Quote from my daughter (14) on a mission trip to the backwoods of Appalachia, apparently installing running water and sewer to a long forgotten home, of long forgotten people. (yes, Appalachia is in the USA)





Kind of sad there are places within cell phone range that still don't have running water or sewer?

You just described my place in WA.

I notice you're spending a lot of time away....

Yep. I have found some things in the new place that are kind of cool. Two full bathrooms with showers and plenty of hot water. There are little toggle type switches on the wall. You flip then up and it turns on the light, flip them down at it turns on the dark. Indoor toilets that flush are kind of nice too.

Guess I am getting old and soft.

The side benefit to the kids doing this work, is that it alleviates me of breaking her in on tools.

I have a drainage pipe to install when she gets home, now.

Good thinking!

I just had coffee last night in the home of a man who perished at the ago of 47....one of my former high school students. The water for that coffee was poured into the coffee maker from the spout of a red five gallon gas jug. I’ve lived a lot of years out here that way, but now pay the $250/month (and steadily rising) fee to have running water and running sewer. Ironically it has gotten much more difficult to raise help in an emergency. While cell phones do offer privacy, their 1/2-3 mile range is nowhere near as reliable as having multiple ears listening to VHF radios 20 or more miles away.

I don't find it shameful that people live that way.

I find it more shameful there are city's and suburbs full of people that don't realize it and/or take their own condition for granted.

Good for her! I think we have a lot of missionary work in our own back yards that needs to be done. The Appalachians are a prime example.

It’s a good deal for your daughter that she doesn’t have to be blindered as so many are. I suppose we all are in many ways, but realizing it makes us more open to greater understandings...

Kind of cool find she made of that old artifact..

We'll have to play forensics on that little bottle when she gets back, providing she didn't give it to the homeowner.

I bet she's learnin' more than just the use of tools. And kudo's to her, and you, for that.

There is a lot that can be done for folks that are without, but the government and codes dept seem to think that every little thing is a major(permit money makin) operation. Effectively putting an end to many quick affordable solutions to lots of folks needs.

I've run "revenuers" off mission projects before...


Told them they could inspect the work when I was done, but I had limited time and I wasn't going to blow half of it standing in line for a permit, or to discuss shop drawings.

Told one guy if he wanted to talk about it more, he need to glove up and start handing me bricks....

update:


"Trench warfare is over. The mosquitos have won."


guess 4 o'clock is quit'n time there.

Sounds like a good idea...

Looks like a salt shaker...

First thought on the pic was a salt or pepper shaker. Good on the daughter, that's real education there, not school taught.

That is for damn sure, I did a 3 week mission in Tijuana the summer before my Jr. year in high school, learned a lot, and it changed my outlook on life.

If she can come back swinging a pick with any degree of competency, it will change my daughters outlook as well...

That's a good way to look at it.

Kudos to your daughter for such a fine endeavor

...and FWIW, never mind the Appalachians, much of the Third World actually has cell phone service now.

Birdwatcher

Ha! http://www.ktvu.com/story/29593818/early-morning-40-earthquake-wakes-up-bay-area

Mission trip can be life changing.

Hats off to her efforts and service. I love hearing of young people getting involved in helping others. Our church does mission work in Appalachia every summer and the folks we help are always very appreciative. We have a mission team that just got back from Montana as well.

Our deer camp has running water-you want water, you run down the hill and get it. These folks in Appalachia have lived like this since the beginning of time. Change comes a little slower out in the hills and hollers.

My ancestors homesteaded outside of Washingtonville, Ohio. At one time, they farmed one of the most beautiful pieces of creek bottom a man could ever want. Over the years, the property was subdivided, and subdivided again. Sadly, we have one relative living out there now on a 10 acres parcel. I've hunted squirrels, rabbits, deer and turkey out there for decades. Our old family homestead has gradually reverted to nature, but I know the locations of 4 different dumps, and every time I go back, I find an interesting bottle, or chard of pottery. As a side note, my ancestors had lots of Indian neighbors out there, and they managed to get along without killing each other over the years. Arrowheads are plentiful, and one needs only to hit the fields after they've been turned in the spring, and you will find arrowheads and chunks of flint pretty easily.