We have been shopping for fixtures for the new home. We are also looking at counter tops for the kitchen and bathrooms. Granite is the “in” thing for the kitchen and there are various grades of this stuff. The bathroom may be marble or tile. It’s all very confusing and expensive.

Plumbing fixtures are the other items we have researched. It’s amazing how toilets have changed. Manufacturers are now designing them to use less water for flushing. There are now big holes in the tank to allow a larger quantity of water to flood the bowl very rapidly and produce a forceful flush. Unless the occupant is holding tight they may be sucked into the sewer system in the twinkling of an eye. The toilets come in various colors and heights and can be attached to the floor or wall. They have become a work of art. The internal mechanism in the tank is very complicated and looks like the interior of a nuclear reactor and can produce a melt down of the deposit in the bowl.

The toilet has come a long way since I was a kid and used the bathroom facilities of my uncle. He had an outdoor privy with a single hole. Some folks had a two holer so another person could keep you company for a dual evacuation. We didn’t have toilet tissue. That would have been a luxury item. We used a Sears and Roebuck catalog which gave a slick wipe.

The privy could be a dangerous place and was a common home for the black widow spider that could inflict a poisonous and painful bite. Wasp and other creatures also inhabited the privy. The privy was always located a safe distance from the house to minimize the odor. Lime was sprinkled on the excrement. I never saw my uncle clean the facility but that must have been an unpleasant chore.

Anyway, science has given us some amazing things in the past few years, but the toilet ranks up there with rocket ships, the atomic bomb and the CT scanner. Just hope I don’t encounter my demise with one of those powerful flushes.