Posts in another place here got me wondering.

It seems as if death is as personal as an individual's life is.

How would you like your funeral to be?

Cremation? Pine Box? Fancy casket with all the trimmin's?


Most of us don't think about it much. But, when I was having heart issues, I really did delve into that subject.

I want a simple pine box and a cowboy funeral.



What do you guys want?

Will your family honor your wishes?

Cremation, Simple.

Cremation

This may sound strange, but I believe people should take on this responsibility themselves, and not ignore it and leave it to family members. I've been exposed to a fair amount of family members passing, and about the only thing done in advance was buying a burial plot. The rest was left on others to deal with. And, I thing funeral homes take a lot of advantage at the time of a death, you only have so much time.

After my Dad passed, my Mom went back to the funeral home, and negotiated exactly what she wanted and paid for it. No issues.

My wife and I have plots and have the headstone in place. Dates will have to be cut in, but we have what we want.

cremation. i use to want a traditional solid redoak casket, w/woodhandles & wooden pegs to hold it together. something about from dust thou art and to dust thou shall return, or something like that.

use to imagine lying there in the casket and looking back on a trajectory to where i am now. what kind of a view might that be?

interesting stuff. no wood casket for me now, don't think i could afford it.

Sell your body to the local med school.

Jim

My Mom did the same thing. I will be buried in the same Cemetery as My Mom and Dad, My Grandfather, and Grandmother, and 2 of my Great Grandfathers and Grandmothers on my Dad's side. I have the spots picked and my Wife has agreed that we should go ahead and put up a stone. I figured that She would balk at the suggestion, but did not. Just need to get that done. Nothing fancy in the way of a box or stone. miles

I intend laughter, mirth, and uncontrollable belly laughs when I go. There might even be strippers.
I have every intent to automate my coffin. It should be ......interesting. roflmao.
I will be wearing a three piece suit of camo, lined with hunters orange, and a Jester's cap. (The last laugh is reserved for Death)

Cremation. No funeral, no need to waste time on me, I am not the first person to die and won't be the last.

Don't give 2 schitts what are done with my ashes.

Wife and I both want, upon death to be immediately cremated and put in a plain urn. Once the second dies the kids are to plant us in the family plot in Will County, IL. Barnett Cemetery in Homer Twp.

Cremation and for my kids to spread my ashes from the window of the shooting house we built together in 2009. I would like for this to be done during a decent snow in deer season. My favorite place to sit and watch the world go by.
I have no use for a viewing and the rest of the funeral home crap. I hate them and most of the people I know do as well. I would rather be cremated as cheaply as possible and family/friends to have some kind of get together/party celebrating my life. I want a party. Still thinking on exactly how that should play out. My family does know this much of my plan should something happen to me.

I am with 10gaugemag, except, my boy knows where to scatter my ash's. Rio7

Cremation. Daughter and son have specific directions to spread my ashes at two locations: my #1 deer stand of all time and the ranch I elk hunt on. I don't have the farm any more where my #1 stand is so he'll just have to figure something out.

Lastly, I want him to take a small amount of my ashes and load me in a round to be taken deer hunting one more time, with my favorite rifle. Instructions are to wait on a nice buck, no matter how long it takes. No does. And if he misses, I told him I'll haunt his butt forever!

My ashes will be put in the lake close by. I have left the money for everybody to have a big party and tell good lies about me. I hope they all have a great time."I Come To Dance" will be played.

Cremation. I'm claustrophobic and the thought of being buried in a casket totally freaks me out.

Cremation

Whatever is cheapest.

Cheapest thing they can find. I had a lot of fun in this body, but it's wore out...I think the business of death is far too expensive.

I have asked that I be used for obscene practical jokes by first year med students.

Whatever is left can be mulched into large recognizeable chips and used for erosion control.

I've told my family that simple and inexpensive is fine with me, but to do whatever gives them the most comfort. I'll be gone, and I won't care. Funerals are for the living, not for the dead.

Had this discussion with my mother.... Who is typically British in all ways BTW

Do you want to be buried? OOOh NO! I couldn't stand to be put in the cold, damp ground, could I!?!?!

OK! You want to be cremated? The thought of being burned up is horrible!!!!

