September 12, 2014

September 12, 2014

If I have one addiction, it is the sweet addiction of taking two or three baths a day.  In the past, this was not a big deal or a person would barely raise an eyebrow about it - but alas, us citizens of Southern California are experiencing a drought that is severe, and more likely (and we have to be honest here) will kill us.  I can imagine in the near future that visitors will come to visit the landscape, and it will be full of skeletons with their skulls in a dried ditch.  So, there is a certain degree of guilt now when I take a full bath or two (or three).

What I have done is actually put an extra bathtub in my bathroom.  When I either flush my toilet or use the bathroom sink, the water automatically goes into the main bathtub which is made out of fiberglass.  Since I’m the only one who uses the bathtub I’m not concerned if the toilet water is slightly dirty, or if there is some strain of toothpaste from the sink that ends up in the main tub.  The other tub, is used for the evening, and what I do is to transfer the bath water from the original bath to the second tub.  Meanwhile, whenever I walk by the restroom, and of course due to my liquid diet, I need to consistently use the toilet.  So the water supply is reasonably fresh for the main tub.

It is common knowledge that John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (who also served as Prime Minister) invented the bathtub for the full adult body.  Before that, it was the size of a glorified dishpan.  The “modern” bathtub came to the United States as recently as 1842, and it was reported that the tub was made from mahogany lined with lead.  The bathtub for whatever reason was a controversial topic matter, until President Millard Fillmore had one installed in the White House. After that, bathing in a full bathtub became quite popular.  Before 1842, Americans were tended to be dirty.

Since I have a tendency to use the toilet a lot throughout the night, I do have a sizable amount of water in the bathtub. For one, I don’t use shampoo or any type of soap.  Soaking in water should be adequate enough to enable one to be clean.  After I get out of my bath, I use a rubber hose to suck up the water from the tub and put the hose into the second tub.  Similar to the practices of siphoning gas from a car.  Also as a rule I don’t put anything unclean in the water, except perhaps a rubber boat, which I like to play with while taking a bath.

So, with this in mind, I can save water and still enjoy my bath time.  There is nothing like having the music of George Jones in the background, specifically his early recordings around “White Lightning” and enjoying the landscape outside my window, which is basically a field of dirt and rocks.  Once there was vegetation, but alas….