When we would go to the farm where my Grandparent’s lived, my mom would take toilet paper for us kids to use in the outhouse. The farm did not have an indoor toilet nor did the house have running water you turned on with a tap. In the house there were hand pump water pumps, one in the kitchen and one in what was called the wash room. The wash room had a sink and small metal bathtub with cat feet on it.
My brother and I thought all this was wonderful, but my sister was horrified with the set up. At bath time water was pumped in the tub and then boiling water was poured in to get the water warm. Scott and I had to take a bath together and use the same water. My sister got her own water. One great thing though, was we only had to take a bath every 3 days.
Going to the outhouse was a different matter. The outhouse was WAY OUT IN THE CHICKEN YARD. The chickens were giant birds, as big as I was. You had to watch at the gate and wait till there were no chickens in the path to the outhouse and then run to it. The chickens would see you and chase you. I was told they would not hurt me, but they were big and scary.
One day I watched till I thought it was safe. I dashed in to the chicken yard and over to the outhouse, flung open the door and found the rooster in the outhouse. I screamed, the rooster screamed, I turned to run back and found the hens coming at me. Grandma rescued me.
Granddad made a chicken stick for me to use when I had to go to the outhouse. That chicken stick was by the backdoor for years. It was kept next to the toilet paper mom brought for us kids to use. Granddad just used old newspapers for TP. He recycled stuff before recycling was invented.
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