I was having a rather rough day yesterday which made what happened all that much more wonderful.  On top of my plumbing woes, things were piling up at work.  And then there was the small matter of getting caught in hail four times yesterday.

Moreover, all this was in the wake of having to unpack the Mini and carry all my stuff down the ramps in the rain on Sunday.

I don’t care if real Portlanders don’t carry umbrellas.  I’m carrying one with me everywhere I go from now on, dang it.  I haven’t been this soggy and pelted by the elements in the last twenty years.

So, needless to say, I was rather cranky as I was returning down the ramps to my house after hail storm #4 of the day.  In the midst of feeling very sorry for myself, however, I noticed something odd floating in the river directly in front of my house.  It was slick, dark, and executing little joyful pirouettes. I would have thought it was just a random log drifting down the river but the pattern it was tracing in the water made no sense if it was just debris.  There was too much a sense of humor about the whole thing.

So I squinted and hurried down the dock.  Just as I got within ten feet of the mysterious black thing in the water, a whiskered head popped to the surface and stared directly at me with liquid eyes.  Both me and the whiskered animal did a comic double-take, and then, with a flick of a tail and a splash, it was gone.

My first reaction was: “THAT’S THE BIGGEST OTTER I’VE EVER SEEN!”

I have to confess that what it actually looked like to me was a seal.  But there was no conceivable way a seal could be paddling around outside my house… could there?

Turns out, it very well could.

I ran into my neighbor Mike a hour later and asked him about what I’d seen…  Mike didn’t even bat an eye under his baseball cap.  “Oh yeah.  There are seals all over the place right now.  They like to follow the salmon up river.”  And with that matter-of-fact explanation he ambled down the dock as though we’d just had a conversation as inconsequential as discussing the fact it was raining again in Portland.

Mike has obviously been here a lot longer than me.

My reaction went something a little more like the following: “HOLY FREAK!  I JUST SAW A SEAL! RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY HOUSE! A SEAL!!!!”

I’m not sure when the novelty of a seal meandering five feet in front of my house might wear off.  I’m not sure it ever will, and that’s perfectly fine with me.

Upon hearing the story on Twitter, the local fantasy author Kim Antieau said it was just the selkies way of welcoming me to the neighborhood.  I love that.

And sure enough, one quick visit from the selkies wiped away an enormous amount of frustration from the day, and I’m back to remembering why I’m here.  And that I’m right where I’m supposed to be, exploding toilets, bat colonies and all.

I’m afraid to say my first day in my floating home was a little less magical than my arrival.

To begin with, my “Open 24 Hours a Day! 7 Days a Week!” storeroom facility decided to be closed for Easter without sending any sort of notice to their tenants.  So, when I blithely showed up, keyed in my security code at the gate, and went inside, I ended up being greeted by a very flustered property manager who came barreling out of her RV, followed quickly by her husband/S.O. armed with a shotgun.

None of this was really disastrous other than the fact that all the bedding I planned to use for the night was behind lock and key and they weren’t about to let me in long enough to retrieve it.  I think what irked me the most is how nasty the manager was.  I just about got accused of breaking and entering.  She kept insisting that there was no way my security code should have been able to open the gate and that they told everyone when they signed up for a facility that they were closed on major holidays.  (Of which, Easter apparently qualifies in her world.)

I made my apologies and left.  I’ve got a bad feeling, though, that there’s going to be an ongoing series of issues between me and this women as I ended up getting the Death Look the whole time I was there yesterday to retrieve a few things.

It annoyed me that I was forced to go buy a cheapo comforter to get me through the night until I could retrieve my bedding.  Odds are I’ll end up donating it to one of the local shelters.

The real excitement on Sunday, however, involved my tiny house’s plumbing.  I was able to reach Kenny about midday and he showed me how to turn out the main water main to my house.  Kenny hung around for about fifteen minutes helping me make sure all the appropriate valves were opened and that everything appeared to be in working order.  I wished him a Happy Easter and he went off to spend the day with his parents and sister.

An hour later all hell began to break loose. My hot water heater made a noise that could only be described as a death rattle and then stubbornly refused to produce anything that could even be generously described as lukewarm water.  The hot water spigot produced water the same temperature as the river.

Next, the shower turned on by itself and no matter how I adjusted the handle, I couldn’t get it to less than a light, ongoing trickle.

