Rigging the Game, Bumpkin Style

[inteus_mika]

The primary demographic of the American South is Redneck, I imagine.  I’d never consider my Shima to fall into that category, but she does have a certain innovative quality in common with them.  This characteristic comes from having to keep it together, whatever “it” is, with nothing more to put into it than your wits

Comments

[whipchick]

This is awesome! I have to pass this list on to my mother.

[inteus_mika]

Thanks! Shima will dig that.

[lrig_rorrim]

This was great fun! I loved the list of various household hacks. I've used a few of those myself...

[inteus_mika]

Nice! Good to know they're common enough to not be too nuts. ;)

[alycewilson]

Fantastic ideas! She sounds like a very creative, resourceful person.

[inteus_mika]

Thanks! She most certainly is.

[tijuanagringo]

Utterly amazing and powerfully creative.

[halfshellvenus]

Wow. Your grandmother is incredibly clever and inventive. I'd heard of a few of these, but there was a TON of new information. The "boiling water" workarounds alone were worth the post.

Toilet paper rolls filled with dryer lint are a natural fire starter.
Finally, a use for dryer lint!

I did not know that about Mason jars, either. And I wouldn't have thought about license plates for roofing, though I spent a fall up top patching ours when we wanted to make it through one last winter before having the house painted (because the painters would walk on a new roof otherwise, causing immediate damage).

and it doesn’t include paying the local belegana.
This is the one part that confused me, since I couldn't figure out how it worked in that sentence. My only experience with "belegana" is as the term the Navajo use for white people (or maybe just outsiders in general).

[inteus_mika]

Shima's home is not on reservation land. Ergo, if she were to hire a contractor, it would not likely be a native. She comes from a generation that has a lot of deep-seated mistrust for whites in general, but especially those in positions of power, wealth or authority, or in a position to take advantage. Your experience is correct. My grandmother would prefer not to pay someone white to be in her home, messing with her things and judging us, unless there's absolutely no other alternative. Glad some of these are useful to you.