Awwww the Outhouse, Every trail on the farm seemed to end at that uncelebrated necessity of homestead living!
Like most Outhouses ours was utilitarian, not pretty! It was on the hill. clear across the yard from both the spring and the creek! That put it above the drive ....above the house....and quite an interesting hike when one was in a hurry on a snowy day!!! It was always best to take the garden trail cause one could ease up that hill instead of climbing like a mountain goat to the top of a hill. There were no stairs, It never dawned on Dad they would be a welcome way of reaching the "necessary house". After all was said and done he was all man. The whole world was his toilet....Roosters are said to say "cock a doodle Dooo" old farmers and farm kids sing out "any Bush will DO!"Their Daughters and wives did not share that spiritt!
The outhouse was a one board thick clap board,function....You could watch for car coming up the road, through the spaces in the boards. There was no half moon on the door!Since the door was hung with old chunks of leather, very often there was no door....Till the ladies of the house complained long and loud! In the summer there were splinters,DON'T ASK! when it rained outside, it often rained inside and since the water from the whole roof was channeled through the cracks in the ceiling it could be raining harder on the inside, than the outside! "Rain me a river!" There was no heat to melt the snow on the roof! Of course there was the wind. It did relieve the smell a bit and ruffled the feathers of the wrens that had the bad idea of nesting in the eaves, making their own large mess on the outside...A different sort of course to run to get to the house in a hurry!
Dad put in a coffee can full of lime, to kill the smell, the idea was to follow all "solid matter"with a scoop of lime to kill the smell. The reality was, NOTHIN would kill that smell.
The posies Mom planted all around the outside did not rival the aroma from the inside!So there you have an idea of how it looked from our front door. It was a short"L" shaped drive,It was best to have someone direct a driver when they backed their car around...
One of the neighbors came up for aload of hay, from the alfalfa field that stretched as far as one could see down through the draw and was our REAL front yard! The brothers bailed and lifted it onto the truck as high as they could pile it! The more they loaded the better the price. A lady ws backing the truck out with her wide spaced mirrors she obviously did not know how to use! Her son directed it! Back up Maw!More! More....cut it sharp! She did as she was directed! Till BAM! "Then he yelled"STOP"!
I think she already had the idea!!She hit just blow the Outhouse, and darn near loaded it onto her truck with the huge load of hay....In truth if it had not been loaded so full, I think she would have had it in the bed of the truck with her!
Dad observed to Mom, "See why I don't put up steps?"
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