This was followed by the kitchen sink sprouting a leak from the main pipe.  Having no pots or pans yet in the house, I resorted to putting my rice cooker under the drip to capture the water.  I then made a hasty trip to Wal-Mart to grab a few containers to catch water in until I could reach a plumber Monday morning who would charge less-than-extortionate rates because it was a holiday.

The coup de gras, however, was that, just as I was coming back through the front door from Wal-Mart, I heard a weird, cracking explosion from the bathroom, which made no sense whatsover.  I opened the bathroom door cautiously to discover that the lid of my toilet tank had shot off with enough force to hit the far wall and break into pieces. I kid you not.

Now, I’ve seen my handful of weird toilet malfunctions before.  I had also been warned by the contractor who had rebuilt my float that re-balancing the level of the house could result in some minor drips in the plumbing.  But there was no way an exploding toilet could be described as “minor” in anyone’s book as far as I was concerned.

The subsequent conversation with Kenny went roughly like this:

Me: “Uh, Kenny, there seems to be a problem with my toilet.”

Kenny: “What?  Is it not flushing?”

Me: “No.  It exploded.”

Kenny: “Exploded?  What do you mean by ‘exploded’?  Did you get backflow from the honeypot or something?”

Me, trying to keep my tone somewhere below the pitch of a mouse who’s just been sodomized: “No.  I mean, the lid just shot off, slammed into the far wall, and broke in half.  That kind of exploded.”

This pronouncement was greeted by a moment’s silence worthy of the news I’d just delivered.

Kenny: “I’ll be there first thing tomorrow morning with my plumber.”

Kenny was slightly more pragmatic on the subject of what I should use for a toilet until then, though.  He suggested I could probably still use it and just flush with a bucket until the cavalry arrived…  But I might want to be a little careful just to be safe.  Alternately, there was always the gym locker room down the street.  I’d mentioned I was planning to get a membership, hadn’t I?

I ended up making the minimal possible number of hasty trips to the bathroom during the night, keeping a watchful eye on the tank the entire time I was in the room.

Monday morning, Carey of Rhino Plumbing and his brother appeared as my salvation.  Apparently what happened is the squeegee-ma-bob–hey, I’m not a plumber and they just pointed at the thing–had shot up several inches with enough force to rip itself free of the tubing in the tank and send the lid flying.

Why exactly this happened, no one knows.  Not even the plumbers.  It could have been air or some sort of debris in the line.  But that’s pure speculation.  Upon further determined probing by me, both Kenny and Carey surrendered a few Man Points by admitting they’d never seen anything like it.  It was the damnedest thang.

The initial plan had been to simply replace the innards of the toilet and see if that fixed the issue.  However, then it was discovered that there was a crack running the length of the bowl on the far side.  Whether the crack happened as part of the explosion or sometime during the winter they don’t know.

Final verdict: my hot water heater could be saved with a new heating element.  Shower was magically shut off.  Leak under the kitchen was resolved.  The toilet, however, has been declared D.O.A.  Looks like I may be getting the spiffy new, dual-flush toilet I had been planning a little earlier than planned.  (And praying I don’t see similar canon-like activity from that.)

So that was my Sunday and Monday this week.

Now, can anyone recommend a good sacrificial offering to the local water gods to ensure there’s no more of this mischief?

I try very hard not to get sucked into any of the virtual world games or communities like World of Warcraft or SecondLife.  Due to the nature of my work and also the fact that I love to write, I already spend the majority of my day in front of a computer screen.  The last thing I need is another reason not to look up and enjoy the broader world.

However, AllAboutHouseboats.com just mentioned that SecondLife allows users to have houseboats.  This, alas, may be my downfall.  I have to go check them out, now.

For those who aren’t familiar with it, SecondLife is a 3D virtual world where users can create their ideal surroundings in which they can live the life they wished they had.

In considering the site, I started wondering if they’d let me build a virtual Tumbleweed Tiny House.  That would be pretty amusing considering the average person on the site seems to favor owning a mansion and a yacht.  Perhaps I’m a complete geek, but I love the idea of starting Small House Movement in a virtual world.

Some ideas just immediately strike you as being great ones.  This is the case with GreenPods modular homes.  These homes just have a “cool factor” that is missing in many small homes.  GreenPods are very similar to what their name indicates.  They are small homes (the “pod” in the name) that are very focused on being green (the “green” in the GreenPod name).

