Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

> I might have expected that
> homesteaders would be more casual about body covering,
> except in winter, that most people.

Country people are less titillated by suggestive sexuality of body 
parts than city slickers because of all the breeding animals they 
see. But native (born there) country people tend to be more 
conservative and this effects greater modesty. Then there is the 
religious angle. I bring it up as a possible factor but choose not to 
advance an opinion.

Those of us with rural backgrounds who went to the bright lights, 
were subjected to urban ways but then returned to the country are a 
complex conglomeration of values and experiences.

Personal anecdote: Chris tends to wash clothes as soon as they hit 
the floor. Due to spring ticks, chiggers, and other creepy crawlies 
she washes my clothes as soon as the bugs and I walk inside. This 
practice has been hard on my old Levis, all of which were old already 
but are now falling apart from the work and the zealous washing. My 
bouncing butt felt funny on the backhoe seat yesterday. At the end of 
the day, as I disrobed, I saw that the rear end had torn wide open. I 
told her not to wash those.