Cowboy toilet paper

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

that's what the Sears & Roebuck catalogs were intended for!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Growing up, we actually used corn cobs in an emergency when the Sears and Roebuck's catalogue was used up and we did not have an alternative. Buying toilet paper was put of the question to a subsistence farmer. Not only was that uncomfortable it filled the outhouse pit up pretty fast and those pits were hand dug. Our ground wasn't that rocky so it wasn't a huge chore to dig out a decent pit and relocate the outhouse a few feet, but we normally had more enjoyable ways to pass an afternoon.

Newspaper was not a good alternative. It not only tore pretty easily but that newsprint would leave a black stain.

Those occasions were pretty rare. Mom normally figured she's thumbed through the current Sears enough when the corn cobs came out. The older weathered corn cobs weren't that rough but a fresh one would be torture.

 

[Smart Red]

that's what the Sears & Roebuck catalogs were intended for!

Not intended for, but definitely destined for. Fortunately, there were several companies that sent catalogues, and the more natural diets in those days made lots of paper less necessary.

 

[hoodat]

Mullein has one flaw. It only grows in open areas like meadows. That isn't where you head in an emergency.

 

[so lucky]

I distinctly remember a grandpa-like friend of the family who kept both dried corncobs and the Sears-Roebuck catalog in the outhouse. Back then, the catalog pages were thin and softer than they are today. That would have been 60+ years ago.
The other thing I remember about the outhouse is that it was hot in the summer, and had wasps. You had to go through the chicken yard to get there, and the rooster didn't like me in my little red coat. When I was 3, the rooster attacked me. He ended up in a stew pot the next day.

 

[journey11]

I distinctly remember a grandpa-like friend of the family who kept both dried corncobs and the Sears-Roebuck catalog in the outhouse. Back then, the catalog pages were thin and softer than they are today. That would have been 60+ years ago.
The other thing I remember about the outhouse is that it was hot in the summer, and had wasps. You had to go through the chicken yard to get there, and the rooster didn't like me in my little red coat. When I was 3, the rooster attacked me. He ended up in a stew pot the next day.

The stuff of nightmares... *cringe*

If there's wasps, I'm not going in there! I'll go in the yard first, lol.

 

[Smart Red]

It is a 'heat' thing. Where ever there is heat, dry, and the smallest of access there will be wasps. Either you spray them or live with them.

 

[so lucky]

I got in a potential mess the other day when I decided to spray the wasp nest in the chicken house. There was no way I could get to it from the door, unless I was totally in the house in a crouched position, looking up on my nearly blind side, having to jump backwards out of the house, tripping over chickens in the process. The nest was in a 4" area between the back wall and a rafter/brace 2x4, hanging from the ceiling. So I tried to spray through the screen from the opposite end of the house, but by the time the wasps were on the nest, it was nearly dark, and I had only a vague idea where the nest was. Needless to say, I only hit part of the nest. There must have been 50 wasps on it. Several flew off, and most of them on the nest eventually died.
My plan was to get in the house and pick up all the dead wasps so the chickens wouldn't eat them (poison) but the chickens were in such a hurry to get to their roost, I gave up.
The next day, I got another look at the nest. Still about a half dozen wasps on it. Geeze. I'm out of spray now. Maybe the wasps will die of old age.

 

[hoodat]

I never have trouble with wasps or bees since I am no threat to them. Yellowjackets on the other hand just seem to want to pick a fight with me.

 

[journey11]

I didn't use to think anything of the wasps and had been stung many times over the years. Although I don't like being stung, I never really thought it hurt all that much. We were working on a project a couple of summers ago and I went into the barn to get some more lumber and one came at me out of the blue because I passed too close to its nest. I've had them come at me like that a couple of times actually. Well, I went on working anyway, but about 20 minutes later I broke out head to toe in itchy hives and my ears and around my eyes got hot and red too, so now I have to carry an epi-pen. This has really put a damper on my farm-girl attitude. After awhile, I did quit running away from them screaming (now I just run away, lol). I find they are most aggressive in July when they are guarding their nests full of babies.

Honeybees are much more gentle and predictable (not withstanding, the Africanized ones), but they do get feisty when they're guarding a hive full of honey in the fall. In spring, they are quite docile.