Uncategorized – Space Waitress' Travels on Earth

Palm or calm Springs?

September 23, 2023November 12, 2023spacewaitressblogLeave a comment

If you have never been to Palm Springs, pop it on your bucket list. It had been on mine for a while. The architecture was the main reason that I wanted to visited. It did not let me down.

I flew to Palm Springs from San Fransisco and even on arrival as the sun was setting, I got a sense of the place. 50’s vibe and chill, relaxed people. Great little airport, easy to navigate, and my first sight of some “retro” vibes, with a coffee shop sign.

The temperature was around the 30-36 degree range, as summer was coming to an end, so each morning, a walk in the early part of the day was a good idea. On these walks, I loved spotting the houses that still embraced the vibe of the past, and there were many. The colours and styles of the front doors, and gated entrances, felt so welcoming and I just wanted to see inside them all. I was lucky enough to have a visit in one and was not disappointed. I felt like I had stepped into one of the homes that I loved as a kid…..Brady Bunch, Partridge Family or My Three Sons. Definitely happy feels.

Palm Springs is a perfect place to see Joshua Tree National Park as it is less than an hour drive to the western entrance. This has also been on my list, as long as the tarantulas stayed away that day, and they did! It was HOT, so we didn’t do any of the longer hikes, but we did some short walks. This place is awesome and although I was keen to spot a bobcat or a roadrunner, I didn’t see any wild life. Too hot for them too. The highlights were skull rock and the Cholla Cactus Gardens, and of course all the Joshua trees themselves. So many shapes and sizes, that although you see hundreds, they are not boring.

Piles of rocks are everywhere and sometimes red.

Skull rock, felt like Captain Hook’s Lair.

The cholla cactus looks furry from a distance but it sure is NOT a cuddly plant. The cholla is covered in fine prickles, and it was interesting that in a HUGE park, they grew in one area in abundance.

At the height of the park, you can see over to Palm Springs and the San Jacinto Mountains, as long as there are no dust storms blocking the view. We had a great view 😊. You can also see down into the Coachella Valley, which is so dry and dusty, and leads on to the Salton Sea. This sea has an interesting history if you google it.

The San Jacinto Mountain range can be accessed by an aerial tramway. The journey up is almost vertical and is amazing. The car rotates as it travels upwards so everyone gets a view of all sides, genius. Once again, I was on the lookout for bobcats or mountain lions, but to no avail. Once at the top, there are some beautiful walking trails and the other side of this mountain range is greener. I found a shallow stream with clear, but cold water.

8000 feet up, fresh air and green views.

Now to the eating choices in Palm Springs…. lucky enough to be staying with locals, I did not have to research this. I was introduced to some of the best eating places, I have ever been. A standout was Farm. The setting was beautiful, eating outside under the shade of trees and vines, the ambience could not be better. The food was divine, along with the service. All the amazing small touches such as hors d’oeuvres, sorbet between appetiser and main, and attentive to wine refills, make this place a must go. I had the best halibut I had ever tasted.

As with many places in the USA, Mexican food is also done very well, along with Margaritas.

A Pub called the Boozehounds is a great place for not just margaritas but anything, bar food included. I had seared ahi, which just melted in the mouth.

You may also know that Palm Springs is home to the Trixie Motel. If you don’t the story to this, in a nutshell, it was renovated by a Drag Queen for a reality TV show and it is so very fabulous. As it was early in the morning, we peeked over the fence, and got a perfect pink fix. 💕

Palm Springs is 50’s fab, phenomenal food and the weather is a welcome reprieve from a wet winter in New Zealand.

Put it on your list 😃

Let’s Get Physical!

September 2, 2023September 2, 2023spacewaitressblog4 Comments

Living Tiny and living off grid makes you so aware of nature. It is also a more mindful and physical way of living and I love it.

I love the rain because it gives me a full water tank and I love the sun for a fully charged solar battery. I love being so connected to my house, emptying the loo every 6-8 weeks, ensuring the gas cylinders are full enough, and more …..