The GreenPod vision is to build energy effective homes that have an eye on indoor air quality as well.  Considering indoor air quality as a major factor in determining design is a very refreshing development.  Medical science is discovering that indoor air quality, while always deemed important, is actually vital to our health.  The degassing from all sorts of building materials, such as carpet, is toxic to humans.  The GreenPod concept treats this seriously, and should be commended for doing so.

Not surprisingly the GreenPod concept also factors in sustainability and strives to keep the homes environmental footprint low.  The GreenPod team is working with designer Suzanne DeVail, who has produced numerous organic, anti-microbial fabrics specifically for use in GreenPod homes.

The Washington state based GreenPod company has small homes that range from as small as 300 feet to as large as 800 square feet.  GreenPod notes that it is possible to combine more than one POD into a larger home.  There SoloPODS come in eleven different designs, each with their own character.  The smallest is the Lopez at 372 square feet and a cost of around $60,000. The largest models is called the Orcas, and has a distinctive barrel roof.  The Orcas is 744 square feet and costs about a $175,000.

Another interesting model, the Ludlow, is $95,000 and is about 731 square feet.  The Ludlow is a really interesting option for those looking for a green small home that it has a great looking design. This model has lots of light exposure and a very competitive price.  If you really want light exposure, check out their Mercer Pod, which has a very grand look that comes across well beyond its 650 square feet.

Perhaps most interesting of all of GreenPods offerings is the Floating Pods.  These Pods are constructed in conjunction with P & T Fabrications and definitely have that cool factor.  The Floating Pods incorporate the design characteristics of the SoloPODS but, well, they float!

GreenPod is creating some impressive homes with some truly impressive interiors.  Their combination of design and focus being green, make them a true contender for anyone thing about buying a tiny or modular home.  There website is loaded with great photos and more information.  www.greenpoddevelopment.com

In the interest of time, I’ll go ahead and freely admit that, no, I do not have any children, and, yes, I tend to treat my 1 1/2-year-old Balinses cat, Rumi, like the spoiled only-child I never had.  The one time he was in any kind of jeopardy, I pretty much lost my mind.  I fully embrace my status as a Crazy Cat Lady and have already been given the appropriate action figure by friends, so let’s just move past these points and continue on to the subject at hand…

Rumi has been raised entirely indoors and has less survival instincts than an developmentally-delayed lemming.  Moreover, when they were handing out the feline attributes of agility and grace, I think he was busy going back through the line for a second helping of caterwauling, because he’s the most clumsy cat I’ve ever met.  My cat has been witnessed by more than one friend tripping over a line in a tile floor.  He also thinks that his monthly “bath”–in which I wipe him down with a washcloth moistened with a spray-on cat dry bath solution–is the worst conceivable thing that could ever possibly happen to him.  There’s wailing and mock fainting fits for hours afterward.

All of these factors combined makes me more than a little nervous that I’m about to move Rumi into a tiny floating home which is surrounded by the Colombia River on all sides.  I was very careful that when I had new windows installed in the place to order ones with built in screens.  But there’s still the possibility that he might one day try to sneak out either the front or back door when they’re open.  And when that happens, I worry about him ending up in the water.

In preparation for moving him up to Portland, I’ve been doing a lot of reading about how liveaboard sailers manage the safety of their pets.  Many sailboat owners with cats will leave a towel or rope ladder draped over the side of their ship.  That way, if a cat falls overboard, they have something to help pull themselves back on board.  Unfortunately, my cat has no front claws and I’m not sure he has the agility to manage a rope ladder.  (Although, I’ll may put them out front and back just the same if they don’t present the risk of trapping detritus from the river.  I need to do more research on that point.)

I’ve been hunting for some sort of sensor that could be attached to Rumi’s collar that would emit an alarm should it ever come in contact with water.  If anyone knows of a device like this for pets, please let me know because, so far, I haven’t had much luck finding one.  The closest thing I’ve found so far are wristbands intended for children that are listed as weighing a pound.  That seems like it might be overkill for my seven pound cat even for an over-protective cat mother like me.  (Admittedly, wearing something that heavy would certainly slow him down a bit in a mad dash for freedom.  But once the little bugger hit water, I could just see him drowning from the damn thing.)

I’ve also thought about trying to set up some sort of sonic fence over the two doors to try to encourage Rumi to stay inside.  I’m not thrilled at the idea of zapping my cat anytime he gets too close.  Especially as slow as he is when it comes to learning what he’s not supposed to do.  But I may end up setting one up.

