I got interrupted last night, madam, when I had visitors.
But this should answer your question.
"what does one really need [to live a decent and civilized life]?"
http://www.conservativecave.com/index.php/topic,62856.0.html
Well as long as one has a pot to piss in and a window to throw it out makes a good start.
A broom to sweep up, vinegar and rags to clean the windows. A stove of some kind to cook on and heat the house, dishes, pots pans and eating utensils, a fire pit outside to boil water to clean clothing and body's once a week.
Books, tons of them, readers digest and the magizines of the time.
Frank, as a little kid I remember my grandparents had this big old cast iron stove in the kitchen for years, fed it with wood and had these old heavy flat irons that were heated on the top to iron clothing.
In the back room there was an electric washing machine with a wringer off to the side. The expression --caught their tit in a wringer came from those washers.
They had running water toilets sinks in the kitchen and a hotwater heater for the tub, no shower.
Grandma had a Singer treadle sewing machine and taught me how to sew on it,
Their summer camp had a well with a red water pump inside that had to be primed, a small electric stove and an Ice Box.-------The small garage had the outhouse.
In no way were my grandparents poor, grandma taught school, grandpa worked at the ship yard as a master plumber. Why did it take so long for them to update their lives????
The other set of grandparents were a reflection of the others. Grandmother was a school teacher, grandfather also worked at the shipyard as Master Electrician.
Their home had all the modern day appliances, an electric stove, a new time washer, oil heat furnice, an electric refrigerator, and they also had a summer camp on a lake.
Strange that as the grandparents relunctaly gave way to modern life style they traveled all over the south west, the up to date grandparents far as I know never went more then 50 miles from home.
What did I as the only grandchild on either side learn--- Bread smells great baking in and electric oven, baking in a cast iron stove is heavenly.
Sleeping in an unheated bedroom where bricks are heated to wrap in a towel and goose down covers on top where the windows are covered with ice is the best sleep one can get.-----Listening to the wind blow and ice hitting the windows-----being safe inside-----fantastic.
I learned how scary it was to head for the outhouse night or day, was there a spider ready to bite me or a snake going to crawl up my butt. Today when I smell lime I go back to the memories of a very young child.
One set taught me how to live in the modern world, the other set showed me how people survived and thrived in the past.
Eggs, water salt and vinegar, most fresh eggs were not refrigerated just eaten up or used in cooking. I don't think I ever saw a hard boiled egg until I was in my teens.
We all have childhoods that are strange unless our parents were super wealthy, so sad all the good stuff they miss out on. They may travel to Europe, us poor kids are taught to hunt and fish by granddads, grandmas teach us how to cook, sew and keep our tits out of the wringer.