Let me explain, as I have said before, I am so much more aware of rain, sun and along with that, the water tank levels and the solar panel charge levels. I love giving the water tank a punch on the side and see where the water level is. This helps me decide if a bath is on the cards or not haha. Another thing I have added to that awareness is the need to empty the compost loo and long before I empty it, every few days, the turning of the compost chamber. This is super easy. I just pop out to the chamber under the house, use the crank handle and give it a few turns. It stops “everything” just piling up in one place. Once a week, I fill up my sawdust bin ( for the loo ) in the bathroom, from the bulk sawdust in the shed. It always ends up a double whammy. As I refill my sawdust, I refill the cats litter in the catio.

The catio has been amazing. When I am not home and also at night, the cats can leave the house by the cat door, into the catio and go no further. They have three areas to lounge about a in the catio and two bathrooms. When I am home, one of the cats is allowed outside and he loves the area he can roam in. My other cat is a flight risk so she has become an indoor cat and she has fully adapted to tiny life.

The land I am on is full of Pukeko, Plover, rabbits and other wild life. A few days ago, one of the cats, the one that is allowed out at times, bought me a mouse, I spotted it in his mouth before I let him in luckily 😜 This morning I found a dead rabbit at the bottom of the stairs to my deck. I doubt he was responsible for that as it was a large bunny. Poor thing is now buried.

The last couple weeks have been pretty cold in the early mornings and evenings. I have run the diesel heater for about 20 mins when needed and it is super efficient. If I am running the heater for 20 mins twice a day, every day, the cost is about $8-10 per week in diesel. Not bad a price to be toasty in the tiny 😊 it’s also another example of living physically. If I need diesel, I need to put the can in the car, stop at the local petrol station and fill it up. Same with the gas for the cooking and hot water. I can’t just rely on switching something on and knowing it will provide whatever the switch is for. I have to ensure that switch has access to whatever it is. It’s actually a great feeling to be totally responsible for your own needs.

I will never regret the bath in my tiny house. On some of these freezing mornings, I have given myself the luxury of a quick bath in the morning which warms me through. This treat is only available because of the amount of rain. If I don’t use the extra water, it will simply run off into the ground.

With the recent Blue Moon, the view was amazing. There is no light pollution so the brightness was stunning, as are the stars every night. Photos never do them justice though, do they ?

Until next time ……

Off Grid and in my Gumboots.

July 2, 2023July 2, 2023spacewaitressblogLeave a comment

Like all of Auckland, I am sick of the rain. I have been out digging wee channels today, diverting water, so that I can step from house to car, and back again in my “going out” gumboots, and not the caked in mud ones. But let me start where I left off…..

I have talked about the solar panels, the generator ( a wee lifesaver ) and how the sun is such an appreciated part of the day. I almost have to limit how many times I open the Solar Usage App, as it can be almost addictive watching the charging figures, hoping the numbers are rolling high like a slot machine, then checking the discharging figures, and placing a bet on whether to turn on an appliance or not. Even on these grey old days, the solar batteries charge up beautifully, and the generator has been used only once in the last week. If there are sunny patches and even some cloud cover, charging will reach the goal of 100%, by sunset.

The other Mother Nature provided amenity is water. I have a 5000 litre water tank, which, with our rather wet winter, is constantly full. The rain is collected from the roof of Lil Pad and with a pump, available at the turn of a tap. This water should be bottled as it tastes fantastic. It also makes a difference to my skin and hair. Nothing added I guess, so it’s just how it was intended to be.