Alright! ??? What's left?? How about burial at sea??

Well.... I can't swim, can I???


WE have agreed she will be cremated.

As for me and the missus...... we will be cremated, the girls can take whats left and throw it off a cruise ship in AK, we'll pay for the trip.


have informed ALL, that is all no exceptions. If you put me in charge of your final affairs there will be NO, repeat NO open casket, viewing, whatever..... you want one....pick someone else.


A side story:

I was a Flight School manager at the local FBO for a while, charter pilot, Flight instructor, etc.

Got a call from a guy that wanted to fly about 30 miles off shore, over the Gulf, and then come back.

OK! come on down.

Couple hours later a priest shows up???? Carrying a box?

So we load up in the Skyhawk and off we go.

Once we pass the edge of the Sawgrass, about a mile past dry land, he says this is far enough!?!?!

So I open his window and just as I begin to explain----- '...I'll open my side add a little right rudder, get a some flow through ventilation, then you can pour...'

All I got out was '...I'll open.............' and then there is this dust storm of a tornado inside, and it sounds like we're flying through a hail storm as 'stuff' blows in, rattles around and some hits the tail.......

he had the bits and pieces of 'several'..... and not sure about which, what and who....but a lot ended up in the shop-vac.....

Plan well, and leave specifics.....





Last year scattered my BIL - around a pine tree in the Game Preserve, it's what he wanted...

Cremation, with ashes mixed in a bucket with concrete with a brass plate that has "Mr. T" (that is what wife calls me) and dropped on one of cones out of Port Canaveral. Caught a lot of fish out there.

Not so much with disposing with the body, but I'd like all to celebrate a life lived well.

I'm anticipating after the incident, there won't be enough left to bury!

Cremation, and my wife and kids know where I would prefer the ashes spread. But I also told them to do whatever makes them happy, as I won't be there anyway and won't be around to have any regrets.

Same, Wifey said I'm not ever leaving this farm, She's gonna put me in a can up on the fireplace mantel.

Prop me up against a tree in the deep woods let the critter take care of me

As a retired funeral director, I heard from virtually every family simple and inexpensive, and I can identify with their feelings. No matter visitation or not, cremation or burial, your first question SHOULD be: Is this funeral home privately owned?

There's a huge movement within the funeral industry where formerly "mom and pop shops" are bought up by large corporations. The building may be the same, some of the employees may be the same, but I'll tell you one thing, the level of service and the prices will NOT be the same!

As was pointed out earlier, use a day or two to research places you might be interested in handling your services, and comparing prices. Most corporate funeral homes attempt to steer families into a "package" which might include many items that you simply do not need. Although it might be nice that a fancy urn is included in the package, a identical urn can most likely be purchased online for less than half of what the package charges. Be careful, keep your eyes open.

For immediate cremation, many areas have businesses that cater to that wish and nothing else. The savings can be substantial, with only a store front and less employees as overhead.

Ask for price lists, they're federally mandated to be offered the customer.

And, being a funeral director, I opt for immediate cremation as well. Simply my choice, and nothing wrong with that.

Inexpensive casket. Open if there is enough left in a presentable form. Simple evangelistic service at the church. Already have two of the songs picked out. Buried in the family cemetery on the back of the farm.

As noted above, funerals are for the living. Hopefully a celebration of a life well lived (I'm trying to do my part ). Topped off by one of my favorite activities ... a potluck dinner back at the church where hopefully many stories and tales will be told and enjoyed by children, grand children, and great grand children...

cremation, I hope my wife (and hopefully grown kids) and a couple of closest friends take me up some remote mountain in the southern ADK's drink a beer or two and tell some stories and set me free.

The specifics of what I and my wife want are detailed in our trust so the boy's will know precisely what to do. In brief, cremation for both.

Big business.

Seen that happen to most of the family owned funeral homes.

Cremation, my ashes scattered with those of Ingwedog on our favorite creek. Money set aside for my friends to have a wake/party.

One thing about it, if history is a lesson, I'll be late for it!

Cremation, and party for the lucky survivors. Open bar, plenty of great food, good music, and hopefully someone will remember some good stories. If not, I hope someone will be a good liar......

