The LMIC has taught us to do more with less -- it has affected our house (perhaps in a good way, perhaps not) and even our speech -- any very simple solution to any sort of a problem is said to be "very LMIC."
Here are two almost-silly examples. The door of the LMIC has a
translucent panel (not really a window) that lets in a lot of light. A long time ago (for the first LMIC!), I rigged up a "blackout curtain"
that goes over the translucent window -- it's just a double-thickness hefty bag, reinforced with duct tape on the edges, with zip tie rings in the top two corners. The rings then go over cup hooks
above the door frame. It sounds like a joke, but it works very well and is easy
to store, and it has lasted for about 500 nights of camping.
This is a shot of the “curtain” when deployed:
And here is a close-up of the cuphooks, screwed right into
the paneling:
My second example is my patented
freezer-door-holder-opener. On our
fridge, there are two strong springs that close the freezer door. That’s great, but there are times when Felice needs that door open for a moment, as when she is putting an ice tray full of
water into the freezer -- a chore best done with two hands!
So she suggested a wooden chopstick as a prop -- it
worked! I added short pieces of clear
plastic tubing on each end, to avoid scratching the plastic liner of the fridge
(and for better friction than the wooden chopstick provided). Here is the magic chopstick when deployed:
And here it is in my hand, so that you can appreciate the subtle complexity of this device:
