Sean, it sure is good to see you. I hope the process of releasing the burdons that have been weighing you down is not too arduous, that you get to have more fun and ease than you expect.

wow. Wow! Just watched (finally) the interview of Cramer and Stewart. wow! Why am I so foolish and not watching his show. Dude! He did a better interview than Barbara Walters has ever done. We need Stewart to hold everyones feet to the fire. Kind of sad that a comedian is doing this. Where the hell is the 4th estate?

t /rant

Sean!

hugs

ion, Dean is an excellent name for the kitteh. Cute kitties!

serial postage:

So, Americans - a question that reveals the depths of my ignorance: for these houses you have in the middle of nowhere, farm houses type things, if a house was deserted, would there be no electricity? Plausibly? Or can you just kick-start the generator? And if there was no electricity, might the shower work? Or is that always tied in to having electricity? And Alabama is very hot in the summer, right? And probably one would have screens on doors and windows, for mosquitos? And what kind of beasties would there be other than mosquitos and mice and rats and roaches? Fireflies? I'm thinking not geckos, but I don't know?

signed: Totally Not A Farmgirl, and my whole country probably fits into some of your freaking lakes. Your bigness, it is impressive.

Fay, if no one has been paying the electric bill, there probably isn't electricity. Our hot water is connected to our oil, but again it would depend if there is any oil in the oil tank to make the boiler work.

Right, cool. But cold water?

eta

See, my initial assumption was: deserted house = no electricity, no water, no anything, really - just a shelter. And then I wondered whether the toilet would flush, and had vague thoughts about what a septic tank was, and then I wondered whether one might still be able to have a shower (cold), and then I had some vague notion of people having generators, and wondered what they were, and whether that might mean that one could make electricity happen. I don't need electricity to happen - my story is good with candles, which was my starting assumption, but a useable toilet would be nice, and I think they'd appreciate a shower and try to have one, and I don't know whether any water would happen.

Yes, you would probably have cold water.

I don't really know anything about generators.

Thank you!

feels slightly less clueless.

The water depends on how the system is set up. Also, if it hasn't been turned on in a while, it might need to be primed, which would mean that water was possible, but turning on a faucet wouldn't actually do anything.

As for the generator, just about everywhere is hooked up to regular electricity. (Rural Electrification Act in the thirties to thank for that.) It's possible that there are some houses with their own generators, but I've never seen one outside TV and movies.

And yes, screens on doors and windows to keep out bugs. Possibly a screened-in porch, too, depending on what sort of house this is. I don't really know Alabama bugs, though. I can tell you that Louisiana had fire ants, which burn like hell if they bite you and were a huge surprise to this northerner who expected her biting insects to be flying, not crawling.

Fay, my father grew up on a farm in rural Tennessee (north of Alabama, but still the south), so I got to hear about the, um, joys of that life. It was an old house and never did have electricity or indoor plumbing. So, if it's an OLD house that's been deserted for a while, it probably wouldn't have any of the modern conveniences. There would probably be a pump in the kitchen for water, one outdoors, probably a well. There'd be an outhouse, rather than an indoor toilet. There might be oil or kerosene lamps and there might be some cans with the last dregs of fuel.

And it'd be hot. Also probably humid. In a deserted house - depending on how long it'd been vacant - you'd have insects, assorted wildlife would have moved in (mice, squirrels, snakes, maybe raccoons).