Cardboard casket inexpensive enough?

http://eeternity.com/

The Funeral Rule (enforced by the FTC)

*You have the right to buy separate goods and services, and you do not have to accept a package that may include items you do not want.

*The funeral provider cannot refuse to handle a casket or urn you bought online, at a local casket store, or somewhere else — or charge you a fee to do it. The funeral home cannot require you to be there when the casket or urn is delivered to them.

*For burial, please check local cemeteries, as they are not regulated by the FTC; some cemeteries may be against families' burying their loved ones in eco-friendly caskets.

If I can't just be lost and forgotten out in the wilderness somewhere, then one of these on the back of a lobster boat.

[video:youtube]_bA6RmsV6R0[/video]

Inexpensive as possible, and a celebration of eternal life.

I wouldn't mind one of those earth friendly burials where they just stick you in the ground naked and let nature clean you up. After what I have done to nightcrawlers it's only fair that they get a shot at me. And no big sad tearfest either. Have someone with broasted pork chops cater it, have a fun time.

My family has a block of plots in a small rural cemetery outside of Boise, ID. The cemetery is on land homesteaded by my great grandfather who sold a few acres to the county for that purpose. They will allow up two 4 urns on each plot so in recent years everyone buried there has been cremated to save space. My 1st wife died in '06 and is buried there. Earlier that year my father died and is also there.

My wife kept up a sense of humor about it. During Dad's burial, we were looking at the plot where we knew she would be be buried in the near future. She said to me "You're young enough that you'll likely remarry. There's plenty of room in there for 3 of us."

Speaking of expenses... When she died, cremations cost $1300. You can't find much of a pine box for that. Then, if you don't get a steel casket, you have to buy a vault. One or the other is required by most cemeteries. It has nothing to do with preserving the body. It's because they don't want the ground sinking as the casket deteriorates.

I'm going to skip it entirely.

She sounds like a keeper......

If only more of them had that attitude about the bedroom.

If I die before the the wife, she will throw me in the back pond and log onto the 'Fire 3 times a week and say 'Blow me', so as to not raise any suspicions.

That way she will still collect my pension.



Cremation for me, no coffin, no service, no nothing. Cheapest way possible.

Burial.
Pine box, no embalming (legal in CO), no big to-do about it.
I would prefer to biologically regenerate.
From a practical standpoint it is unlikely I will have any survivors and I distrust any local providers to do that correctly.


I like this -

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ew-zealanders-building-their-own-caskets

I'm holding out for the rapture. But if I go too soon, and after they harvest all my useable organs, I'd like a simple box under a headstone that bares my name, my wife's name, a Chi Rho Cross, and the word "Halleluha!"

Give your body to the local medical school.

Jim

Cremation, then a good old fashioned Irish wake for my few friends and relatives.

And bury my ashes with those of my Dogs, out back of the house.

I'll drink to that!

Virgil B.

Toss me in a dumpster.I won`t care.

Cremation and buried 4 rows in front of High Brass in the WV veteran cemetery. I want someone to say, "Dave said, ashes to ashes and dust to dust. Just bury my azz and don't make a fuss"!

It's a weird thing knowing you will be dead FOREVER. Forever is one hell of a long time.

I like the idea of people mourning my loss for eternity so I would probably do something like this guy.








Clark

This country has some pretty bizarre funeral customs. The ghouls have turned it into a big business to prey on people when they are vulnerable.

Some really strange laws about spreading cremains too so it is best to keep your plans for loved ones to yourself as much as possible. Just tell the leeches you are going to put them on the mantle when they ask.

Jerry

What ever family wants, but not expensive. Military honors and Patriot Guard flag line. Burial in state military cemetery.

My Grandfather was 50 years a Mason, and we had a Masonic graveside ceremony as well.

And don't tell them you're going to snort it and rub it on your gums all night unless you know they have a good sense of humor.




Clark

That is a fact.

I was holding my dads hand a few minutes after he died and I remember the distinct impression that he was there and then he left all of a sudden. I let go of his hand and there was just a dead body left, it wasn't my dad at all.

They say we aren't a body with a spirit, we're a spirit with a body. After the spirit leaves, it doesn't matter what's done with the body, it's as inanimate as a 2x4.

I am an organ donor, and I had forgotten about the aspect.
It take some time to take a body apart, I'm told.

