outdoor latrine that would immediately alleviate the bathroom issue. While I greatly appreciated his hard work I personally was not sold on using this open outdoor facility, but continued to use my pan in the potty invention from the night before (I will never look at a foil baking pan the same again).

So my hubby not being satisfied with the potty situation set out to find a sunk pump to at least pump out our septic enough to use. Fortunately, the water was restored around noon so things were looking up! While out David spoke to his Dad who told him he could talk him through wiring the generator into the main circuit panel to the house. David picked up the necessary items and came home with a renewed vision to get us back up and running...we would not need to evacuate and by the end of the day it would almost seem like pre-Ike time.

Tomorrow David is going to post how to hook up your generator to your house's main circuit panel with pictures included of the materials you need. His Dad (who is one of the three smartest men i know, my Dad being the other and of course my husband) walked David through the process of splicing in the generator to the circuit panel of our house and voila! we have power including sewer sprinklers up and running!!! We are back to somewhat normal living...bye bye extension cord mix master highways!

A welcomed site our sewer sprinklers running. Sewer sprinkler

high water alarm, but a good sign as it means we have power!
Most of the day went on as usual. Cooking on the back porch using the dutch oven and eating outside on the picnic table. Although tonight we ate at the dinner table for the first time in several days as we had light to eat by and fans running. I need to get more dutch oven recipes this was so fun and consumed so little fuel. We could make one bag of charcoal go a long way!

The new outdoor kitchen and Dutch oven dinners

Emily spooning up our

stew.

Andrew helping bail bath water...he works for Reeses pieces.

Thank you big boy...what a great helper you are.
The boys have had a great time building the Rokenbok and just having some fun brother time. Kathlena manages to get in the mix some but looks forward to her afternoon stroller naps.

J.Michael catching up on the

comics and keeping cool.

J.Michael takes time out

from helping Dad to hold

his younger sister!

This sign has been posted at

the front of our subdivision

since the day after the storm.

Yep! we are in the right neighborhood!