“If I could walk that way, I wouldn’t need talcum powder, now would I?”

At least, that is how I recall the story being told of a Marx Brothers comedy skit.  But it brought to mind some of the in-jokes of the black and white depression era comedies.  When people might have one suit of clothes, could carry all of their possessions in a single case or box.  When washing was an important part of hospitality – and not always available.

The old Beverly Hillbillies series was funny mostly because the characters were engaging.  But the story line was about how different the affluent lived from the poor.

The Ma and Pa Kettle stories showed some of the rural cabin lifestyle – not what everyone had, by all means, but not that uncommon either.  If you are contemplating how dark the days must be if you have to live off the grid,  check out the nearly modern “Witness” with Harrison Ford – set in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County Amish community.  Look at the Lapp house – you have to look to see there is no electricity,  that there are ways of dealing with washing, cooking, and enjoying life.

How do you deal with vacuuming your carpet, when the electricity goes?  Watch the Three Stooges and other films to see carpet beaters in action, and sometimes cleaning the carpet, too – while the carpet is draped over the  porch rail or clothes line.  There are manual ‘carpet sweepers’ with brush and pan that sweeps across the carpet – OK for a low-nap carpet. And a broom will help dress the fibers, and stir some of the dirt.  You might want to consider putting a hard floor under your carpet, and going for a moveable pad or giving up the pad.  A carpet uncleaned for too long accumulates a *lot* of dirt, and mold, and ..

Right now the oil companies are conspiring to support Republican election campaigns by holding prices down for the  next week or two, maybe as long as until election day.  But the artificial relief from inflation, rising prices, will be biting us again all too soon.  If the Peak Oil people are to be believed, we are embarked on a series of  alternating tumbles and almost-recoveries, each time losing a bit of ability to buy necessities, each time seeing the cost of energy rise above previous levels.

We can haunt Grandma’s attic, and Uncle John’s basement, and we can also look at those old movies to pick up pointers on ‘getting by’.