Yes, we meant to winterize our water supply. But, no, we didn't finish the project in time. The result: We had to temporarily cut off water to the house this week so the hoses and spigot wouldn't freeze. That means no showers and lots of toting water in jugs until the water supply gets hooked up again. (Don't worry, we have alternative locations for showering!)
While temperatures remained unseasonably warm, we put off the water project to work on the deck (which we love), stockpile right-sized logs for the wood stove (which keeps us warm) and fest our way through the holidays (which we enjoyed). What we didn't finish was insulating and under grounding the water pipes that lead to our house and installing, connecting and insulating the 78-gallon drums we intended to set up as a our winter-time reservoir. The idea was that we'd run water through an underground pipe from our friend's house once every week or two to fill the drums, then we could turn off and drain her spigot to prevent freezing any pipes.
But in addition to all the other projects we have going on, we've been busy taking care of my mother-in-law, who suffered a stroke just before Thanksgiving. I'm happy to say my mother-in-law is doing as well as could be expected, but the lesson for us here is that we can't count on days staying unseasonably warm and families members staying healthy. In hindsight, it's clear the project should have been completed weeks if not months before winter so there would be time to spare if/when something unexpected came up.
In the meanwhile, we're practicing resiliency as we carry in our water and think more carefully about our consumption. We're also drawing up a list of tiny house priorities so that we'll work on projects that are time-sensitive (like water pipes!) before we get lost in pet projects. Live and learn, right?
More on our water supply when we get the new system up and running...