Cremation and dumped into an elk wallow. Perfect.

The soul supposedly weighs 21 grams.

Been proven that there is indeed a loss of weight at the exact time of death for a long time.

What everyone can't say is where the 21 grams goes.

IN my travels, I don't want to think that I will be planted in some spot in the ground somewhere....

an old G/F back in MN showed me where she will be buried next to her husband, with her name already on the stone, done when he passed of cancer a few years ago...

creeped me out...

So I guess it cremation.... and then my ashes scattered to the 4 winds...

if it was reality, the way I would really like to pass is the way Yoda did in Star Wars.... just sorta fade away on the spot...

I thought that was clean and quick...

God, BEAM ME UP!

I'll be buried at Arlington.

my wife's grandfather was something like a 33rd degree mason. he was buried with the scottish rite ritual for burial.

i'm not so certain about a soul having weight/density. but, maybe it does.

Yes I will be attending my funeral.

Actually, it's legal in most states for most causes of death other than a few dangerous diseases. The practice of embalming on a regular basis came with modern transportation. They used to bury them within a couple of days. Then they started holding the bodies for a week or more until relatives could get there for the funerals. It had nothing to do with preserving the body.
Another part of it was to be able ship the bodies long distances to be buried near other family members. They formerly buried them where they died.
Up through WWI, we buried our soldiers in foreign fields. Now we bring them home, even if it takes 75 years to find them.

Earlier I mentioned that many cemeteries require either a steel casket or a concrete vault. It's not required by law anywhere that I know of, but the cemeteries require it so the ground won't sink as the casket disintegrates. They don't want low spots by every headstone.

For those who say no funeral - you're cheating your family out of closure. Funerals are for the living, not the dead. It's a formal breaking of a family bond that's part of all of us and allowing the family to move on. I had a female cousin die a few years ago. She was an odd bird. She wanted to be cremated, her ashes mixed with those of a favorite dog that she'd had cremated, their ashes scattered along the Snake River in so. Idaho and no service of any kind. Her only remaining relative on that side is her older brother. He did what she wanted but he's often regretted it. It's been about 5 years now and he's unhappy that she just ceased to exist. There was never any kind of closure and he's been in pain about it ever since. Requesting that there not be some kind of service is painful for your family. DO NOT do it.

We buried dad 4 years ago. My brother and I just pre-paid for mom's funeral a couple of weeks ago. She recently had to be placed in a nursing home. Medicare allows you to pre-pay for a funeral, but if she runs out of money before dying will only allow about $2K for a funeral.

We paid a little over $10K and at best could have only saved about $2K. We literally went as cheap as practical. We could have saved $1000 not embalming and the only casket cheaper would have saved $1000. Mom and dad bought the plots and stone years ago, that would be several thousand more. We'll still have to pay the cemetery to dig the grave and cover it. That could be as much as $1000 if the funeral is on a weekend.

On top of that the local paper charges $1.50 per word for a death announcement and obit. That can easily run into $500-$1000 for some people.

I asked about cremation and it isn't as cheap as I thought. Realistically to be cremated, and have a service would be about $5K. Just to have the funeral home pick up the body, transport it to a crematory and return the ashes to the family was $2400 with no other services. Dying ain't cheap.

My personal plans are somewhat imprecise, but I'd leaning toward whoever dies 1st being cremated, then the ashes of the last to die be mixed in the same urn. I'd prefer my kids use the money we'd have spent on the funeral to pay for a road trip and scatter parts of us in many of the places we've visited over the years.

Cremation and stuffed into a wall at Tahoma National Cemetery.

I hope to die with a fatally wounded grizzly bear laying on top of me.

You might not die.

Didn't you see the movie "The Revenant"

Strapped to a hydrogen bomb and set off over New York City one dark evening.

The whole 'closure' thing is a personal matter....

Some say I have to see them... !?!?!?

I have lots of family that I was close to, that I never saw.... after the fact. They're gone, and I know where the body is...... we are all different...

And then there is the autopsy thing........ it amazes me the number that just have to know the exact reason why????

They're gone, does the why matter that much? Again it is a very personal thing... some just have to have it.

