"I remember when..."

[Gary119]

I remember when ....growing up we had a hand pump (water) next to the kitchen sink, no running water, sponge bath. Outhouse out back. Dad converted a walk in closet into a bathroom. Had running water, but didn't have water heater till I was around 12. Mom would heat water on the stove and pour in tub for bath. Had a coal stove in living room, (no central heat). Odd part is I have the house now (don't live in it) and it's in town. Had no central air (besides a open window), till I bought my current house two years. ago.

Still burn wood ( actually doing more cutting, splitting today) and do hay.

Life is good

 

[IndyDave1776]

I remember when ....growing up we had a hand pump (water) next to the kitchen sink, no running water, sponge bath. Outhouse out back. Dad converted a walk in closet into a bathroom. Had running water, but didn't have water heater till I was around 12. Mom would heat water on the stove and pour in tub for bath. Had a coal stove in living room, (no central heat). Odd part is I have the house now (don't live in it) and it's in town. Had no central air (besides a open window), till I bought my current house two years. ago.

Still burn wood ( actually doing more cutting, splitting today) and do hay.

Life is good

You are reinforcing the notion that even if you win at the rat race, the only thing you have accomplished is to have become the fastest rat!

 

[red_zr24x4]

We heated with wood and coal until I was 14, I miss the smell of woodsmoke on cold winter mornings, miss the smell of it on my coat.

 

[Frosty]

I remember when ....growing up we had a hand pump (water) next to the kitchen sink, no running water, sponge bath. Outhouse out back. Dad converted a walk in closet into a bathroom. Had running water, but didn't have water heater till I was around 12. Mom would heat water on the stove and pour in tub for bath. Had a coal stove in living room, (no central heat). Odd part is I have the house now (don't live in it) and it's in town. Had no central air (besides a open window), till I bought my current house two years. ago.

Still burn wood ( actually doing more cutting, splitting today) and do hay.

Life is good

i was talking to a guy I work with, both of our parents lived the majority of their childhood without electricity, indoor plumbing, etc. he said "it wasn't a big deal cause that's all they knew, but if we had to go back to that lifestyle we'd be miserable" I think for the most part, he's right. Although I think I would enjoy a simpler way of life, it would definitely take some getting used to!

 

[IndyDave1776]

i was talking to a guy I work with, both of our parents lived the majority of their childhood without electricity, indoor plumbing, etc. he said "it wasn't a big deal cause that's all they knew, but if we had to go back to that lifestyle we'd be miserable" I think for the most part, he's right. Although I think I would enjoy a simpler way of life, it would definitely take some getting used to!

I would say that this depends largely upon what you consider 'simpler'. If you can find a way to subsist without having to punch a clock, put up with idiots all day every day, and live in reasonable comfort, the removal of stress would make life much simpler and more enjoyable. There are a lot of modern conveniences that I would see more as sources of stress than improvement in one's life. At the same time, I don't think that giving up electricity and running water sounds like much fun. I would also say that transitioning into a 'simpler' lifestyle is just exactly that and it would be far more difficult to go 1825 in one sitting than to progressively trim the unnecessary things from life that either directly or indirectly (like making you a timeclock slave to support them) complicate your life.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

I would say that this depends largely upon what you consider 'simpler'. If you can find a way to subsist without having to punch a clock, put up with idiots all day every day, and live in reasonable comfort, the removal of stress would make life much simpler and more enjoyable. There are a lot of modern conveniences that I would see more as sources of stress than improvement in one's life. At the same time, I don't think that giving up electricity and running water sounds like much fun. I would also say that transitioning into a 'simpler' lifestyle is just exactly that and it would be far more difficult to go 1825 in one sitting than to progressively trim the unnecessary things from life that either directly or indirectly (like making you a timeclock slave to support them) complicate your life.

Living without running water is a lot easier than living without electricity. I don't know what kerosene goes for now, but I heated with wood and kerosene up until 2003 and kerosene prices were going through the roof, then. The power where I lived was...temperamental. You can bring a bucket in from the creek to flush the toilet, but there's no real easy way to make your own electricity if you can't afford a generator. Oil lamps work pretty well. My cook stove was gas, so no issues there.

I think I'd still live like that if I hadn't gotten married and started a family. That house was no place for a baby.

 

[Kurr]

Grandpa's razor strop, sometimes he even used it for his razor.

 

[gunsisgood]

Saturday Night Live was funny.

 

[churchmouse]

Grandpa's razor strop, sometimes he even used it for his razor.

Yeah buddy.....my dad got his old one.......

