Mike Humfreville - 1-17-2006 at 04:03 PM
Comfort
This is the first winter we have spent at our home in Bahia de Los Angeles. We?re settling in and bringing more and more personal possessions with
every visit. We bought this house in a condition called ?turnkey.? While it?s a common term, here it means that the previous owner walks away and
leaves everything. There were so many ?everythings? that we were overwhelmed at first. But it didn?t take long to find families that could use things
we could not. We donated at least ten bags of clothing, bedding and miscellaneous stuff we didn?t have space for. Then we began to settle in and
adjust to our new surroundings. I organized the garages and their many spare hardware components. These were items I would never dispose of; living in
the outback you just never know when you?ll a small replacement part or a particular screw or finishing nail of specific dimensions.
In late December the nights grew cool. While the outside air temperature was ~68-69 degrees, there was always sunshine and the air temperatures were
comfortable without heavy clothing. But at night even inside the house it was cool enough we had to break out the comforters after the sun had set. I
thought about a fire in the fireplace but I had installed thatch as a patio cover. The thatch terminated adjacent to the chimney. Not a good idea I
thought to myself. No fire tonight.
After a week of shivering before we went to bed and snuggled beneath sheets smelling sweetly of fabric softener, blankets and heavy quilts I was
looking for alternative solutions to warming us up when necessary without burning the entire house to the ground. Behind a door to the south-facing
balcony I noticed an old, old space heater the previous owner had apparently never used as it squatted in reckless abandon, out of sight and mind.
I pulled the old beast from behind the door and washed off a heavy coating of dust and straightened the metal plates and fittings to more or less
their intended positions. I had no clue what fuel drove the old heater to produce warmth. My original position was diesel. It had a rubber tube
leading through the outside wall to the heater. There was a ventilation system which, now broken and laying in pieces behind the heater and under our
bed, had once carried exhaust fumes through the wall to the outside patio.
I consulted with our neighbor and we decided it had to be natural gas-driven. The fittings were identical and in the old days diesel wasn?t always
available in our village. I drug the old heater from the bedroom into the living area and positioned it in front of the fireplace I had rendered
unusable; I jury rigged the exhaust tube to the chimney flue. I lugged a bottle of Butane up the stairs and fit it to the tube leading to the heater;
I familiarized myself with the operation of the device, opened the Butane tank, found a striker, lit it, inserted it into a pilot opening and opened
one of the two valves allowing gas into the heater. I could hear the gas flowing.
Whawhomp! In a small splash of flame on the tiles and a manageable backflash of excess gas and an adjustment or two on my part, both of the device
knobs and my own expectations of perfection, the old heater calmed down. The internal configuration threw heat forward into the large room. What a
welcome sensation.
I experimented for hours while we basked in the old heaters glow and warmth. It was obviously intended for natural gas while we were burning a hotter
fuel, Propane. But if the heater can adjust to new circumstances so can we. Eventually I lit the second bank of burners, careful not to tax the heat
disbursal system with hotter than engineered fuel. I turned the two burner banks low, kept an eye on the process, and sat back in my chair enjoying,
for the first time, nighttime warmth in our new home in the midst of winter.
There is something beyond words to have repaired and used the old heater rather than running out to buy a new replacement. My efforts were minimal and
included no serious experience, just common sense. And we are, after all, living in Baja California, Mexico now. Mexicans have a powerful ability to
patiently repair almost everything. It hasn?t been long since there was almost nothing available along the deserted shores and deserts of Baja.
Availability of some goods is more common recently, although it will be a very long time indeed between now and the first line of goods we have
learned to take for granted in the States.
The old tarnished chrome and browned enamel box still sits beside our fireplace, warming us nightly. It?s a welcome addition to our discoveries in our
new form of life. In the Spring I?ll haul the old box back to where we discovered it, behind our bedroom door to the southern balcony. But it won?t be
forgotten. It?s a welcome and contributing member of our forming household.
Mike
Baja Bernie - 1-17-2006 at 08:08 PM
Two things in your story carried me back a whole long time. One was keep those spare things because you 'really' do not know when you or a neighbor
will need them. And two the satisfaction of making do with what you have and loving the result.
Yea, the thatch makes as much sense as the skylights that I put in over our bed. Moon came up and neither of us could sleep.
djh - 1-17-2006 at 08:21 PM
An old Finnish gentleman once told his American born grandson in a thick accent:
"Use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without."
I think that great old saying may predate the "modern" "reduce, reuse, recycle"....
Thanks for the nice story!
djh
David K - 1-18-2006 at 12:05 AM
Great strory Mike!
For your readers, here is the photo I took looking towards the fireplace...
wow!
eetdrt88 - 1-18-2006 at 10:07 AM
looks nice Mike,I can see why you would want to stay through the winter...do you stay for summers too?
Retouched
turtleandtoad - 1-18-2006 at 10:17 AM
Hope you don't mind but I retouched your photo so I could see better.
Oops, the retouch increased the file size. I had to reduce it again.
[Edited on 1-18-2006 by turtleandtoad]
Debra - 1-18-2006 at 03:17 PM
David's photo just shows the part of the "living room" this place is seriously nice and HUGE! (by Bahia standards anyway) very nice.....a long, long
way from Mike and Mary Ann's hut on the beach. No one could deserve it more, congrats. again Mike and MA.
Mike.....psst! You really need to do something about that thatched roof! 
That fireplace is beautiful I'd hate to see it have to sit idle.