My dad, cheap as they come about some things, wants to be given for medical research, because what they don't use is cremated and sent back at a very cheap price...... $350 or some such.

My brother is vehemently opposed to such, because his two sons went to medical school and they/he knows what they do to the 'research/medical' cadavers.......

Cremation,a Catholic Cowboy Mass (hat's on) horseback the ashes into Grizzly Basin, have a whisky ( on me) and dump them of the cliff. Cheers.

Yes, with all my concubines, wife, horses and cattle aboard.

Actually, it is an empty vessel, treat it as such.

A trip through the incinerator and toss the ashes in the landfill.

Now, my Dad, on the other hand, has a big funeral planned with his impressive monument already in place. He imagines that someone at some future date will be impressed, I suppose.

Pine box. Up on the hill behind the house.

My wife and I each have it stated in our Wills that we are to be cremated with no funeral services.

K.I.S.S

<><> http://www.cjboots.com/images/portfolio/full/pinebox_detail1.jpg <><>

My father was $540 to be cremated and his ashes given to me in a plastic bag inside a small cardboard box, but that was 1987.

My FIL, 2014, cost $20k, but that was 2 visitations, church, bagpipes and a catered wake/drinks.

My wife will be late to mine....

Some states have laws (mine included) that state if the death isn't of natural causes, an autopsy will be ordered.

Many families do it to determine cause of death when malpractice is suspected.

It'll be traditional for our area but within reasonable costs -- no fancy box; nobody will remember nor will I care. I will be in heaven.

We generally have a family visitation evening for those who wish to greet the family and give condolences but who can't make the church funeral the next day.

At the funeral, the gospel message will be shared.

I'm not positive, but I think I've got a hole down in western Kentucky.

I guess it's about time to look into that.

It costs a fortune to get buried here in Lexington.

My uncle died alone at home (in August, with no air conditioning) and wasn't found until he was a puddle of goo. They burned what was left.

not to wax too morbid, but malpractice of one kind, type, sort or another is always a possibility, right? i mean, somebody somewhere did something wrong, or they wouldn't be dead, would they? the ambulance chasers are always lookin' for a cheap buck.

but, to shift to a more chirpy discussion, i worked w/a dude that his wife had the right attitude about death. when she passed, she asked her husband to roll her body in the casket into their carport. put all the clothes in her closet on her. then let the party begin. fun, celebration, & remembrance. before the party was complete everyone had a chance to line up and take one article of clothing from her body...top, bottom, socks, shoes, rings, bracelets, watches (especially the watches), etc. etc. hair pins, bows, glasses...you name it and it's yours. once everyone had a turn, and maybe some second chances at a double take, there'd not be a stich of anything left on her. at that point close the casket, party over...as everyone had something to remember her by. not a bad concept, really. and fun was had by all.

wood chipper

Make sure you write something down if you really want it.
Grandma died 2 months ago and refused to address it. Owed about $350K on her death and didn't have anything other than a beat up old car to liquidate for funeral expenses. So, dad wanted a cremation, his siblings didn't have their own pots to piss in either, so they were in no position to argue.... until they did anyway.
Aunt first asked for her own urn for grandma (what she was going to do with it, as she was about to be homeless, I don't know). She also demanded her car for something to live in.
Funeral home had signatures from three of the 4 siblings, so was going to do the cremation until aunt blew up and pitched a fit. They then refused to cremate until she signed on. And she never did.
Went from having about enough to sell her car to pay for cremation to my dad shelling out $7K for a 3rd time on a parent and step parent. She was a veteran widow, plot was taken care of. Bare bones on about everything.
Just have enough to take care of your final wishes and write it down. I'm quite certain he won't be stepping up to pay for funerals on any of the other relatives. Good riddance to them. It was the last straw I needed to cut ties with those pieces schit anyway.

Sounds like you are way better off.

You can pick your friends...

That is interesting. I have been informed (by those I had considered informed on the subject) that the guy writing the check makes the decisions.

You heard of the two deer hunters, up in a tree stand, and as a funeral passed on a nearby road?
One hunter doffed his hat, bowed his head, gave a short prayer, and then resumed hunting. His partner mentioned "wow, that was truly respectful, I'm impressed."
The respectful hunter says "well, we were married more than 30 years....."

change my choice to "north korean artillery" much sexier than a wood chipper.