So now to the subject that gets quite a bit of attention, the loo. I have a composting loo, and it has been the biggest challenge. Not a challenge because it’s hard to adjust to, no, it’s actually easy to adjust. I love not flushing away beautiful water. A challenge because I was almost driven mad by the smell that would greet me when I opened the front door after work. Not a “poo” smell, a kind of earthy smell, but even so, unwanted. I knew it shouldn’t smell as I had read so much about the systems, and knew that it was possible to stop this earthy smell greeting me. I use sawdust as the bulking agent, so I read up more on that…all good. I had some rather nice sustainable loo paper and wondered if it was just a bit too nice and didn’t break down as well as those cheap brands, that break down when you don’t want them to…all good. I tried some coffee grounds as well as sawdust, not much difference, but I quite liked the slight coffee odour now joining the earthy smell. OK, I thought, I’ll empty it, probably a little too soon, but I had to try everything. I got myself kitted up in almost COVID style gear and opened the chamber. I was pleasantly surprised, not much smell and it didn’t really resemble what it had been, just looked like compost really, with some sawdust and white bits of paper through it. OK, emptied, put back together and away we went again. Next day after work…..OMG, still smelly!!! anyway, long story short. It was a wee tightening key on one of the pipes that was not as tight as it should have been, so the fan was not being as efficient as it should have been. Key tightened, fan got really sucky and NO MORE SMELL 🙂

Inside the tiny house is just awesome. I love the mezzanine bedroom. The sound of rain on the roof is rather close, but it is always quite nice to be snuggled under a duvet, while it’s raging outside. The cats sometimes get a bit nervous at the sound as it is literally just above us. I don’t have curtains and have witnessed some impressive thunder and lightening displays too.

Next blog, I will tell you about my bath, my heating and my deck. Loving this life and can’t wait till summer 🙂

It Really is all they say it is……

June 18, 2023spacewaitressblog2 Comments

It has been 52 days! The question I am asked every day is..”How is your tiny house?”. The answer every day is ..”I love it.”

In that 52 days, we, my sister and I, have learnt so much. My sister had her own small place delivered to the same piece of land a week a couple of weeks after mine, so we get to learn it all together, think things out together and babysit each other’s house if we are away. We would be roughly 50 metres apart so the perfect distance for morning coffee together.

What have we learn’t…..for the first 2 weeks we only had two Solar panels installed. The weather was shite and we had to learn what uses how much and plan accordingly. The generator became our friend and we often felt like a couple of pioneering women, buying petrol, starting the generator and being frugal wth the power. We also had the mud but thank god, no long dresses.

We now don’t take for granted that hairdryer that you just switch on in the morning after a shower! It pulls serious power when you are conserving it. For two weeks, we only used our lighting, the compost toilet fan and the water pump. Boiling the jug sees the solar use spike to thousands!!, but only for a couple minutes. One of the biggest adjustments is doing washing when the sun is out, charging the panels. This is also the best time to use the oven, so you will see us baking in the middle of the day on a weekend. I don’t have a microwave so I have become inventive with a gas hob and a frypan for reheating. Works fab. We now have all 10 panels so power use is good. We can watch TV, use the hairdryer, heat the Tinies and make a cuppa for visitors. Being in the middle of winter, some days the panels need the generator to help them charge as the sun stays hidden for a lot of the day. We have an APP of course to check usage. No pioneering with that.

Check in for the next post, and I will cover more of the steps to being off grid.

A Little bit like Alice down the Rabbit Hole ….

April 10, 2023April 10, 2023spacewaitressblog2 Comments

My last post said 7 sleeps! It wasn’t quite only 7. Long story short, 10 sleeps and she was in her parking spot.

Sleep had not been easy as it felt like Santa was coming, but day was perfect and sunny. As the morning warmed up, I felt so nervous waiting to hear the word that she was close to her new home. I finally had the call and headed to see her for the final leg.

Feeling like a new Mum, I watched with my heart pounding a little, as she was delivered and lowered onto her own piece of dirt. The skill of these guys who haul the tiny houses and then place them perfectly, is phenomenal.

Once I had the OK and the keys in my hand, I stepped inside Lil’ Pad and just breathed. She is as perfect as I planned and the view from my kitchen is incredible. This has been so long in the making that I almost can’t believe I will be living here soon.

