Outhouse Humor - with addendum

This post is not what you probably thought it would be from the connotations of the title. Out at our country retreat, Shabo-Mekaw, we do not have indoor plumbing. (The link takes you to a post that has several more links to posts about Shabo-Mekaw, if you're interested.) The outhouse is actually quite pretty, as far as outhouses go, and was even decorated with charming cartoon drawings to amuse you while there.

These drawings were done by Ken Lobitz, the man who built the original cabin back in 1960. They were matted, covered with acetate, and well-secured to the wall. Because they had been there so long, and their condition was beginning to deteriorate, I decided to take them down in order to preserve them. I thought it would be nice to share them here, and that Ken might get a kick out of it!

I don't know where he got these, but I'm guessing he came up with them on his own. I'll have to ask him.

This one looks like the inside of the cabin, except for the chair. I wonder if there was a chair there that he had made, and if so, where is it? And was it really that uncomfortable?

This one is so silly, it just cracks me up!

So does this one!  The expression on his face is great.

This one might be my favorite.

The text was on the mat of this one, but I believe it said something like, "From time to time, a real man just has to get out and rough it."  Love these guys!


These have provided me with amusement for many years, so I thought I'd share them here. I don't think Ken will mind. Also, please check out Ken's beautiful blog (which contains no cartoons), Kinniconick Reverie. He shares many wonderful stories about his time and adventures at Shabo-Mekaw and elsewhere, along with poems, philosophy, and lots more. Thanks, Ken, for making the outhouse a more pleasant place to be!


ADDENDUM:
Ken has contacted me with some further history and insights about these cartoons. Here's what he said:

"What a “hoot”.  Bob and I are still laughing about those crazy sketches.  I’m still amazed that they survived and that you have been able to reproduce them so perfectly.  PLEASE keep them at Shabo because they belong to the place.

Yeah, I must confess that most of them were inspired by cartoons in Field and Stream magazine, but I took some liberties of course.  The last drawing, without caption, should read:  “Does a feller good to git out and rough it once in a while”.  The chair in cabin was one of my own, however.  There was a real chair, with a story behind it.  I designed it and Dad and I built it in my folks basement, in their house in Mt. Airy.  When finished we sat in it and though I thought it not bad, my Dad (a perfectionist) insisted that it wasn’t right.  We took it apart and rebuilt it.  The cartoon was his favorite.

That silly one about getting a patent on outhouse holes also had some history.  One of my nieces was about two years old and would have fallen thru the hole, so Dad built a special seat that fit over the big seat."
Thank you for the additional information, Ken, and for building and caring for such a magical place all those years!


Ken's blog: Kinniconick Reverie

Come Walk With Me

Come walk with me along the path above the Kinniconick Creek on a magical wintery morning...

Looking through the trees, down at the swirl hole from behind the cedar cabin....

... though it's late fall, the moss is still green...

We can look down at the swirl hole, the point, and the island...

We begin to walk downstream from the swirl...

  

Gazing out across the creek, we see the tip of the island, with mountains behind...

On the island, you can see the sunlight gleaming on white sycamores...

...which echo the shape of the mountain beyond...

Hemlocks and mountain laurel stay green all winter...

The water level is low at this time of year; there hasn't been much rain.

This view is from down behind the "back yard", in back of the log cabin...

... heading a bit further downstream, with the creek always to our right...

I love the huge beeches and hemlocks that seem to guard the path as it overlooks the Kinniconick...

Looking across again, at the island...

We continue to head downstream...

 We've now climbed down the embankment to the creek level, and stand looking upstream...

... and downstream one last time as we climb back up to the path above the creek...



Thanks for joining me; I hope you enjoyed the views. This post is dedicated to my dear friend Ken Lobitz, who owned this land at one time, and built the cedar cabin; I was inspired his recent blog post about pathways at Shabowmekaw.  To find out more about this magical place, I strongly encourage you to read the other posts at Ken's beautiful blog, Kinniconick Reverie.  Ken has some wonderful stories to tell.

Recent Developments at Shabo-Mekaw

If you've been a reader of my blog for a while, you're no doubt familiar with Shabo-Mekaw, the lovely piece of paradise in the country that serves as both sanctuary and on-going construction project for my husband and me.  If you're a newer reader, welcome; you can find out more by clicking here, here, and here.

In early spring, we walked downstream to look for an old beech tree that our friend Ken Lobitz was curious about. Ken, former owner of Shabo-Mekaw and builder of the original cabin, wondered if a particularly huge old beech was still there.

Unfortunately, we were not able to locate a trace of it; presumably it had fallen and decomposed.  We had a nice walk, though, and saw parts of the creek that we don't often see...

... strange and colorful fungi...

 ... names carved into trees in 1944...

... and my favorite spring flower, mountain laurel.

 This summer, we have been working on insulating and siding the original cabin.  This is what we accomplished the day I broke my ankle in the creek.  Needless to say, it was a while before I was able to go back.

 

When I did, we found a large oak laying across the drive.  Like most of the country, we've had some pretty wild storms lately, accompanied by unusually high winds.  If you haven't experienced them where you live, you've probably seen pictures on the news.

I couldn't do too much other than sit and watch my husband prepare the back of the cabin for siding, and help to hold up an occasional board.

After yet another bad storm, I was alarmed to hear that part of a huge oak had split off... 

and fallen across the front yard and onto the cabin.  (I don't have photos of the part on the cabin because my husband had it mostly cleaned up by the time I got there.) 

We were extremely lucky that there was so little damage to the cabin- the roof was bent in a few spots, and the metal chimney (you can see it in the first photo) was knocked off, but that was about it.  Unbelievable!

 The poor pine tree in front of the cabin was not so lucky, however.  All of the branches, except for the ones at the very top, were either blown off by wind, or knocked off by the falling oak. (You can also see the absence of the metal top of the chimney in this photo.)

 The next time we came out, I was able to help with siding the back of the cabin,

 which is starting to look pretty nice, don't you think?

I still couldn't walk down the steep hill to the creek, so I had to content myself with taking a few shots from above, behind the cabin.

I was very careful not to fall off here onto the spot where I broke my ankle!  How would that be for irony (and stupidity!)?

I couldn't see all of it, but I could see the part of the swirl hole where the water flows out of it...

... and very soon I'll be down there again...

... maybe tomorrow!