Imagine yourself in the apartment envied by your friends. You live in a renovated historical building (still shabby, but chic, too) on the beach. Fire pit. View. Hardwood. Deck overlooking Puget Sound.

And no water for the third day in a row.

It's not the hugest inconvenience, really. My neighbors have water, and I skip over to their place for a shower, or a bucket of liquid gold, or to commiserate.

Once the water bucket is filled, I use that water to flush the toilet, water plants and to wash dishes. I have a separate container of drinking water, and that's for (duh) drinking, brushing teeth, and filling the kitties' water bowl.

For simple hand washing, I rely on Western Family baby wipes that live on the kitchen counter. I bought a refill at the store last night.

You never know how long this drought will go on.