I have directed that my family take a vacation and scatter a few of my ashes on the mountain where we elk hunted. Scatter more on the old hill pasture I grew up hunting quail. Throw the rest in the ditch somewhere, who wants to spend eternity stacked up among a bunch of boring dead people.

My parents completely paid for everything, for both of them, before Mom died. Casket, headstone, and funeral paid for. Dad is still going strong at 90. We have a family plot at a church graveyard that one of my ancestors help start, back sometime in the 1800's. Lots of the family are buried there.

I've always assumed that outside the narrow window of human experience, forever is all at once.

well, there it is.

why not organize a group, perhaps large, of people who are planning to pass on. then quick freeze the bodies (after they/we have passed on), put them into a container ship with a large chipper on board. they're moved out into parts of the sea that are experiencing micro-nutrient shortages, and have a great celebration returning the micro-nutrients to the water system, in an attempt to restore the health of the eco-system? this could happen in our time, couldn't it?

why of course it is. once worked w/an old dude nailin' tin on commerical poultry house roofs. he always talked about once dead, being dead for a long time.

i kept countering that it was a long time before we were ever alive, so what's the diff? he didn't know, and i didn't either. anyways it seemed reasonable to compare the two. you know, the before and the after...

for sure, i don't want to bake under the hot summer sun nearly forever out in an open graveyard. if there's plenty of shade from a covering of oak trees, then that might be different.

Feed the whales?

yeah, now we're talking. at least we could begin the discussion?

I did some work at a funeral home couple years ago just happened to be the one my dad's family uses got to see the "workings in use" no use in going into detail but a dumb ass country boy got a lesson on cremation real quick when in the room your working in what you thought was dust on the floor turned out to be something else when the man walks in with a tin foil KKK suit and up rolls up a door and he rakes the coals

Cremated, ashes scattered in Resurrection Bay.

Don't want a funeral, just have folks who know me get together and try to figure out how I knew so many fine folks in my life.

Ed

cremation if they can find my body. No funeral.

"The Warden' says she's going to just throw a chain around my ankles, and drag my sorry butt over the hill, so the coyotes can have their revenge.






I counter that it'll be impossible - since she'll be incarcerated for murder.

A lifelong friend of mine passed before her time; breast cancer.

She was cremated in accordance with her wishes but no service for six months. Then there was a gathering, but it was more a celebration of a life than sad.

Her daughter gave out portions of her mom's ashes to those that requested to scatter them in beautiful places.

I left some in Costa Rica, and some high up on the Mescalero Res, and some again at a State Park she had loved in NY State.

Anyhow, that's the best funeral I've had experience with.

Cremation for myself, folks can do what they want after that.

Birdwatcher

My only request so far, to family and friends is that there be no proselytizing at my funeral. Funerals are for the living and most of my family are Christians, so I don't mind if they want some scripture readings and such, but if a preacher is hired he damn well better not try to save the dirty, rotten, no good souls of my friends who have come to pay their respects. If people are interested in what the preacher is selling they can go to his church on Sunday morning. My funeral service is not the place for that. I've walked out of a few funerals when the preacher forgot who he was there to talk about.

I want to be cremated and have my ashes mixed into a douche so I can go at it one time in the afterlife.

There she is, I wondered how long it would be, never thought it would take 11 pages..................

One last fish taco for the road.

An autopsy can run you big money. Private autopsy is very expensive. If not ordered or required by law the family will have to pay, in advance cash or money order.

A partial( meaning they have a good idea what caused it and aren't examining all organs and tissues starts at about 5500$ here. Not including transport either way.

Full is about 8000. If specialist are required then you will also have to pay them for their time in advance. It's about 1500$ if they do that. Then you have to pay for a funeral.

Trust me I have helped set up about 8 of these. Most families say they want one and then when they hear the price are like "nah we good". I deal with death a lot in my job. Very rare they actually need a autopsy unless murder, or are young with no medical history Toxicology is done pretty commonly

Direct cremation, cheapest way to go. I care as much about my body as the '83 Ranger I scraped years ago. I see cemeteries as nothing more than junk yards, the engines are dead and the drivers gone.

