Flashback Friday #2

Hello, And welcome to another edition of Flashback Friday. In today's edition we cover a subject that is near and dear to us all. It is our "facilities", "libraries",""water closets", "loos", you know "the potty". While I was growing up, we didn't have indoor running water until I was 10 or 11, that meant we used "an outhouse" (I know I saw at least one of you shudder).

Most outhouses are little buildings that are set over a hole, and when the hole is filled, a new hole is dug, and the house moved. Our outhouse wasn't like that. Ours was built on top of railroad ties, and had a flap in the back in which "solids" could be shoveled or raked out, and thrown over the neighbor's fence (he had a hayfield, so he didn't mind the extra "fertilizer"). Ours had three holes, so if you weren't shy, there was no waiting.

At night, or in the winter we had a chamber pot indoors. We always told people that in the winter, we would take a cat out to the outhouse with us so we would have something warm to sit on. Emptying the chamber pot was a chore of the children (admit it. If YOU could get someone else to do that job, you would). And a chore it was indeed.

But I digress, the issue here is not chamber pots, but outhouses. Being outdoors, there could be anything in there at any time. We kids played this to the hilt. The hinges that held the previously mentioned flap rusted & broke, so the flap was discarded. What you had was an open space to about two feet off the ground, with about 6-8 inches between the ground and the floor. When someone we didn't like headed to the outhouse, we would circle around, find sticks or blackberry brambles, and thrust them up the opening in back and howl like a pack of wild animals. This is not how you make friends & influence people.

We also had a dog named Trixie. Trixie was a collie, Irish setter mix. She was pretty, but was strange. She had a cozy dog house, but she liked to weave between the "solids" piles and squeeze under the floor of the outhouse. Anytime we couldn't find her, that is where we eventually would. So how do dogs & outhouses mix? I was hoping you would ask.

I have an aunt I will call "Shelly". She and Uncle "Phil" had 14 kids (no multiple births). Anytime she got into the car, she had to "go " as soon as she got out, even if it was just down the driveway to get mail. One day they pulled up in our driveway, and she made a beeline for "the house out back". Moments later we heard a blood curdling scream. She came running out of the outhouse, pants being held up with one hand, and screeching hysterically. Everyone ran back to see what the commotion was. We all figured there was a snake in the outhouse. When asked what happen she wailed "Something licked my butt!!!!". Upon further investigation, we found Trixie under the outhouse. We figure that upon her entry into her netherworld, she looked up and gave Aunt Shelly a kiss on the cheek. This is the truth with my hand raised. I couldn't make up something that wild. (Well I probably could given the time, by why would I when I don't have to). Sometimes truth IS stranger than fiction.