Houses. The farm where I grew up had no indoor plumbing. We had an outhouse. We got indoor plumbing when I was 9 years old in 1960. Having a bathroom inside the house was such a treat. Especially since my Mom did not allow any of those covered enamel buckets in the house...she called them "piss pots." I recall my cousins had "piss pots" and did not have to go outside to the outhouse on bitterly cold nights.
We had two sets of outhouses at our old resort. They came in handy if you were outside and needed to go and one time our septic system had problems and the outhouses were a blessing.
Far Side
We also had no indoor plumbing when I was small and we lived in an old farmhouse. Mom also called them piss-pots...lol
ReplyDeletehugs
Donna
Although the houses I have lived in have always had indoor plumbing and bathrooms, I spent my childhood summers without them due to the well water almost always being in short supply during the month of August and sometimes bleeding into the month before and after. Water was saved for drinking and cooking and the cornfield behind the house became our outhouse. I was probably in my early teens when our farmhouse was hooked up to the rural water system and water was plentiful all year round.
ReplyDeleteBrings back memories of visiting a great uncle and aunt in the late 60’s who had an outhouse that was scary to me as a small child. They also had a well on their covered back porch for water. My great aunt dipped snuff which was so gross to me! RHill, TX
ReplyDeleteI grew up without indoor plumbing too. Dad didn't add it until I’d left for college. Our outhouse didn’t look pretty like the one in the picture.
ReplyDeleteI've often thought about having to go out in the middle of the night in the cold. I was fortunate and never had to use an outhouse. I imagine you get used to it when that is your only option. When I think of the pioneers and how they struggled just to survive, it's amazing.
ReplyDeleteI love my indoor plumbing and heat and ac at the push of a button.
I remember when my cousins who lived on farms had outhouses. Also remember when one family had a phone that required them to give the phone number they wanted to an operator who connected them with the person they wanted to talk to.
ReplyDeleteI cannot imagine not having indoor plumbing, but once upon a time, nobody did. It's all what you get used to.
ReplyDeleteI've heard stories of my Great Grandma's place in Nova Scotia that didn't get indoor plumbing until the early 70s.... happily I never had to experience. I don't mind an outhouse/portapotty along the road on an adventure.. but I wouldn't want it to be a regular thing!
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother refused to have indoor plumbing in her house She had a pump house and an outhouse. She did have the pot , but she called it a slop pail. No one understood her resistance.
ReplyDeleteAfter Terry and I got married we had an outhouse for several years. The kids loved using it. Me, I like the indoor one the best :)
ReplyDeleteWe've always had indoor plumbing but camping was another story. We had one of those "piss pots". My dad called them "thunder mugs". LOL We used it at night when camping when I was a child. During the day, it was definitely outhouses. I'm very, very grateful for pluming and a real toilet in our camper.
ReplyDeleteBlessings and hugs,
Betsy
We didn't have indoor plumbing when I was little either, and the walk to the outhouse was long and dark and cold and rainy. We kids usually went in pairs and it was a two seater. It's rather amazing to think of how I live now compared to those early days of my life.
ReplyDeleteWe still have one in ... case and sometimes it can be used. My cousins didn't have indoor plumbing until 1974, but they did have running water in the barn to clean the milk tanks.
ReplyDeleteI recall there was a huge celebration when they had a full bathroom put in the house!
My childhood home also got indoor plumbing about 1960. I think my fear of spiders came from the outhouse we used: they were very common residents there.
ReplyDeleteWe had cousins of my parents who lived on a farm in MN with an outhouse...scary to me because I've never been a fan of insects and it was full of spiders and flies. They didn't technically have indoor plumbing but they were very proud of having the one small pump you had to prime at the kitchen sink. There was a big pump in the yard and a sauna. Even as a kid I could never come out of the sauna and roll in the snow. We had quite a few relatives who came over from Sweden or were first or second generation. I was glad to grow up in a Mpls suburb in the plumbing respect...but living on a farm with all the critters and woods and fields...ahhh! It had another huge drawback, though--electricity. For many years they didn't have electricity, either. Used oil lamps at night. Went to bed with the sun really. As a night-owl from birth, that was not something I enjoyed at all.
ReplyDeleteI was 2 when my folks put indoor plumbing in the house. The red pump still was on the kitchen sink area until I was about 14. We used it because that well water was always ice cold.
ReplyDeleteI don't recall ever having an outhouse at our home, but I've had many camping experiences with them. We even had piss-pots at camp when I was 9. They didn't want us tromping up to the outhouse in the middle of the night.
ReplyDeleteI also grew up on a farm with an outhouse. It never got a nice paint job ( like the one in the photo).
ReplyDeleteMy aunt and uncle had no indoor plumbing when I visited my cousins back then, so I had to use the outhouse.
ReplyDeletethis post made me think about my grandmother on my dads side. she lived with my aunt and when I would go stay a week with them, I was always terrified of the outhouse.. it was a double seater.. lol. my dad was a builder and he put an indoor bathroom in their house in the 60’s. I remember the lime that they would put in their house outhouse.
ReplyDeleteOnly us oldies know about outhouses. they were not a pretty sight.
ReplyDelete