No Running Water
Our family moved from Baltimore to the hills of Wva. when I
was very young. We lived with my dad's
parents, our grandparents. They lived in
a very small town that had a school that had closed down, a general store and a
post office. With a population of 70 people. The general store eventually closed down. We all stayed in our own
little world living a simple life. We
had well water, but we couldn't drink it,
because it was red water - so we would
drive down the mountain and haul water
from the mountain springs. We enjoyed
these times because us kids would take off our shoes and play in the water
below the water fall coming from the mountain spring. Our dad filled big barrels on the back of the
truck with water and we would fill milk jugs.
We would save all of our milk jugs ahead of time and fill each one with
water and put them on the back of Dad's truck.
This water was used for drinking and cooking. One thing everyone needs is good clean water.
We would take a bath in the water they caught
in barrels that held our rain water. We called them rain barrels. They
would heat the water up and us kids would take baths in the big round tin tub
right in the kitchen, dining area, not while anyone was dining of course.
W.Va. was our first
experience living with an outhouse. My
biggest fear at that time was finding a copper head in the outhouse or a copper
head biting my rear end when I sat down
on the big stinky hole. I was just a
little thing then and that hole was the scariest place in the world to me. There was one thing we would never do, at
least - I wouldn't. We wouldn't go out to
the outhouse at night and especially in the winter or we'd freeze our fannies off. So we kept what Grandma called, the stink pot inside the house and we would
use the stink pot in the night time and then grandma or mom would empty the pot
into the outhouse during the
daytime. Though we didn't have running water at that
time. Those times were some of the best
times as a kid, because it was kind of fun being a little scared when we would
have to go to the outhouse because we would laugh even when we were
afraid. I can almost hear myself saying
to my sister. "I hope there's no copper heads in there." So we'd open the door and we poke our heads inside and when we saw the coast
was clear. One of us would go in while
the other one watched the door. I don't know why we were afraid but I'm sure it was because of all of the adventure stories our Granddaddy told us about snakes and the outhouse.
I thank the Lord for clean water to drink and that I don't have to venture outside to go to the bathroom unless we go on a camping trip.
Susan Y Nikitenko
June 19th, 2013, 2013
Short Clips From My Past
Poetry And Other Materials On This Site Can Be Freely Used For Christian Bible Centered Non-Profit Ministries And must Remain Unchanged In Any Way. All Other Purposes Are With Permission Only. You May Make Requests At "treasurebox18@yahoo.com" All my poems with stories are both real and fictional designed to illustrate a biblical truth. All Rights Reserved. Please Include Site Name And Link Back To This Blog. Thank-You.