I don't want one damned dime more than is aboslutely necessary spent on this. We have discussed this, and my wife and kids know what I want. Two empty 300 Savage casings are to filled with my ashes. One will go to our camp in Pennsylvania to spread up high on the mountain where my dad loved to hunt. I've always said we would hunt together one day, and so it shall be. I had my son up to that very spot last fall, and he knows what is expected of him. The other casing will go to the cemetery where my mom and dad are buried. Every time I go home, I have put an empty casing for Dad and one red rose for Mom on their simple marker. A casing of my ashes will put me at rest with both of them. The remainder of my ashes, will be interred up here in Minnesota in a gravesight in my wife's family plot.

Nobody has mentioned this yet.

Prepay for whatever funeral arrangements you want and you will typically get a 10% discount, maybe more.

Also, you can decide what you want without the emotion and pressure that is involved when someone has to put things together quickly when someone has just passed. That is when the funeral directors pile on lots of extras because, after all, "you do want the best for your loved one, don't you?"

I am partly responsible for a childless widow aunt with dementia in a rest home in Tucson. She earlier indicated she wanted a casket burial next to my uncle.

My cousin and I prepaid her funeral expenses and got a 10% discount. We made the funeral director give us a detailed, broken down list of every thing his "Lower Cost" package included. Then we went line by line and eliminated about a third of the charges as unnecessary. And we specified a weekday graveside service, because weekend charges were much higher.

Our final total was around $6k instead of the $10k+ that the director started with.

Much better to plan ahead, if possible.

Years ago I had a freaky girlfriend that was a widow. I think she was like 23 years old. She told me her husband was killed in a motorcycle wreck. He'd told them to roll some of his ashes in a joint and enjoy.

They had a party and did.

Just talked to an old friend. He told me he was going in the lake too. It is like a sense of freedom, forever.

This is close to what I had in mind.

Cardboard would work for me. Given that I have a sawmill, I've also thought about sawing out some nice Eastern Red Cedar, and either building my own, or, having the Amish build one for me. Supposedly the Amish around here make caskets exclusively out of red cedar.

I did saw out some red cedar for a customer one time who was building his own casket. Approx 6'-6" tall. Claimed that he had a friend who had to have his legs broken to fit in a standard casket so as not to have the family wait for a special order, extra length. Customer decided he would just build his own to fit, and not have his family have to deal with any potential logistical issues. Not sure if the story was true. But his cash was green, so, I sawed out what he wanted...

well, there it is, in a nutshell, so to speak.

cherrybark oak, red oak type, makes for some fine casket boards, for a price of course. but what's money to the dead?

18 inch wide clear boards might gain one a better place in heaven is my thinking.

and for that, let's do it!

I'd like to have myself velcroed to a classic motorcycle and have the space shuttle let me out in space. With a full tank of gas I'll self cremate on re-entry. Until then it will be shades of Slim Pickens in Dr. Strangelove leaving the B-52.

The loss is from pissin and chittin yourself when the muscles let go.

I paid $1,200 for my cremation up front.That includes the ride to the Crematory.

Don't know if it is still so here in Alaska. Years ago my boss's husband died. The boys built a pine box and they buried the old boy in the back yard themselves. Perfectly legal then.

If I had my druthers I'd be taken out in the woods for the critters to clean up. Can't do it. Legally. Cremation within certain time frame is least expensive and complicated. As said, I've made notions for where the ashes should be scattered, but personally I don't really care. Flushed down the toilet is fine by me.

Won't know anyway.

The funeral I'd like attend, is the Democratic Party's.

Feed to the hogs, burn to a crisp, whatever.

Carry on.

I'm all for a well timed stroll into the wilderness.

Wait, are saying I'm gonna die?

Passing it along.

I want my funeral to be the smallest financial burden to my surviving family as possible.
Burn me, burry me, throw me in the garbage can, I really don't GAF.
Big fancy funerals are a selfish waste of money in my opinion.

dang I've always wanted to sell my body


probably my only hope and best chance

I really won't care about how my final services are carried out - I won't even know, nor care!

Why is it if you sell your body to a medical school, its' praiseworthy, but if a woman sells her body, its prostitution and a crime?

no crime to me on the latter, unless she's ugly