The Rabbit Hole is where I am now, as I await my solar panels to be delivered, last minute water tanks to organise, and I still need to work out how to install the waterless toilet 🤔😳 and grey water system. I just want to live here right now but Alice is still in Wonderland.

I promise I won’t leave the next post too long, and I hope to have some action to report on or at least some tales to tell about how big the rabbit hole is. Speaking of rabbits…. Happy Easter 🐣

7 Sleeps!

March 23, 2023spacewaitressblogLeave a comment

One more week and Lil’ Pad will leave her place of construction at Cocoon Tiny Homes and settle into the beautiful glade we have called Ginger Grove.

I visited the factory for the last time today, and as I wandered around, I already felt like this was home. It was such a great feeling to see my colour choices, handle choices, tile choices, all compliment each other. Although I trust my own design, I wondered if it would all come together and it has ❤️

The next time I see her, she will be on the back of a truck, being gently deposited in my chosen spot. See you in a week 😊

So Close to Move in….

March 19, 2023spacewaitressblog3 Comments

Lil’ Pad is almost done. It won’t be long and I will let you in to see the finished product.

I have another few photos for you. That kitchen splashback that I hinted at in the last update?? Blush pink subway tiles. Hey, it’s just me, and the cats, and they don’t mind pink, so I went for it.

I also went for something that the cats will love. A catwalk! The catwalk allows the cats to strut along three sides of the house (inside) at about 2m in the air, AND it doubles as storage for me, for books, keepsakes and photo frames. I love it and hope the cats appreciate my offer of a bit of excitement for them, as they will have to become mostly indoor cats to protect the birds where we are parking. In the works for them is also an outdoor catio, which my very handy Mum and Dad are making, and it is looking flash.

In the bathroom, I have stayed with classic white subway tiles as I have a rather colourful vanity which is the statement piece. In amongst the rather conservative subway tiles are four beautiful tiles that I bought in San Diego, and which to me represent my gorgeous regular travelling companions.

I love the stairs to the loft bedroom. They look so grand, just tiny grand haha.

In the loft bedroom, I have a stunning wallpaper as my headboard. It took a couple of hours at Resene to find just the right one and I love it. I felt a bit like Goldilocks choosing….that’s too dull, that’s got too small flowers, that hasn’t got enough pink, until I found “the one”. Speaking of Resene, the wall colour is Sauvignon.

The cladding is on and it looks amazing, New Denim Blue coloursteel with a contrast of White Palisade on the front wall, so smart, the classic blue and white never misses.

Hope you like the photos 🙂

Am I getting it Right?

March 11, 2023spacewaitressblog1 Comment

Wow! There are so many decisions to make as the build goes along. As I said, I had perused every piece of media I could find. One thing I learn’t quickly though was that your tiny is made for you, at least by my builders it is. Every inch of Lil Pad was designed, decided upon and set out for me! I had to become very aware of how I live, cook, want to clean, sleep, work, relax, interact with my cats, what do we do when my friends come over, who comes to stay.

This was so exciting. I cannot afford to build a dream home as such, but this tiny house is my dream home because I know how I came to make a decision on every nook and cranny.

So….. I love baths. “You can’t have a bath in a tiny house” someone may have said. Well, yep you can and I am. My bath is not huge but its deep, and has a shower over it. This leads me to another story….as I was deciding on fittings, I knew I didn’t want chrome or black, nothing against these, but as I said, you build your tiny for YOU. Anyway I wanted gold bathroom fittings and found quite a few BUT couldn’t find a gold shower curtain rod that didn’t cost half the earth. A fabulous friend, who is a panelbeater popped it through the spray shop and I now have a gold shower curtain rod. Lovely.

The kitchen is a tough decision. I had already decided on a kind of modern take on shaker style for the cupboard fronts and I had a gorgeous retro style fridge in the wings, so what to do for the splashback and bench top? Wait for it …actually no, I will save that for another update. Today you can see the lounge with lovely high windows as well as a low opening window, the bath, kitchen fronts, upstairs and back door.