So far, the thing I find that comes the closest to addressing my concerns of trying to prevent my precious baby from drowning pet life preservers.  Yes, they do in fact make them for both dogs and cats.  I’m not the only over-protective pet parent out there.  I’m just not sure it’s practical to have my cat spend the rest of his life wearing one as a safety precaution in case me might someday get out and fall in. I could however, see making him wear one if I ever let him come outside on a leash.

In case this information might be useful for someone else, I’ve listed several suppliers of pet life preservers below:

• Safe Lifejackets
• Critters Inflatable Pet Preservers
• VKR Pets
• Pet Street Mall

Long story short, I’m still researching and considering my options on keeping my baby safe.  If you have any ideas on how to keep Rumi safe on the water, I’d love to hear them!

(And yes, for the gang in Tucson, if I get a life vest for Rumi, I’ll make sure to post pictures.)

The SolarHome is an eco-friendly, 75 square meter houseboat design created by UK-based Mark Kingsley Architects.  The working model of the SolarHome is currently located in the Lusatian Lakelands in Germany.

The houseboat uses solar energy and has two different modes of operation–Docked mode and Self-sufficient.  In Docked mode, it draws fresh water and power from its moorage.  In Self-Sufficient mode, it’s a self-contained unit and can supposedly operate for 6-12 months at a time.

(Unfortunately, I have no information on it’s water catchment and management system, nor how it handles sewage.  Presumably it must have some sort of containment system for the later.)

The designers are quick to say it offers all the modern amenities one might want and that they are willing to design customized homes.

Credit for the discovery of this groovy little house goes to James, who is rapidly becoming my unofficial researcher for potential articles.  (I have to confess, though, that of all his finds, the river shanty and its colorful inhabitants featured  earlier this week is still my favorite.)

After my recent  trip to Portland to check on my floating home, I decided there were a couple of things I wanted to take care of prior to my pending move-in–like, say, having a source of heat and doorknobs with locks installed in the place.

My mother is coming out to visit in Albuquerque the beginning of April, so I decided to postpone moving my car up to Portland until after her visit.  (It was either that, or we’d be using Charlie’s decrepit Chevy Blazer while she was in town, and the thing burns through gas.)  Plus I had a project at work pushed back to this week.  Taking three days off work right now is problematic.

When I purchased my tiny home, the wiring and heaters were both from the 1960′s.  I replaced the electric panel and ripped out the old heater and stove as part of the initial renovations, but the electrician I used went out of business before the new heaters were installed.

I am happy to report that as of this morning, two new Com-Pak Plus zonal electric heaters have been installed in the front half of my house.  I’ll eventually need to install heating in the new back room as well, but I figure that can be handled at the same time as the rest of the electrical work that needs to be done there.

My house is not currently plumbed for gas and I plan on installing a wind turbine and possibly solar panels at a later date, so electric heating was the better option for me, albeit a somewhat less efficient source of heat.

While not so much a creature-comfort, new gutters also went on the place this week.  Next up is the locksmith.

I certainly haven’t minded up until now having neighbors poke their heads into my place to check on the work being done, but I’d rather it not happen unexpectedly once I’ve moved in.  (Plus, I also don’t need the browbeating I’m sure I’d get from my mother once she discovered I was  living in a place with no locks.  Never mind that there’s two separate security gates and a long walk down rampways before you even reach my place in the marina.)

These should be the last of the new photos until I get up there in a few weeks.

I’m spending the weekend up in Portland. I wanted to check on the house and make sure I wasn’t out of my mind to be planning to stay in it as of the middle of this month. (The answer: there’s still a lot of work on the inside that remains to be done, but, no, I am not out of my mind.)

I also wanted to collect some updated photos of the place since a couple of people have been asking for them, including a writer who’s working on a magazine piece on small homes. More details on that when I have them myself.

Anyway, while it’s taken awhile to get there, the slow changes are starting to add up into a noticeable difference. Apparently several of my neighbors have commented favorably on the changes as well.

Remember a little while back when I was whinging about the atypical weather in Portland and the minor fact that my house had no roof on it at the time?

Well, I just stumbled across a video of my nearby neighbor, Scott Niesen, who writes the Floating Home FAQ, shoveling snow off his deck so his house didn’t sink.

I swear you just can’t make stuff this good up.