Wild As An Outhouse Rat

I've been thinking...and I've been listening and here is a burning question. Just HOW wild is an outhouse rat?

My mom said to me last week, "he's always been wilder than an outhouse rat" in reference to someone living hard. That got me to thinking about rats...and outhouses. The first I want NO run-ins with and the second, I'm actually pretty familiar with. When I was 3, my dad was called to pastor a little country church with no indoor plumbing, so between Sunday School and preaching, the women would make the trek to the 'outhouse.' It was a two-seater which in itself is odd to me--the women would just go just two by two in the outhouse, do their business, carry on a conversation, pull up their drawers and think nothing of it. I get the nervous bladder now when I think there's someone in the stall next to me, so how on earth I could use the outhouse then with someone on the 'hole' next to me baffles me still. One of the older ladies would always say to me, "Don't forget to flush." Nothing like a little church outhouse humor.

That got me to thinking about outhouses...did you know that in Australia they're called "Thunderboxes?" I'd say! In New Zealand "Long Drops"...and if you were rich your outhouse was made of brick thus the saying, "she's built like a brick #@$%house." (who says my blog isn't educational)??!!!

So back to my original question...just how wild IS an outhouse rat? Some would say that the saying refers to a crazy person and not an actual rat in the outhouse, but I'm not convinced. I think if I were a rat and my home was an outhouse, I'd probably be pretty wild--wild about escaping!

This is my random thought of the day...be careful out there so as not to be accused of being "wild as an outhouse rat."