Back in 1970 a fellow named Bob Ross put together a paperback gem titled Muddled Meanderings in an Outhouse. This slim volume contained photographs (and some sketches and cartoons) of numerous outhouses, some of which were quite unique. Each photograph was followed by an outhouse poem. Nothing off color; just cute. This fascinating work was followed in 1974 by Muddled Meanderings in an Outhouse Number 2 again by the aforementioned Bob Ross. I am fortunate to be in possession of both slender volumes. You might even have an opportunity to read them if you ever find yourself in my guest bathroom. I do not recall how I came by these 2 volumes but it had to have been in the 1970s while I was living in Hawthorne, Nevada. More surprising is that I still have them!
Getting back to my blog name, I always liked the sound of "muddled meanderings." It flows off the tongue quite nicely. Given that my brain is often muddled and it mostly meanders rather than following a straight thought line, this seemed like a good description of what this blog will end up being. Now you know.
Speaking of outhouses reminds me of my mother who died in December 1996. Now, don't get up in arms! I'm not saying anything bad about my mother here. For some reason that I never really understood, the first thing my mother would do when we went to a new restaurant or other location was locate the nearest restroom. She didn't need to go there (yet) but she sure did want to know where they were just in case. I guess that helps explain why she always made us (as kids) hit the bathroom before we went anywhere. I have to say I still do that today! My bathroom brainwashing was very successful it seems.
Back in 1976 (or thereabouts) I flew back to New York to spend several weeks with my mother so I would be there for her surgery and recovery. During that time, she and I drove to Bennington, Vermont to look at a Downdrafter wood stove which, at the time, was pretty unique. Thanks to my meandering mind, I searched and found the patent from 1976 on that stove. Very neat! It lists the guy we visited as one of the inventors.
Two things about that trip/stove:
- On the way back from Vermont, my mother and I stopped in a very small town to find a restroom (LOL! This time we both needed to use it.). All we could find back then was a small store that had an outhouse. As we walked down the path to the outhouse, we came upon some dog doo. My mother, having a good sense of humor, commented "Someone didn't make it to the outhouse." Several years later when I moved back to New York, I stumbled across a jigsaw puzzle titled Nature_Calls - A celebration of rustic practicality" with 14 outhouses on it. I gave it to my mother who enjoyed the idea but, by then, she didn't feel up to working a jigsaw puzzle. I still have the unopened puzzle. Perhaps my mother's influence has continued in absentia.
- My husband at the time and I decided to purchase that Downdrafter stove:
Because of the way it was designed, this stove put out a huge amount of heat. We used it one winter as our only heat source. Unfortunately, it was hard to control the temperature so there were numerous winter days when I had all the windows wide open and it was still 90 degrees in the house. This great heat meant the exhaust fumes going up the chimney were extremely hot as well. This caused us some issues. We were limited on the wood we could get. There were very few trees in the Nevada desert where we lived, so we burned what we could get which often included old railroad ties and trash wood. Can you say creosote? The extremely hot exhaust fumes once ignited the creosote buildup in the chimney causing a chimney fire. The noise that made was frightening (like a freight train going by) and the whole house started to vibrate. My husband went outside and used the garden hose to spray water on the roof and down the chimney to put the fire out. It was quite a scary time and that was the ONLY winter we used that wood stove! It would have been great if we had the right wood.
I haven't much liked fireplaces or wood stoves since that winter.
Blessings,
Mary
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