I lived in a home with no running water for several years as a child and we had a pissbucket in the winter because it was too cold to go in the outhouse. Actually true.
You don't get to stop here, Robinson Crusoe. Where was the piss bucket kept and what were the house rules about using it and emptying it?
More when I'm sober.
My old man was a mason/bricklayer in International Falls, Mn. The icebox of the nation. We have land in Ray, MN, about 20 mikes south of the "city". Most people have construction jobs or they work for the Boise Cascade paper mill which is right on the border to Fort Frances, ON. My old man and my sister were both born in the hospital there, so they have dual citizenship if they want it.Anyway, the piece of the land in Ray was where my grandparents lived (too young to know them). My gramps was 5'7" and a lumberjack and card dealer at a speakeasy. They were long gone when my dad who was the youngest of 7, decided to build on that land. He built a beautiful cement basement with two rooms and a larger open area. Then, he ran out of money and frantically put a roof on it "temporarily".
Well, one of the rooms was my parents' and the other was shared with my brother and my sister. The main area became a living room, kitchen, shower and bathroom.
We had electricity, but no running water. We had like 3 channels on the TV. Yet still, it was a fond memory. My old man worked his way through college and got.a degree and subsequently received a job working for the IRS. When I was in the third grade we moved to "the cities".
We still own the land. Maybe 10 years ago we plowed in that old basement house and we built a cabin/hunting shack (although we don't hunt much). I love that place and I couldn't be more proud of my parents for what they did to improve our lives.
As far as the bucket, it was literally like 10' away from where you would sit and watch tv. There was a curtain hung up so you had some privacy. The water was well water, so baths involved heating water on the stove. The tub would drain into a sump pump which would empty the water.
I remember my sister (8 years older) hating to have to empty those buckets outside and wondering what the big deal was.