Outhouses

Backyard Privy

How many of you remember the backyard outhouse of yesteryear? One of the strongest (and I am using that word for a reason!) memories I have of my great-grandparents farm is the outhouse. There is nothing quite like the smell of an outhouse in the middle of summer. But, worse than the smell was the caution given to always look before you sit down because snakes and spiders like to hang around the outhouse. Well, can’t say I am surprised. But snakes? I can’t think of anything that will keep me from going to the bathroom more than the threat of snakes!
I have tried to explain the experience of outhouses to my granddaughters, but the whole subject just “grosses them out”. It may you too, but I think that we wax poetic about the “good ole days” with out remembering some of the aspects that nudged us into improving our lives quite like indoor plumbing. I know there was no way I was ever going to go out to that little house behind the house in the middle of the night, and neither was great grandma. She kept a chamber pot under the bed for just such emergencies.

In romanticizing life in yesteryear, people have begun collecting strange things. I know a woman who is ga-ga over chamber pots, and has quite a collection of them. She even has an oak chamber-pot chair, otherwise known as the “Thunder Throne”. Now, to me that is just gross, and I think they just plain smell bad. It is probably just my imagination, but I think they hold a distinct odor that refinishing can’t seem to dispel.

Tradition has it in that bygone era, whenever a lady went visiting, and needed to use the facilities, because they didn’t want to ask where the outhouse was, they would say they were going to look at your hollyhocks. I’m not sure which came first, but people began growing hollyhocks around their out-house so that people could distinguish easily which out-house was “the” out-house.

I have begun to think how charming an old rustic out-house would look in our backyard. I would love to have one to use as a potting shed, and to further the ambiance and the illusion, I would plant hollyhocks around it. In fact, I could see where having one would be almost like a blank canvas to be filled. I could paint it a wonderfully wild color to mimic a lot of Austinites attempts to “keep it weird” not to mention colorful in their backyards. But, I think I would rather keep it natural, and rustic. I think a part of it is to kind of thumb my nose at our neighborhood association, and do something our neighbors would never do. I may have to adhere to the associations by-laws on acceptable landscaping, but the backyard is mine to be an extension of my personality.

Just as I began to think of this, I saw one for sell in Princeton, Illinois this summer on vacation,. It was a beauty, complete with the half-moon on the door, and the seat had been replaced with a nice bench, that would be great for potting plants. The price was right too--it was $130.00! A small price for pure Americana! But alas, I couldn’t think of a way to get it home--although the vision of it trailing behind our Toyota, made me smile. So, if any of you out there in blog-o-sphere know of anyone around the Austin area in need of “dumping” (pardon the pun) an out-house. Let me know, I would love to take it off their hands!

Cool Hints In Morning

I can feel a hint of coolness in the morning air that whispers a promise of autumn coming. We have had huge dark rain clouds sailing over head throughout the day, but so far none have stayed to give the garden some relief. I hope that someone is getting some of the rain those clouds are so selfishly withholding.

I don't know what kind of moth this is, but he flew out of one of the Boston Ferns I have flanking the front door. I call him camo-moth because he looks as if he is wearing camouflage. He is so interesting, I thought. I'm glad he let me take his picture.

The sunflowers are still blooming away, this one has flopped over onto the rosemary.

My chives are blooming. It smells of garlic when the wind blows in my direction.

The lantana are continuing blooming, and will until that first frost comes...as well as the Rudbeckia.
What's this? I can't believe it! I have a bloom on the Trumpet Vine! The first ever. I grew this from a seed pod the neighbor across the street gave me a couple of years ago.

Torreon, Mexico

We went through some beautiful mountain ranges to get to our destination of Torreon, Mexico.

Torreon, along with it’s two neighboring cities, boast a population of over 1.3 million people. It is a city that never sleeps, and is a city of great contrasts. It has great wealth, beauty, and pride. But, it also has great poverty, like the rest of Mexico. I was constantly struck by the poverty that I saw. Like nothing I have seen in the U.S. I know that we have poor--when I was a divorced single mother, I lived well below the poverty level. But it is a different dirt poor, no means of escape poverty. The countryside is dotted with huts made from cardboard, scrapes of wood, blankets, or sheet metal. Whatever that can be scavenged to be used to make a barrier from the elements are used. No electricity or water in the most rural desolate areas imaginable.
I had planned to get pictures of some of the huts and poor areas of Torreon to show, but somehow it seemed so voyeuristic to do so. Instead, I want to focus on a lower middle class area where we spent a good portion of our time visiting the cottages of three children’s homes, which are called: Casa Sonrisa, or Smile House.