 

[SnoopLoggyDog]

Used to spend my summers at my Grandparents place in Ky. Four room shack with a pot belly coal stove for heat. Toilet was an outhouse that straddled the creek. Place had 1950's aluminum wiring for electricity. Foundation for the house was a pile of rocks on each corner. Dumping the trash consisted of throwing the refuse down the hill, in front of the house. They could get all of two TV stations over their black and white Zenith. Phone was on a party line. Shower was rigged up behind the barn. Baths were taken in a big wash tub in the kitchen. Nights were dead silent with the occasional car traveling up the road. Papa kept a couple dogs around to keep the raccoons and possums away. Dogs slept under the house. Everybody smoked starting at the age of 15. As a kid, I thought it was neat. Roamed the hills, went fishing and played civil war with my cousins.

Years later, my Grandparents moved into a single-wide trailer. Acted like they had won the lottery. It all depends on what you are used to.

 

[churchmouse]

Used to spend my summers at my Grandparents place in Ky. Four room shack with a pot belly coal stove for heat. Toilet was an outhouse that straddled the creek. Place had 1950's aluminum wiring for electricity. Foundation for the house was a pile of rocks on each corner. Dumping the trash consisted of throwing the refuse down the hill, in front of the house. They could get all of two TV stations over their black and white Zenith. Phone was on a party line. Shower was rigged up behind the barn. Baths were taken in a big wash tub in the kitchen. Nights were dead silent with the occasional car traveling up the road. Papa kept a couple dogs around to keep the raccoons and possums away. Dogs slept under the house. Everybody smoked starting at the age of 15. As a kid, I thought it was neat. Roamed the hills, went fishing and played civil war with my cousins.

Years later, my Grandparents moved into a single-wide trailer. Acted like they had won the lottery. It all depends on what you are used to.

I had more than a few relatives that lived very similar to this in Putnam Co. I was maybe 15 before they had full indoor plumbing.

 

[SnoopLoggyDog]

I had more than a few relatives that lived very similar to this in Putnam Co. I was maybe 15 before they had full indoor plumbing.

I cannot imagine the left-handed Polish heart attack that the local county Heath Department would have if they found someone living that way today. It would make the front page of the local paper, the kids would be hauled away to a "safe" environment and the home owners jailed. The property would be posted and the house condemned as unsafe to habituate. All because the Health Department doesn't like a little Cholera in their water.

 

[Frosty]

I had more than a few relatives that lived very similar to this in Putnam Co. I was maybe 15 before they had full indoor plumbing.

You got something to say about Putnam county gramps???

 

[IndyDave1776]

I can remember when most smaller towns had a unique local flavor rather than simply being assorted alternate arrangements of the same national entities. Local restaurants were unique in character and in food. Same deal with stores. Same with filling stations. Same with most every business and every group of people. Today, between 'variation' meaning only one of the, if I remember correctly, 4 different types of Walmart building and the arrangement of the usual suspects of the national chain variety and assorted types of mass media doing much to homogenize the population, largely in unappealing and unhealthy ways, we are rapidly approaching the point of there being no such thing as a local culture.

 

[Bosshoss]

Does anyone remember the Teepee restaurants? My grandparents met at the one on 38th shortly after WWII. I haven't thought of that place in years. Wow I am really starting to get old.

I remember when the Tee Pee and the fairgrounds were on the edge of town and now the fairgrounds are practically downtown.

 

[17 squirrel]

I cannot imagine the left-handed Polish heart attack that the local county Heath Department would have if they found someone living that way today. It would make the front page of the local paper, the kids would be hauled away to a "safe" environment and the home owners jailed. The property would be posted and the house condemned as unsafe to habituate. All because the Health Department doesn't like a little Cholera in their water.

Take a slow long drive from the hills of West Virginia and cruise the Appalatcha's through Kentuckee, you will see many folks still live happily without all or some modern conveniences..

 

[churchmouse]

You got something to say about Putnam county gramps???

When it comes to my "Good-Ole Boy" cousins uncles and aunts.......Oh hell yes.........

 

[churchmouse]

I remember when the Tee Pee and the fairgrounds were on the edge of town and now the fairgrounds are practically downtown.

And the Tee-Pee is long gone.

 

[Frosty]

When it comes to my "Good-Ole Boy" cousins uncles and aunts.......Oh hell yes.........

If you don't mind me asking, exactly what part of Putnam county? I mean, north of Greencastle is like meth heaven, south of I70 is like backwoods hillybilly marry your sister and move in with your inlaws...

 

[churchmouse]

If you don't mind me asking, exactly what part of Putnam county? I mean, north of Greencastle is like meth heaven, south of I70 is like backwoods hillybilly marry your sister and move in with your inlaws...

We are talking back a ways. My people owned a lot of the farmland out by the old Airport. Farms have been sold off long ago. There are a few left down there but I have had no real contact except for 1 group of cousins in 20 odd years.

This was long before the meth outbreak. Shine was the thing then and yeah.....outhouses and possibly cousin love.....