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I helped build my grandmother a new outhouse.
Granddad put indoor plumbing in their house a couple miles outside of Gosport in the 1960's, but old ways die hard, and Grandma used it only when the weather was just too inclement. When we were kids, Dad insisted we do the same whenever we visited, every weekend, "to not stink up the house." Seeing Granddad never put a fan in there, he had a good point.
Flash-forward to 1983. Granddad had passed on four years earlier. The pit underneath the outhouse had to be emptied. No, Dad didn't make me do that; but when the outhouse was moved off the pit so the septic truck could pump it out, he noticed the old outhouse was in bad shape. Awful, awful shape. And especially at her age (73 at the time), we didn't need Grandma experiencing any unfortunate accidents.
So, Dad designed, and we built together, a brand new outhouse; pre-fab'ed out of two-by-fours and paneled on the outside, with a shingled roof. We even put a plastic lid and seat over the hole for additional comfort. It didn't take long to build, all of an afternoon, and it was easy to put on the site of the old one.
It still stands today. Grandma went to join Granddad about ten years ago, but land still belongs to us. Dad turns 80 next month. I'm going to go home then, and on my way I'm going to stop down there and take some picture of the property for my memories. I guarantee you one of them will be of that outhouse, still standing straight and proud after almost 30 years.
NEXT!
Granddad put indoor plumbing in their house a couple miles outside of Gosport in the 1960's, but old ways die hard, and Grandma used it only when the weather was just too inclement. When we were kids, Dad insisted we do the same whenever we visited, every weekend, "to not stink up the house." Seeing Granddad never put a fan in there, he had a good point.
Flash-forward to 1983. Granddad had passed on four years earlier. The pit underneath the outhouse had to be emptied. No, Dad didn't make me do that; but when the outhouse was moved off the pit so the septic truck could pump it out, he noticed the old outhouse was in bad shape. Awful, awful shape. And especially at her age (73 at the time), we didn't need Grandma experiencing any unfortunate accidents.
So, Dad designed, and we built together, a brand new outhouse; pre-fab'ed out of two-by-fours and paneled on the outside, with a shingled roof. We even put a plastic lid and seat over the hole for additional comfort. It didn't take long to build, all of an afternoon, and it was easy to put on the site of the old one.
It still stands today. Grandma went to join Granddad about ten years ago, but land still belongs to us. Dad turns 80 next month. I'm going to go home then, and on my way I'm going to stop down there and take some picture of the property for my memories. I guarantee you one of them will be of that outhouse, still standing straight and proud after almost 30 years.
NEXT!
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