Out

 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. 

Here is an old photo of the outhouses in Osage all painted up for the centennial a number of years ago.  They have since been demolished. 

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

Wistful Wednesday: Rabbits

When I was growing up my brother and I had a rabbit, it was a gift from my Uncle Theron so it was appropriate that the rabbit was named Theron…we may have had more than one rabbit…two maybe.

Years later at the resort I may have taken leave of my senses and purchased two angora rabbits…they died…not sure why.  The children visiting the resort loved the rabbits…the next spring I purchased two regular old rabbits…I was told they were the same sex.  Either both boys or both girls. We named them Ebony and Ivory.

One morning Far Guy hollered for me, something was wrong with Ivory she had blood all over her.  Well I could see nothing visibly wrong with her…then I checked the nest box.  Screamed and slammed the top closed.  Baby bunnies…Ivory was a Mom…which meant that Ebony was the Dad..and they were not the same sex.  Ebony needed to go in his own cage…male rabbits will eat baby bunnies.  Ivory was keeping him at bay…or entertaining him…who really knows what rabbits think.

We went to town and got stuff to build a new hutch…one with an insulated nesting box so the babies would have a chance. One died…as I recall there were 12 little bunnies, they are born hairless or nearly so and look all wrinkled and funny.

We moved the hutches to a spot under the low hanging branches of the Spruce trees where they would be protected by the branches and out of the north wind.  I would have to feed everyone all winter.

Do you know that a rabbits gestation peroid is about 31 days?  

Seems that while Ivory was keeping  Ebony away from her babies…she had been entertaining him…in 31 days we had another batch of rabbits…14 this time if I recall correctly. We had to modify Ebony’s hutch to give him space on one half of the hutch and moved the month old baby rabbits to the other half of his hutch until they could be moved back in with Ivory after the new babies were old enough. 

I fed rabbits all winter and took them fresh water three times a day.   They were tame rabbits and loved to be petted.

At that time we had four Shelties, Misty, Moses, Captain and G’Day Mate.  I taught them not to chase rabbits.  “No chasing bunnies” Oh they wanted too…but they wanted to please me more….and hated being scolded.

G’Day Mate, Ebony, Me and Miss Misty watching from outside of the fence.

The dogs were curious about the bunnies but left them alone.  You see my plan was to release some of the bunnies and find homes for some…my sister Julie took quite a few.

The release went well. My husband had done the math…once he told me how many rabbits I would have to take care of the next winter I knew I had to release them.

We had bunnies all colors, black, white, and every shade of brown.  I fed them morning and night…they would come running out of the woods when I hollered for them.  A few found the way into the neighbors gardens.  Arvilla once said “Funny we have never had problems with rabbits eating our gardens but now we do.”  Rabbits were everywhere that summer, the tourists thought it was great and little kids would run after them…some of the retired guests would see how many bunnies they could count in a day.

A number of years later when we moved back here just about a half a mile from the old resort we drove in the driveway and there was a bunny that greeted us.  Far Guy said “I bet that is a relative of one of your bunnies.”  I got out of the vehicle and just talked to the bunny, it stood up on its haunches and listened. (Perhaps I am a rabbit whisperer)

So you see the rabbits that feed under the bird feeders in our yard probably look like regular domestic rabbits…because they are relatives of the rabbits I accidently raised.

To this day I cannot understand why rabbits are not raised in poor countries for food.  I found rabbits really easy to raise.

Wistful Wednesday: Chuck and Ardith

A month ago I told our youngest daughter.  “I have some sad news for you, your bestest friend in the whole world died.”  She replied “Oh Chuck died… that is sad.”

Chuck was a thorn in her (teenage) side for two weeks every summer.  He would come to the door and ask  “Can Jenny come out to play?”  When she hollered “NO” at him he would press his nose against the window of the piano room until she would draw the curtains and play piano so loudly she couldn’t hear him.  He would walk away shaking his head saying “I don’t know how they put up with that racket.”   He irritated her and she irritated him.  When he would first show up for his time at the lake she would greet him by saying “Aren’t you dead yet?” He would answer her “No and is that anyway to talk to your bestest friend in the whole world.”

Chuck was from Indiana, he was a Deputy Sheriff and a Jailer…one time he even ran for Sheriff.  He and his wife Ardith would vacation up here the last couple of weeks in August when it was the warmest in Indiana.  Chuck fished everyday he could, Ardith sewed. Ardith was a banker and the church organist, they vacationed with children and grandchildren for one of the weeks and the other was usually their quiet time.

