Otoharo!
We began today a return to simplicity. For one thing, we boil city water to remove the chlorine. We sponge bathe in this water, as well as drinking it. Well water would be ok.
With the blinds still closed, and the fireplace door open, I brought in a pan of warm boiled water, and proceeded to bathe without soap. My! what a pleasant experience! Even poured the water over my head in the lavatory.
I remembered my childhood. I lived in dry, hot west Texas near Abilene. Our county well water was gyppy (meaning from gypsum, a magnesium deposit) so we had to use rain water (before city water was piped in). We had good gutters on our house. The west gutter caught rain and drained it into an upper ground tank on a stand that we could draw from for laundry and butchering purposes. The old black pot sat nearby in which water was heated for both functions. The east gutter ran the water into an under ground cistern on our back porch where a bucket stayed full so we could drink from the dipper at any time we felt thirsty.
Bathing occured on wednesday night and saturday. A wash tub was brought in and sat by the wood stove in the winter or just the living room (which we called front room)in the summer. We took turns, from the youngest child up to mother, then daddy, in that order, bathing in the same water with added warm water as needed.
(when I was in college, they got water piped in from Sweetwater, that came from a large man made lake.)
I felt so good, clean, and "trucking". That does not refer to a vehicle but to a dance we danced in the early forties. As a freshman in college, I learned it. All freshmen were assigned a sophomore who monitored us. We had to wear a green beanie at all times. One saturday night, all the sophores and freshmen gathered and trucked down town and back. Trucking is this: lined up single file, knees slighty bent, loose all over, step the right foot to the right, and sweep it to the right, left foot felt, sweep to the left. Sort of bounce from the knees. About a block long line trucked downtown and back, with police escort to keep up safe.
What I mean by simple life, is getting used to life without the amenities of a city. being well prepared to live in the woods if necessary, and subsist on nature.
finality
