Posted on 01/08/2016 7:26:53 PM PST by Kartographer
It's better to paint an attractive scene on the outside of the outhouse, along with a name, like "Latrino", it makes it seem like a vacation to Italy.
That’s freakin brilliant.
I love watching that when it is on PBS. Such a calm voice. And an older guy we he decided to try it out for a year - and stayed.
We have just an outhouse at our shack/cabin in Northern Minnesota. Their was an old gal that ran a small grocery store a few miles away on the main road - surrounded by woods and swamp. She lived there for as long as I could remember in the back of the store. No running water (like our cabin), and an outhouse. She lived there year round by herself.
Was murdered by three Indians at the age of 92 when they robbed her store.
This may sound crazy, but the wood heat, I felt warmed your bones, thus you were much warmer. Don't miss going to the wood shed in the cold mornings, for heat.:-)
We got our first indoor toilet in 53. My mother used to give me a bath in a galvanized tub in the kitchen using hot water heated on a coal stove. In retrospect, what cracks me up was that we had a FADA television in 1949.
All I remember from the outhouse was spiders and a big catalogue.
The smell strikes my chords of memory. ;’) We shed our, uh, shed early in the 1960s.
We were early because we moved out of anthracite coal country to a purpose built steel town complete with company store. There was a guy working in that store who was missing an ear and the old man informed me he was probably a scab. Three generations and the world is unrecognizable.
I enjoy your posts.
Love that film.
“Richard Louis “Dick†Proenneke (May 4, 1916 – April 20, 2003) was an amateur naturalist . . . .
* * *
We recorded that on our DVR from PBS and watched it a number of times when my kids were little. They were fascinated by all the things he made by hand! It’s a really interesting film.
Better yet, look for good older used cars.
We have a small herd, and usually most are running, if not all.
Insurance is cheap, parts are cheap, and if you are a little bit handy and have old enough vehicles, you can fix them yourself.
Some jurisdictions have such intensive emissions checks that may not be practical, but in others you can do very well.
When it hits -30F, the line forms quickly (no one wants to be first, and everyone wants a warm seat...)
Unless you live near an old grown or second growth forest in the PacNW where old Doug Fir bark can be 3 or more inches thick - very dry, sometimes pitch laden - also called womens wood - breaks and crumbles easily - burns very hot and long - no need for paper of other tinder to start the fire - pitchy bark lights with a match.
How;s it woirk on hurliqued wood? Tree that twisted and has lots of branches - usually found on Doug Fir old and second growth trees - lower or center rotten sections discarded by loggers.
Try machine that with dry Oak or Madrona.
That log-splitter is friggin awesome. Imagine the damage I coulda done with that back when I was a kid getting wood for the stove with Daddy!
That's why they have chamber pots....
That is probably where my dad got the saying
The chamber pots are for the nights; they still have to be emptied.
Living off the grid is unfathomable to someone like me who grew up in the suburbs of the northeast (though I love camping - backpacking in the woods, not in campgrounds); I certainly wouldn’t try it in places with harsh winters. The area needed to provide for a family is so large in terms of growing food and providing firewood. Small “sustenance farms” in our area centuries ago often provided only part of a family’s livelihood; it had to be supplemented with other work (usually iron mines, furnaces, and forges along the NY/NJ border). The iron industry didn’t just provide work directly for those employed at those locations, but also a lot of work for those that grew the food for men (and draft animals), chopped the wood (and later made charcoal) for the furnaces/forges), and transported the ore and finished products.
Many of the things you couldn’t provide for yourself would have to be obtained elsewhere, and if you are too remote you risk being snowed in for indefinite periods. Living off the grid definitely seems to be for areas with less severe winters, for longer growing seasons and less required heating.
Thanks !
BOOKMARK FOR WEEKEND!
bkmk
The chamber pot bit was in response to a guy saying it would suck to have to use the outhouse in the Winter - may be mainly for the night, but can still be used during the day when conditions say "ouch - frostbitten arse!" Can be emptied at one's discretion while fully bundled...
Back it the 50s we knew some country folks that still had pumps, outhouses and chamber pots.
Even then, it wasn't considered a comfortable lifestyle despite the ready availability of convenience/repair items.
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