my tub, and the water in it

Oh, how I love you, small town water system! This is what happened when we tried to run the morning baths yesterday--we got a tub full of iron sediment. Stuff happens with our water sometimes, but this is extreme. We called the town and they told us that they were fighting a fire, and I guess the release in pressure from the hydrant must have stirred up all the sediment? Needless to say, nobody washed, which is a very nice thing for an August heat wave.

I've been thinking a lot about the water in my tub lately, anyway. Last week we had my sister-in-law and her family stay with us, and they just spent the last year Israel where people are much more conscious about water use. Being temporarily (6 mos) without a shower means we all take baths, which means much more water down the drain. Sew green recently had a post about gray water, and it seems there are two things you can do with it: (1)use it to water your plants. (2)use it to flush your toilet. We'd have to siphon it out of the tub before we could do either of these, and part of me wants to just siphon it right out of the window. Maybe we have a bucket/barrel below? Back to the flushing idea, here is where form and function collide: we have been working on this bathroom trying to make it a clean, pristine thing of beauty, and rubbermaid buckets 'o dirty water aren't really fitting with this image. Galvanized buckets maybe? I just don't know. Probably, we won't do anything, but I've been thinking about it.

In other news, my sewing machine is at the shop. The sewing machine guy in town was forced to retire due to health, so I'm taking it to the vacuum guy, who pretty much admitted he's not as good. When I showed him what was up with my 1973 Kenmore he said , "It might just be worn out." Say it ain't so.