Monday, May 12, 2014

Did You Wash Your Hands?

Just a short-one today...

I've spent a large chunk of time in places that either don't have outhouses and/or bathrooms, or maybe just have "vault" toilets. I'm sure you're asking yourself, "why in the world is he telling us that?"  I'm just giving you a little background info. Umkay?
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I spent a lot of my childhood at my grandma's house. It was actually more like a cabin. Not a mountain cabin, but a desert version. It was a very rustic place, but it did have an indoor bathroom and septic tank. Normally, that would be a great convenience, but we (me and my brother) were never allowed to use it during the day or evening hours, we could use it in the middle of the night, but only if we couldn't wait until morning. 

That means that ninety-nine percent of the time, we used the outhouse. Upon our return, there was never a single word said about washing our hands. However, on the rare occasion that we used the indoor bathroom (snow, rain, thunderstorms, etc). She ALWAYS asked if we had washed our hands. 

Is that more than a bit odd, or is it just me?

30 comments:

  1. And when you Mum gets cold, she tells you to put on a coat!

    SM

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  2. Yes, that is a bit odd. I'm sure you didn't wash your hands of your own accord after using the outhouse.

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  3. I often have to stop and use the vault toilets in Pinyon Flats...it is halfway to the horse ranch and, well, sometimes I just HAVE to go! I take hand sanitizer with me. It's always in the car anyway. I buy the little $.99 ones at Target, then fill them up with the stuff I buy at WalMart (the BIG container). I'm more concerned about washing my hands after being around the horses than the toilets. BUT, that said, I've also made my own portable wipes, just in case! :-) Isn't this a wonderful topic?
    Cheryl Ann

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  4. The WORST public toilet I've seen was at the public campground near VandenBerg AFB. I forget the name of it. I had to run in and use it this year...It was AWFUL! I wish I'd had my wipes with me, but I didn't take them that trip. Now I keep them in a portable messenger bag, along with my first aid stuff.
    Cheryl Ann

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  5. thanks for the laugh! and yes, it is!

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  6. Sometimes nature is preferrable over bathrooms. And I know you are out in the middle of no where a lot!

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  7. Ha! Now that is some food for thought. Maybe she thought the trek outside was long enough for any germs to die?

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  8. What's a "vault" toilet Pat?

    Thinks: is he angling for readers' own crappy toilet stories? When I was in Oz in 1970, part of my job out in the bush was to arrange for holes to be drilled down through up to 120 feet of laterite to bedrock so I could get samples for geochemical analysis. Once the sample had been obtained, the hole was a perfect receptacle for a crap. I can still recall turds whistling down holes. But did I wash my hands? Are you kidding? No bloody water for miles.

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  9. Yes, that is strange. Maybe she thought you touched less in the outhouse!

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  10. Thanks for the giggles and the memories to start my day, Pat! I remember a similar situation when I visited an aunt "way back then" who lived on a small farm in Texas! Have a great week!!

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  11. Ok maybe just a wee bit odd Pat :)

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  12. Yes, it does seem odd --but that's just the way life was back then... I think people were generally more healthy --and tolerated germs better than people do now. (We've kinda over-done the germ-free stuff these days I think... That seems to make us less healthy.)

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  13. Some of the bigger outhouses in the canyons where I go hiking have water to wash, but most don't. Thank goodness for the little bottles of hand sanitizer we can carry with us.

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  14. Very weird, but then we are talking about your family, right? I guess indoor water = hand-washing option. Weird all around :-p

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  15. Yes, that is pretty strange, but we don't question grandma!

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  16. Very strange. Odder still are the rules about bathroom usage. Oh Pat, I'm so glad you outgrew your dark and crazy childhood.

    xoRobyn

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  17. Grandmothers are so funny. They are such fantastic women but I partially believe they get that way just by being so particular and pernickety.

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  18. Hehe...just think of it as she forgot to mention it :)

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  19. Stewart - My granny would have, but not my mum.

    Alex - Nope! I would have had to go into the actual bathroom to do it. It was a matter of principal at that point.

    trav4adventures - I always have some hand sanitizer with me. I may be a bit OCD, but I even use it if I'm in the wilderness.

    TexWisGirl - Thanks! Did I really post this?

    Sharon Wagner - I totally agree with you! Based on me posting this, maybe I'm out there a bit too much...

    Shelly - I have no idea! It's not like the house was squeaky clean or anything like that. for goodness sake, she had a pet chicken that lived IN the house.

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  20. Dennis - You might have set a record for the world's deepest cat hole.

    Brian - Maybe that's it! The outhouse was pretty clean. heck, there was even magazines in it.

    Sylvia K - Yeah, I suffer from the same memories. you have a great week also Sylvia.

    PerthDailyPhoto - At least a wee bit odd. She was a bit odd herself, but in a good way.

    Betsy Adams - Things sure have changed. I'm not usually germ phobic, but I am in public bathrooms.

    Kay - One of the first things I put in my pack is hand-sanitizer.

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  21. tapirgal - That is so true Sheryl! Your question is also the answer.

    Wayne - That is true! She was pretty wise about most things.

    William Kendall - That is exactly what I thought.

    Rawknrobyn - I am also very glad about that. My granny, although a bit odd, was the only shiny and good thing in my childhood.

    Mandy Southgate - They are funny and she was just about at the top of the list. She was a classic...

    Icy BC - Maybe that's it!

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  22. That's so funny ... kind of a case of out of sight out of mind, she didn't think about you when you used the outhouse!

    But you know when Bill and I were younger and used to hike around in the desert and mountains we never worried about hand sanitizer (I don't even think there was such a thing) and we too are still more or less alive and well!

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  23. That is strange. Guess she figured the walk outside blew off any germs? Personally, I always have hand sanitizer and Kirkland wipes in the car. I just never know where I'll end up or for how long!

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  24. Strangest of all is that you could only use the indoor toilet in the middle of the night.

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  25. Lots of oddness going around!! Hands, bathroom time uses, vault toilets...

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  26. Yes, it's really weird, it would be for the two sites!

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  27. It's definitely a generational thing.. Now an Outhouse at night would freak me out, during the (Army memories) I can handle

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  28. I guess I've been on FB too much....I keep looking for a "like" button....

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