My DH in front of Cottage #1. Isn't he cute?

For many years my husband has organized two golf tournaments a year to raise money for this children’s home. Because most of the money that is raised comes from individual donations, we felt that we needed to see the operations first hand so that when asking for money we would have more of a feel for their needs and wants. We both are feeling so grateful to be a small part of such a worthy undertaking. There are 41 children divided into the three cottages in as much of a home-like setting as possible. There is a set of parents to oversee each house. The father still holds down a full-time job, so the majority of the responsibility of running each home is the woman’s job (what's new?). Each woman has the help of a cook and a laundress. These women work tirelessly to make sure that the children are well fed and clothed. Most of these children come to Casa Sonrisa through a state agency much like our CPS. Most have been abandoned by their mothers and have been physically and sexually abused. The day to day operations are overseen by Pedro Rivas. Although “retired” now, for many years he was the President of the University of Mexico in Torreon. This man is a saint! The children love him and call him Grandpapa. He has worked tirelessly to ensure that these children be given every opportunity to make a better life for themselves than where they came from. He has worked out a deal with a private primary school to give the children a first class education, which of course, is near and dear to his heart. One of the first children to come to Casa Sonrisa is now in college, and he has worked his magic once again to ensure that she and any other child will be able to go to college and get the education they will need to succeed in life anyway they may want.
I just can’t say enough good things about this man. He is a very genuine, good person. We were walking down the street from one cottage to the next and people would walk up to us to shake his hand and say hello. He knows everyone, and everyone seems to know him. I found that amazing in a city the size of Torreon.

Mauric Kemper, our guide on this trip and founder of Casa Sonrisa, along with my DH.

Pedro Rivas, along with an attorney at the University of Mexico, who does legal work for Casa Sonrisa, and Maurice.

Torreon has a soccer team, which has been undefeated. The city is very proud of their team, and soccer-mania is widespread! They were having a big game last Thursday, and we were warned to be back in our hotel room before the game let out because pandemonium would rein after the game. Wild celebrations if they won, fights if they lost! They are also passionate about their driving, as is all of Mexico, seeming to make up the rules as they go, and seeming to have a sixth sense about what the other driver is going to do! Liberal use of the horn is necessary to drive in Mexico, and indeed, it seemed as if it is a second language! Everywhere we went, horns were blaring. Friendly--and not so friendly honks depending on the situation. Cabs going down the street with their bip-bip-bip to let you know they were free to pick us up if we needed.
We found it frustrating to not be able to speak the language, and hope to be more fluent the next time we go. I told my husband that I felt like my IQ dropped about ten points the minute we crossed the border! When we visited the children it was hard to communicate. They would ask, “Americanos?” When we would say , Si`, they would wrap their arms around our legs and hug us. They were shy when we first got there, but after we took them to the park, they were hamming it up for the camera and losing their shyness. We planned one day at the amusement park and the next day a pizza party at Pizza Hut. While at the amusement park they wanted cokes, but when we told them, manana coke and pizza, they understood perfectly. What a wild time that was! Forty-one pairs of shoes came off. They had a ball pit that they dove into. It was amazing to watch as the older children looked out after the smaller ones, and if they got hurt or couldn’t get out the older ones would pull them to safety.

The tall thin gentleman is Maurice Kemper. He truly is a gentle man. Casa Sonrisa is his brainchild. When he and his wife were first married, they taught English in Mexico City. It was there that he began thinking of someday establishing a home for the homeless children of Mexico. He saw a need and has worked tirelessly to achieve his dream. If you would like to learn more about Casa Sonrisa, they have a web page at http://www.casasonrisa.org/. Both my husband and I felt privileged to make this journey and hope that we will one day have the opportunity to go again.

Dios bendiciones sobre usted

Green Coffee And The Happy Dance

Daughter Number 2 and I spent a pleasant afternoon yesterday at Starbucks entertaining Baby Loudon and entertaining Starbucks with his squeals and screams (happy ones--he is just learning he has a voice--no volume control). I usually watch him at her house, but we had to evacuate while the realtor showed it.

