Tam I am

[Lemon Cheesecake]

oh...I am intrigued...were they able to live off the grid? Did you have solar energy, wood stoves etc? I know someone who has been trying to grow their own food, produce their own electricity etc but they still drive cars and have computers and all that.

[Tam I am]

We had a wood stove for heat, but propane for cooking. No running water, but the power was hooked to a pole in the yard, and then dad ran in an extension cord and two of what we called trouble lights were plugged into that for light. This was way before there was really much available in the way of solar power systems. LOL And our budget wouldn't have covered what there was.

[Gingerale]

sounds a little better then camping - I can't imagine no running water, how did you manage?

[Tam I am]

It's all I'd ever known. We carried water from the well(s), and at the last place there, from the dugouts. I was proud of the day I was finally tall enough to carry two big buckets of water at once. Drinking water in the house was in the drinking bucket, with a dipper in it that we were NOT allowed to drink out of. Going pee at night involved a big bucket on the porch. I have to confess that I hate indoor toilets, they're SO hard to keep clean, and they spray nasty water all over the place.

[Lemon Cheesecake]

I like toilets but not really outhouses and have you noticed that some hotels have funky toilets that have either super charged power flush or are very slow ?

I've skated on a frozen dugout before. Did it get cold enough where you were able to skate on the dugouts in winter?

[Tam I am]

I prefer a well cared for outhouse, because I grew up with them. If the right stuff gets tossed down the hole there isn't even a bad smell. Well, I haven't been in a hotel in years, but mall and store toilets can be nuts! I went into Planet Organic yesterday, and the toilet flushed as soon as I sat down, and then I had to fight to flush it after I'd done with it.

We never had skates, but I think some of us would go walking on the dugout at the last farm. I was too busy working with our dad in the bush by then to have a lot of outside leisure. In summer we'd fish insect larva and bugs out of the dugout and make pets of them, though!

[Lemon Cheesecake]

you mean the water bugs with the long legs?

[Tam I am]

We would keep striders till they flew away, but we also had damselfly larva, water beetle grubs, water boatmen, backswimmers (those BEEPS bite), and we'd sometimes fish out dragonfly larva before putting them back. This would result in adult dragonflies with a high tendency to sit on us.

[galled]

Dragonflies are cool! I guess they imprinted on you (thought you were mother?!).

[Tam I am]

LOL! No. Dragonflies don't have parental instinct. But my family has a strange thing going on that makes wild animals, pet animals, and even insects think we're friends.

[galled]

I guess that makes you like "Snow White" of insects!

(I hope that doesn't include mosquitoes!)

[Lemon Cheesecake]

better friends then enemies! Fortunately the wild animals around us run away if they see us.

[Tam I am]

LOL It's not just me. My brothers have sat and chatted at interested woodchucks and spruce grouse. Our pet fish used to demand attention instead of food sometimes, and it wasn't just goldfish. And we never had trouble with the coyotes coming and bugging our stock or our dog.

[Lemon Cheesecake]

our neighbors have had fox and racoon's in their chicken coops and unfortunately the coyote's will get the cats if they are left outside.

[Tam I am]

Aww. Yeah. Our neighbours had that problem too. We never did. Only the skunks and porcupines would invade.