High on their list was going out for supper.

 

Chuck, Gene, Me, Ardith, Sue and Keith (Chucks brother)

The waitress took this photo at Y’s Steakhouse in September of 2000.

We found our way to Chuck and Ardith’s home in Indiana one Fall and had a wonderful visit with them.  They had the cover on their pool and Chance thought it was just a blue tarp…and walked right out on it. Talk about a confused looking dog!

Sadly Ardith would suffer with large cancerous tumors in her abdomen that eventually took her life in 2011.  Chuck was very lonely after Ardith died.  He called a few times to talk and then the calls became fewer and fewer. He came up on vacation a few times but his last visit two years ago he didn’t even attempt to go fishing. Chuck joined Ardith in heaven on October 10 2015.

Chuck had a wonderful sense of humor and could tell stories for hours. Sometimes you didn’t know if he was pulling your leg or not.   He used to kidnap Captain one of our Shelties, Captain could be found in their cottage quite often …for nap time and a snack.

Chuck and Ardith were good friends. It is sad that they are both gone…times change and people die.  But it is still good to have friends that can make you smile long after they are gone.

I wrote about Chuck before Straight Lake: Legend of the Cap.

Curiosity: A Familiar Driveway

I was curious, my curiosity sometimes gets the best of me. I wondered if they were the same, I wondered have they changed? Are Far Guy and I the only people in the whole world who noticed. One day I couldn't stand it anymore.

I drove down the drive, and stopped at the top of the hill to take a photo..nothing has changed, well that is not quite true, lots has changed..but the trees remain the same.

We drove down the drive further, we stopped to visit with Dave. I told him of our mission that day. He has lived there about 5 years and he has never noticed.

I took another photo looking uphill. Can you see it now? It is OK if you don't notice anything..honest. You have to be really in-tune with your surroundings in order to notice.  On a side note the "Poetry Tree" made it through another winter..a long time ago our daughter Jen wrote a poem about this tree it is the Popple that is leaning into the driveway on the right side of the photo.


Long ago, I didn't notice either, then one warm spring day, after I had been to town, as I drove down the drive I noticed the dividing line. The driveway separated a grove of Aspen Trees we call them Popples, they are said to all be connected somehow with one root. I don't know if I believe that..but it is not an important fact to me anyway. What was important to me that day was that our trees on the south side of the drive were all leaved out in their finest green haze, and the trees on the north side of the drive hadn't even broken bud. They looked deader than a doornail. I was upset, I shared my concern with Far Guy when he got home from work, I showed him...we wondered, I worried..was it some kind of bug that was going to wipe out all the trees? A few days passed..I wrung my hands, and lamented the death of a whole stand of trees..a week later my dismay turned to joy when the seemingly dead trees finally leafed out. It happens every spring, for some reason..there is a difference, is it in the seedlings? Are they a different species, were they from a different seed source? Perhaps not tremuloides at all but alba or some other species. ( Far Guy says they are all albas or Silver Popple on the North side.) I am still not convinced..I was always comforted somehow that it was not my imagination, it happens every spring..and I captured it this spring:)

Straight Lake: Legend of the Cap

This is an important photo..this is Chuck.  Chuck is a long time friend from Indiana.  He and his wife, Ardith used to come to my parents resort every Fall.   When my parents sold their resort, they starting coming  to ours next door.  One year Chuck and his son Mark, and daughter in law Kay had been fishing early in the morning. Fall fishing was best in the mornings or late afternoon.  Ardith was on vacation..sewing in the cottage..instead of fishing.  I heard a big racket, the dogs began to bark, something was amiss.  I went to see what the problem was.  I saw two drowned rats, Kay and Chuck. They were totally soaked and Mark was dry as a bone laughing his butt off.   They had been fishing on the other end of the lake when Chucks boat seat broke, in his attempt to stay out of the drink..he grabbed Kay and took her in with him.  Mark fished them both out of the lake.  They retold this story and laughed half the day..everyone that came by had to hear it.  Chuck complained that he had lost his best cap.  Well I thought he was pretty lucky..neither of them had any injuries...other than they were pretty cold..a hot shower fixed them both up.   Chuck bellyached about the cap that he lost.  His life was never going to be the same again without his favorite cap. 

A few days later early one morning, Far Guy was down on the docks and saw something floating past the dock.  He fished it out, low and behold it was Chucks cap..it had made the mile and a half trip from the south end of the lake to one of our docks against the current.   Far Guy made a big deal out of presenting it to Chuck..it became the legend of the cap:)