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Our baths were in the river during summer, then for winter, warm water from
the resevoir in the wood stove every Saturday night, a large basin and a washcloth. I can just see our kids if they had to fall back to that way of life. 
posted by
adnohr
on February 3, 2022 at 5:17 PM
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No rattlesnakes where I lived, Goldiec
but in the summer I checked that hole before sitting down too! There and under the woodpiles when we were filling the woodbox! Lucky for us, the outhouse was at the end of the woodshed, but we sometimes did have to dodge the carcass of whatever animal that had been butchered and was left to hang there for a couple of days before taking it into the village lockers to be frozen.
posted by
adnohr
on February 3, 2022 at 5:13 PM
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No cart there, CCT. The older boys would bring around a wheelbarrow,
empty the spot then bury it somewhere on the farm. In between the emptying, they would throw lye on it to reduce some of the smell.
posted by
adnohr
on February 3, 2022 at 4:59 PM
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Actually, Sassyass, all the kids worked, and it was nearly every family
not just in our foster home. What the people didn't have in money where I was living, they had lots in care and loving. They took in over 60 kids over the years, andd many were kids nobody else would take. Although not spoiled by today's standard, we never went hungry.
posted by
adnohr
on February 3, 2022 at 4:56 PM
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Re: Oh, does this bring back memories. The ice cold linoleum next to the bed
Each a bit of luck on side - you had TP, and we didn't have to shovel to get there. But the cold was the same!! I used to envy the boys for their not having to undress to get the job done.
posted by
adnohr
on February 3, 2022 at 4:53 PM
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Re:
On the very cold nights, I do wear them. But my Elie sleeps by and on my feet - a heating pad doggy!
posted by
adnohr
on February 3, 2022 at 4:51 PM
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You remind me of so many times on the farm when I was a kid. yes we had running water but it was limited to two baths a week and one couldn't flush the loo after a short trip so that the bathroom always had a smell. The house was boiling hot in Summer and so cold in Winter we always had a cold. We would sit close to the wood stove in the kitchen and then go to a freezing bathroom and bedroom.
posted by
Kabu
on February 1, 2022 at 6:18 PM
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Good Evening
Oh my goodness I can't even imagine sleeping in a cold room much less going to a freezing cold bathroom in the middle of the night. I'm such a freeze baby. We have the heat on in the bedroom and then we have a heated mattress pad and many blankets to keep us toasty warm. This did bring back a memory from when I was little and we used to go visit my Aunt in the mountains. There were no bathrooms in her house. There was an outhouse out past the garden. I was little and the garden seemed huge but I'm not sure now if it really was big or that's what I thought. There was a path to walk to the outhouse. There was a chamber pot in the house for the middle of the night because it was much too dark outside to walk to the outhouse. There were no streetlights on the mountain. I can remember when I would go to the outhouse it was always before dark. I was always afraid because I thought there were snakes in the hole. For all I knew there could have been snakes because it was rattlesnake country. I always wished I were home when I had to go anywhere near the outhouse. I would always be happy when we got home because we had a bathroom and it was warm.
posted by
Goldiec
on February 1, 2022 at 2:40 PM
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The old cart used to come round every week, I remember the two men who accompanied it always sat and had their lunch at our gateway. Smile.
posted by
C_C_T
on February 1, 2022 at 11:06 AM
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Good morning
I totally agree with you about the heat and the bedroom. Cooler quarters are better for you than heat when sleeping. As for your childhood, you certainly had it worse than many other kids. That motto about the Devil and idle hands makes me cringe. Those outhouses were another nightmare from what I have been told. An early walk in the freezing temps had to be something out of a horror story. My mom has talked about a few episodes that involved her early childhood and the outhouse. None of them were good. These kids today could use a good crash course in outhouse adventures 101. Thanks for sharing such an interesting piece of your childhood.
posted by
Sherri_G
on February 1, 2022 at 8:53 AM
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Oh, does this bring back memories. The ice cold linoleum next to the bed
in winter, so cold it almost burned. And if it snowed during the night the path to the outhouse needed to be shoveled first. It was not unheard of for snow to blow up under the eaves and leave the seat a foot deep in drifted snow, either... We were lucky though - we had real TP, didn't have to cut up newspapers or catalogs...
posted by
Pat_B
on February 1, 2022 at 8:32 AM
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Oh my...wear socks to bed to avoid the cold trek to the bathroom. Stay warm my dear.
posted by
Annicita
on February 1, 2022 at 8:19 AM
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