I am not usually a Starbucks advocate. I don't care for big chain business, and believe in supporting small local businesses. But, I have wanted to visit this particular Starbucks since they opened a year ago because of all the eco-friendly building that went into it. It has two rainwater retention tanks out front and the roof is covered with flats of natural wildflower/grass mix. I saw very little blooming, but I bet it's pretty in the spring. We may not get to see what it looks like in the Fall, as I have read that there are two stores closing in Austin and 56 in Texas, as Starbucks is forced to downsize. This is a picture taken from the upstairs window of Starbucks overlooking the roof of the building.

I am doing the happy dance because it has rained two days this week! The last I looked, the temperature was 86 today! It felt hotter than that because it is so humid, but it is certainly better than one hundred! I'll take it! When I took the pups for their walk tonight, the air was so nice. Not really cool, but pleasant. I felt like I could breath for the first time in months. It felt like Summer 's gripe has been loosened a little. It would be so nice if we were through with the triple digit days for this year. I can tell with the evening sun going down earlier than Fall is coming. Yay!


I finally got a battery for my camera, so hopefully I will be able to start taking pictures again. DH and I are going to Mexico next week, so don't know if I will be able to post before we leave or not. I am wanting to take my camera with me so I can get pictures if I can just remember to do so!

Mid August In The Garden

It's the middle of August, and the hot summer seems endless. The only way we know it is approaching Fall, is the Back-To-School sales in all the stores. Since it was tax-free weekend, everyone was at the malls and shopping centers. I stayed away and avoided the crazy crowds, and actually worked in my garden in the mornings before it got too hot. It was quite pleasant early Saturday morning, and I took full advantage.



Scratcher and Frisky (AKA Special K) are found in their natural state of Sprawl. But then, when you have a fur coat what else can you do when the temperature is over 100 degrees in the shade?

The white dots on the Purple Heart, are actually water drops. Funny how it came out on my camera.

This time of year, I let the Basil go to seed. The bees love the flowers, and I have harvested and made all the pesto my freezer can hold! It will probably get us through January or February (we love pesto). LOL!


The gardenias continue to make their fragrant presence known.

I just love the way the Morning Glories look like they are craning their heads to be the first one to catch that first ray of morning light.

I tried so hard to get a shot of the honey bees at work on the Purple Heart, but they are so quick, I never could. It was really surprising at all the blooms that actually looked good this time of year.

Piano Man

Roll Over Beethoven, Loudon Has Come To Play!

Grandson Loudon has just started pulling up this week, and his mom put his playpen in front of the piano. He loves to touch the keys, and then pause to look at you--and wait for the applause, which naturally he gets.

Dogs + Skunks = Nothing Good!

Bocephus and Christina vs. Pepe Le Pew

(Dogs 0 - Skunk 100 gabillion)

As I sit here typing, I have a headache from smelling--fumes. It was so hot Friday, I didn’t take the vegetable scraps out to the compost pile until after dark. The dogs always have to go with me to smell exactly what I am throwing away and make sure it isn’t anything they want. Christina is a Lab/Shepherd mix that takes her job of patrolling the parameters very seriously. Her biggest thrill in life is to chase squirrels. I am sure when she saw the intruder in the compost pile, she thought SQUIRREL, but then, she has never encountered a skunk before--until now that is! Pepe Le Pew (accent on the PEW), got her smack in the face. Bo was right behind her, and he got it more on his neck and side. I don’t think my blue flower garden will ever look--or smell the same. Pepe couldn’t exit fast enough, and at this point neither could the dogs. Chrissy went into a snorting and diving into the grass mode. The spray burning her eyes. I didn’t get hit, and it was making my eyes burn.
We called the vet, and he told us to flush their eyes with water, mineral oil, and contact solution. He said tomato juice doesn’t work very well, and to wash them with a hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, dishwashing liquid mix, let it sit for five minutes, and do it three times total. As soon as we put the solution on them, it fizzed up and drove the dogs crazy. They would take off like a streak of lightening, rolling and diving into the grass every so often. After five minutes we would grab one, hose it off, reapply, and grab the next. By the time we were through, the smell was less strong, but by no means gone. I have been washing, burning candles, and spraying room freshener all weekend. The dogs won’t go near the corner where they encountered little Pepe. I am rethinking my distain of compost containers.

Bo and Chrissy with Granddog Mojo in happier, less stinky times...

The rest of the pictures are what is blooming in my garden right now, even if it is looking a bit weary.