Flushing

I know the photo has nothing to do with this post, but you don't really want to see a dirty toilet do you?

When we were getting ready to leave for vacation I had a list of last minute things to do and pack. One of them was flush the toilet. Ross and I go by the old saying if it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down. I didn't want to come back to a toilet that had been sitting full of piss in the summer heat for a week. The smell after 24 hours can knock you over. Ick.

St. John is an island, the fresh water source is rain. Water conservation is a big deal over there. We tried to be good, and do the same as we do at home, but it was hard. It was hotter and the toilet would begin to reek after just a few hours. I was kind of perplexed that the million dollar homes aren't equipped with tanks to reuse water. There are systems that reuse sink water to flush the toilets. That seems like an excellent idea on the islands.

I'm not a huge environmentalist, but I do what I can. Ross and I each took our metal water bottles and filled them from the tap instead of buying bottled water. It hurt to throw away things that I would normally recycle. They only recycle aluminum cans on the island. I'm sure it isn't cost effective to recycle anything else. It was just sad to see the dumpsters full of cardboard boxes and know that they were full of beer bottles and plastic water bottles.