u/throwaway28910382

TL;DR What are your experiences (good and bad) of dry cabins? (Ours would be a summer getaway.)

My husband and I are planning to build a dry cabin. I want to go dry for various reasons (much lower cost in my area in terms of septic, well, building, and development fees; ease of closing up/leaving it unoccupied; lower maintenance; it's for summer use only; etc.).

It will be rustic but powered and cosy. We will use marine foot pumps in the kitchen and bathroom sinks, an incinerating toilet indoors and an outhouse, a shower bag outside if needed, and have roughed in a storage room where we can keep 5 gallon bottles of water. Laundry and showers are 25 min away by car, municipal water refill is 15 min away, and private lake is across the street (I have deeded access to use, but couldn't bring water up to my place).

I'm excited but my husband is getting cold feet. I think it will be a great way to simplify and relax, he's worried we'll regret not springing for the extra ($100k+!) to plumb. FWIW, we are very outdoorsy and enjoy camping (including in the back country).

You don't see plumbing-free cabins (outside of Alaska) talked about much, and I'm curious if folks can share their experiences of this type of getaway? Am I kidding myself, or is he being too pessimistic? All of our friends and family think this is nuts.

I am trying to use the "More" block to create post previews on my homepage. However, they don't actually show up when I publish. I am using Stewart theme.

Can anyone help me troubleshoot this? Thank you!

My sister lives on the other side of the country from me in a city with a very high cost of living. She and her bf are allowing me to stay with them for two weeks while I complete a course. (I say "allowing," but she generously invited me--we get along well. No drama.). Between the high cost of living and World Cup, renting a place would be impossible

I will be staying in her home office which she has turned into a guest room. I will be out of the house from 9AM-6PM Monday-Friday and half the day on Saturday. She will either work in her home office or at the actual office, which she does a few times per week. Her bf also works from home in an office nook off the main living area.

I will use their main bathroom (they have an ensuite that they use). Their place is a condo, not huge but not teeny tiny by any means. I would guess 1200 sqft?

I've met her bf a couple of times and he's very nice but we don't know each other well. They have no kids and one dog. I am a dog person, so it's all good.

I was planning to take them out for a fancy dinner as a thank you, but I'm wondering if another gift would be better? I'm thinking a budget of around $500.

And, maybe more importantly, what are the things I should do (or not do) so that I can be the least annoying possible? Two weeks is a LONG time, even for family.

If it matters, we are early middle age.

I don't have kids but most of my friends do, so lots of hangs involve their children, which is not an issue at all.

However, while some friends will have separate kid snacks and adult snacks (even if they're the same thing, they're in different bowls/in a different area), most of them serve one set of things (chips, veg, etc.) for everyone.

With respect to children, I am an elementary school teacher and KNOW where those grimy little mitts have been. If kids are putting their hands in bowls/bags, I opt out. I don't complain, I don't mind, I just don't partake.

I've noticed before that some friends repeatedly prod me to enjoy the snacks and seem a bit offended when I decline. I don't want to say, "pass--your kids' goo is in there," so I usually just say I'm oh, I'm totally fine, thanks.

Is there a better way to handle this? They don't need to change the rules for me. Their kids, their snacks, their rules. It's usually not an issue if we're having dinner at the table, just related to more casual snacks.

Reframing my original post to read as less an accusation of AI use and more a note that the book reads as AI slop but probably isn't (a commentor on the original post pointed out that the author's earlier books are similarly written and likely to predate chatbot use, which is a fair point.).

I am a professor who parses a lot of AI-generated work. I recently picked up A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw and within five pages felt like I was reading one of my student's AI slop submissions.

The book reads like an early AI chatbot, including excessively flowery language, overuse of em dashes, and repeated use of adjectives in threes (e.g., "the sky was steely, cold, and threatening.").

I didn't get far enough into the book to see them, but other readers have flagged errors, such as name mix-ups and timeline clashes which are also hallmarks of AI use (AI models predict the next word instead of "remembering" earlier details like a human would), but also, as was pointed out to me, could simply be due to bad editing.

In any case, I'm shocked at how popular and well-reviewed this book was. I was looking forward to a juicy summer thriller and was very disappointed.