Community Chat

[Pook]

In the early '60's we lived in the country with a septic tank and pipes got crushed by a truck running over them through our land and it took a week to fix it.  We used garbage bags also and put them in the commode then tied them up and buried them in a wooded area on our property.  Can you imagine what the neighbors thought seeing us burying these garbage  bags?

[blackhole99]

My son calls the things we take for granted in this country, first world problems. I certainly agree with him and want to install a composting toilet in our basement, when I told him about it he wasn't crazy about the idea. LOL

[MacDUFF]

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@Pook wrote:

...Can you imagine what the neighbors thought seeing us burying these garbage  bags?

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@Pook

That struck me funny!

"We had a call from a concerned neighbor about garbage bags being buried in your backyard...would you care to explain that?"

[inallsincerity]

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@Mz iMac wrote:

"I mean, think about it, 150 years ago, we were using outhouses, and that was normal."

Thanks to an old Masterpiece Theater mini series called I, Claudius, I found out that.....

The ancient Romans (nobility's) had inside toilets & a septic system.  These toilets were made from a long slab of stone w/holes in them.  Mulitple people could use them all at the same time w/nothing separating the each hole.  Don't know what they used for toilet paper though.

My parents grew up w/an outhouse.  Their toilet paper was the pages from the thick Sears & Robuck Catalog.

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sponge on a stick, and i dont know why i know that

[qualitygal]

I love t.v.

[AngelPuppy1]

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@Plaid Pants2 wrote:

Today I notified my landlord that my toilet was broken. The overflow valve wasn't working, and so the water was constantly running.

Not only that, but the shut off valve under the toilet wasn't working either, so that I couldn't turn off the water that way.

A plumber came out and fixed everything, and I now have a fully functional working toilet.

While  I was waiting for the plumber to show up, I got to thinking about how we take something so basic for granted.

I mean, think about it, 150 years ago, we were using outhouses, and that was normal.

In Shakespeare's time, they only bathed once or twice a year.

Gross to us today, normal to them.

I can live without electricity and the internet, but I would hate to not have a working toilet.

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@Plaid Pants2

A lot of things in the world today I could care less about.  So much technology - electronic gadgets - for instance --- and many people act like they can't survive without them -- but as things change --- I truly am happy to have a functioning bathroom and I do NOT take it for granted!  I don't take it for granted because I grew up not having one.  My first memories were of living in a house with no bathroom at all.  We didn't know any better.  The outhouse was at the end of the yard.  At night if we had to go, we used a chamber pot.  We had cold water only in the kitchen so water had to be boiled for doing dishes, cleaning, etc.  For taking a bath, there was a big galvanized tub and water had to be heated and it had to be filled with buckets.  Quite a chore.

No automatic washers and dryers.  A ringer washer and clothes hung on a line.  No permanent press.  Ironing, ironing and more ironing!  Laundry was quite a chore.  

I have to say, I do appreciate things in today's world.  And I don't feel I am spoiled.  

And really, there is nothing like a nice warm shower in the morning!!!  Life is good!!!  

[newziesuzie]

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@MacDUFF wrote:

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@Pook wrote:

...Can you imagine what the neighbors thought seeing us burying these garbage  bags?

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@Pook

That struck me funny!

"We had a call from a concerned neighbor about garbage bags being buried in your backyard...would you care to explain that?"

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@MacDUFF 

@Pook

That gave me a laugh too!

😄

[candys mine]

Part of the trouble now is that people have grown up with all the appliances at hand and Do Not Know How to get along without them.  Can you do long division in your head?  Do you know you can make a dinner WITHOUT a food processor?  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my appliances and hot water in a jiffy is heavenly but if you have never been without these things you don't know, what you don't know.  I love reading about history but I wouldn't want to live there.  I have the utmost respect for the poineers who moved west before the railroad, before the telegraph, Day, after day, after day, after day of unending QUIET.  You couldn't turn on the radio or the computer or skype your friends and family or shop for anything you needed.   You were ISOLATED.  Would have driven me Insane for sure.  I admit though, I am still a pencil pusher when it comes to anything I  want to save.  It's private, it's tangible, and paper dosen't " crash".  

[qualitygal]

I do need to say: when we were in ND 2nd time around, pipes froze from town. NO WATER. Well, we had to melt snow. Also, same time, no power. Had to use the oven for heat, Candles for light at night. Somehow we did it. Had to melt snow to flush the toilet too. We only had one door to the outside and it froze shut one time, had to get out of that one!!! I always feared fire in the house. But my son had these huge TONKA trucks. I always told him, if we couldn't get to him, use one of those to break the window, go out on the roof and shimmy down the drain pipe to the ground. He was little then. Anyway, there's a lot we don't take for granted I hope. I still do backup things as a result of living there.

[febe1]

What truly amazes me is the Internet. I remember we bought the very first computer Radio Shack ever made, the TRS 80. It was huuuuge, and the selling point to me was how I could put all my recipes on the computer.

Then, even in l989 I was working with a computer in the office and an older woman was over me. I would turn the computer on when I arrived in the morning, and she immediately turned it off and told me there was no "need" for a computer in the office. I was given something to type once when she was gone and used the computer; she returned and told me if anything ever needed to be done with a computer, she would do it. I told my friend we didn't need a computer; we just needed a picture of one.

To bring the world so close together, so quickly, is the greatest and fastest thing of my lifetime.

I remember my grandmother asking me what an ATM was in the middle of the mall. And I can remember with her wringer washing machine. Our grandmothers worked like we never have had to work.. And she was skinny! Obesity didn't seem a problem during their time.