Sol

[Deimos]

2 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

You do know that the Moon used to be specific to outhouses used only by women and the Sun was used for one used only by men. However the crescent moon became the norm over time.  (For other countries: here in the USA an "outhouse" was a small building used as a toilet in places without sewers or septic tanks located out in the yard behind the house...)

We had those over here as well, but we used a hart in the door.

[ThomasPowers]

Hart like a deer or a heart like valentines day?

[Deimos]

Heart like valentines day, did not now hart was a deer

That reminds me, 14 of march is coming up, it the manly man version of valentines day.

[Frosty]

1 hour ago, Nodebt said:

I'm almost afraid to ask,

We called it the poopcicle in polite company, like here.  It was a common winter feature and actually made liming easier as it'd cover the whole cicle so when it melted the whole load got lime mixed in. Winter outhouse smelled a LOT better.

My Grandmother used to talk about the privy when she was little and how everybody had their own seat they kept behind the kitchen stove. The sisters sewed seat covers and the best one got used on Father's seat. Mother made her own of course. The styrofoam seat was a happy discovery when I lived my time in the woods almost all the residents used them. A styrofoam seat cover prevented condensation from causing that first sub zero thrill before your butt warmed the ice. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

I come from an engineering background so St Patrick's Day is the day for me---he invented the worm drive!  Usually the University I work for scheduled spring break over St Patrick's Day  as the Engineering students got too rowdy on campus that day. (Some legendary parties and pranks are known...)  With covid they get 1 day off, the day after St Patrick's Day.   As a member of Staff, I get to work.

[Will-I-am]

How about those spiders under the outhouse seat?

[Frosty]

Not a concern in Alaska, the rare poisonous spider comes in on freight, usually fruit. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Daswulf]

There is still what's left of an outhouse at my parents house. They built the house on top of a hill that used to be a park/picknic area from around the 30's or earlier till maybe the the 60's . The old wooden outhouse, swingset and spinning swings structures are still standing. We never actually used the outhouse other then to store some chicken crates. It did house a bunch of spiders which kept me out of it other then a few peeks inside as a kid out of curiosity. Last I mowed near it it looked like a groundhog called it home for a while. 

[Scott NC]

I detest spiders!  And poopcycles fall in the same category.  But that's what I thought the stalagmites were.  But whats the 2x4 for?  To knock them down when they get too high?

[Will-I-am]

At my cabin I have an outhouse.  I always check under the seat before I sit down.  There are always lots of webs and black widows frequent our area not to mention rattlesnakes.  

[Frosty]

2 minutes ago, Nodebt said:

But that's what I thought the stalagmites were.  But whats the 2x4 for?  To knock them down when they get too high?

Yes to the first.

DUH! You wouldn't want to sit on a: sub zero, frozen, pointy, tower of poop, would you?

We used to get these little biting flies that hung out in the hole so we hung a No Pest Strip or had a spray can of pesticide. Give a tiny spritz of bug spray when you left so it'd air out, that way there weren't any biters and you didn't have to breath bug spray. 

An old trick was moth balls, a couple on the main board next to the hole did the trick . . . mostly. No Pest Strips RULED.

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

Brown Recluses in an outhouse are a bigger concern to me than Black Widows due to the possible damage and possible locations of same.

When my youngest daughter was still at home she once did a black widow roundup and counted all the ones around the outside of our house down here---32 that she could find. They are allowed to live outside but are killed if found inside. Scorpions found inside are carefully caught and transported to the arroyo area. Centipedes are converted to a sort of pate' if found in the house, (my wife has a phobia about them.) Millipedes are just ushered out the door.

My shop has black widows; their webs have a very distinctive sound when you break them...

[Scott NC]

  My brother got bit by a Brown Recluse and had a horrible time.  I'm more concerned with wasps, yellow jackets in particular.  I found out the hard way I am allergic to them and have to carry a pen.  My arm swelled up bigger than my thigh and I was lucky I did not kick the bucket.  Scorpions and rattlers go away!   Never mind centi and milli pedes....

[ThomasPowers]

Millipedes are harmless.  I've lived here 17 years now and have seen 1 rattler every 3 years.  Most of those ended up truncated.

[Deimos]

Well thats a 5 dollar word I had to look up, so you just make SHORT work of those snakes?

[Scott NC]

Do you got Gila Monsters?  I hear they latch on.

[ThomasPowers]

Even while we do have the Gila National Forest, the Gila Monster tends to be more in AZ and old Mexico. I've never even met someone who has seen one in the wild.

I did once have a colleague from Europe who was terrified to visit here as he assumed that we spent half our time fighting off attacking hoards of poisonous creatures.  I guess I didn't help any as I went around my yard and caught a scorpion and black widow spider and centipede to bring in and show him what to look out for.

[Frosty]

Oh man, back in the 70s I used to hang with a bunch of Tejicans and we all went to the airport to greet one of their friends. It was in the days you walked down an air stair on the parking apron at Anchorage international airport, then walked to baggage claim. Anyway, as Tom exits the plane, a stewardess (that's what we called them it was THAT long ago!) hands Tom a rifle and belt. He straps the belt around his BUCKSKINS, shoulders his rifle and walks down the air stair. He even stopped at the bottom to look around. 

Everybody, his friends included just stood  there with out mouths open, finally Bob asks, "No coon skin cap?" Tom says, "I packed it."

We still find ourselves debunking Alaska myths but before the internet it was just crazy what folks believed outside. No, you do NOT have to carry a rifle to protect yourself from polar bears in Anchorage. Barrow yes, Anchorage, no. Barrow is now known as Utqiagvic Which means I don't know what. The folk who renamed it are probably still arguing about what it means. No, Alaska Natives are just like everybody else, silly crazy opinionated and competitive. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Scott NC]

  There's mythology everywhere.  What do you think of when you hear Nebraska?  Corn stalks!  Daniel Boone?  Nope.  I just was wondering about our ole friend gila monster.

[Scott NC]

[Will-I-am]

Speechless, Easter islandish.

[Daswulf]

Looks like he was just told he wouldn't get to do something he really wanted to do. 

Lol, it's crazy how art works. It really is "How it moves you or what you see in it".  

[Scott NC]

  Das, I could not have said it better.  Creation is fun.  The ability and the wherewithal to do it is truly a gift.

[Frosty]

Looks like it found out why the sun looks like it does! I love it. Putting a smile on folk's faces is high art in hard times. 

Are you going to take it with, or leave it for the new property owners, Scott? I'm think it's perfect either way, as a hood ornament on the moving truck or as something to remember you by.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

On 3/9/2021 at 2:54 PM, Daswulf said:

There is still what's left of an outhouse

Back in the '50s we would go out and find the best looking outhouse we could and with the owners permission, get it. Then on Halloween we would place it on the steps at city hall. The police would try and catch us but were always busy when we did the deed. By the early '60s the supply ran out and we had to resort to the new fangled porta potty. One year the police chief had enough of the foolishness and had every officer out on surveillance to catch us. That year the porta potty showed up at the front door of the police department.