Saturday, July 3, 2010

Adventures With Velcro and I'm Off to Jail

I love to be outside but I am a shadeseeker due to my fair skin and constant worry about melanoma. Ironic since I spend so much time outside and every activity that I do, the very reason I get so dirty, happens to be in the sun. So, I'm either always slathering on sunscreen(which we know they will decide is the reason people get skin cancer) or trying to figure out how to be in the shade.

I don't find the fold up chairs that go in bags very comfortable, but I happened to find this one on sale at the end of last year, very cheap, and Thrifty decided it was something I should buy.

Yes, it's a surry with fringe on top! Do you hear circus music?


So, after opening it up and being amused with myself, I discovered that the height of the canopy can be adjusted so that someone of size can actually sit in it. Along the way, I also discovered that the back flap can be rolled up and secured if you aren't trying to protect your back from anything.

Before I rolled it up, I found out the hard way, that the velcro piece that holds it up hangs down inside and lands right on my head. The strap got stuck in the hair on top of my head and I couldn't get it out! It was funny until I realized I really wasn't going to get my hair out. K-ster came and offered to help and tried to pull out each piece of hair as I held the strap so it couldn't catch any more. I think a clump about 2 inches wide must have been stuck because it took forever for him to get it all out and it really hurt! I guess the lesson here is that I will NEVER use the back flap but will ALWAYS roll it up before anyone sits in it. This probably why it was so cheap at the end of last summer.


The offensive piece of @&*(#!!

Now, the reason I'm off to jail. We have an outdoor shower. Really, that's why I'm going to jail.

Exhibit A

The powers that be around here, announced on the front page of yesterday's paper, that outdoor showers are, in fact, illegal. See, they are not connected to a cesspool and if people are using soap, which is what you do in a shower, then the soap is going onto the ground. Where it gets filtered. Which is what happens in a cesspool. All of the sewer goes into the ground in a pit which allows liquids to leach out and get filtered through the soil and the solids stay behind and eventually break down. This was the theory a million years ago, but there are things that get in the way, such as roots, that cause them to fail and then there are problems. But the point is, things get filtered through the cesspool, just as they could get filtered as they go from the top of the ground down to the ground water. Where we live, the drinking water is not far from the surface, so we all basically drink what we flush.

And now they are worried about the fact that an outdoor shower actually puts the liquids on top of the soil, thereby giving the liquids a longer distance to filter, which is even safer than a cesspool. But one of the "experts" said that this is bad because it could harm the environment. True, if 80 people are using the outdoor shower every day. Another expert suggested that a dry well could be put into the ground under the shower. This would have gravel in it and would sort of act as a filter but not as well as the actual dirt in the ground does. And the first expert actually agreed with that because it would make the liquids get filtered too fast, perhaps not actually getting filtered. The second expert said that the amount of soap from an outdoor shower can't be too different from that of washing a car or dog so who cares?

All experts agreed that it would be impossible to start cracking down on outdoor showers. So really, the article was completely pointless.

We use ours almost all year long. K-ster uses it far longer than I do but I will use it if it's around 40 degrees. I love not cleaning the indoor shower.

And just in case they come snooping around to slap the cuffs on me, we've made ours look like a storage area anyway.

Some people make theirs very decorative or they buy special pieces of wood that are designed for outdoor showers and they cost a mint. K-ster just took some old stockade fence and made ours. No fancy. Just lots of room to take a shower. This freaks out some people, because they say it feels like they are taking a shower in a hall, it's so open. I'm used to it and sometimes feel very hemmed in when I'm inside.

So, if I don't write for a while, they've either hauled my butt to the slammer or I'm stuck in my surry with velcro on my head.

2 comments:

  1. I love your circus chair. But, it's probably a good idea to wear one of your hats when you are using it from now on. And, as for showering outside, well, I have always wondered what the attraction was. Most men like to shower outside and I always thought it was some sort of exhibitionism thing when all along they just didn't want to bother washing the inside shower! Who knew?

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  2. It really is about splashing around, flinging shaving cream all over the place if I feel like it, getting sand or whatever else might be all over me all over the place and I don't have to clean it up! If I lived in a warm climate year round I dont' know that I would EVER take a shower inside. I do enjoy a bath once in a while, so I would miss that. But even in the rain, I use the outdoor shower. PLus there's something kind of cool about seeing stars while you're taking a shower. As long as they are the kind in the sky, not because you banged your head slipping on the shower floor. Another perk to the outdoor shower- no slipping. BUt you might have to see a bug or two on the fence. Something completely unacceptable in my real shower but totally fine outside. And for a while, we had a toad living there in the outdoor one...

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