One thing I can say ~ my childhood has served me very well in preparing for stuff like this. Every winter, the water would freeze and someone (usually me) would have to go get some water out of the creek for use of washing up. I'd gather up 3 or 4 gallon milk jugs ~ that was about all I could carry when they were full ~ and head out, usually with at least one cat following behind. It usually didn't take that long, since there two creeks nearby, one right in front of the house and another one about a 1/4 mile away.

Yes, I'm aware that it sounds like something out of Little House on the Prairie...but it is true.

The worst part of the whole process was actually putting the jugs in the water to fill them. There was no way to do it without getting at least the tips of your fingers wet. It didn't take long for it to go from 'cold' to 'stinging'! The next to worst part was the time that C.C. went along with me. C.C. was a tomcat...and of course, he waited until I had one hand in the creek ~ then he sprayed me! Ugh! There are a few things worse than tomcat urine...but not many.

This time around though, I didn't have to go to a creek. Thank the gods. I had some water put back, originally for the purpose of drinking, but I was nearly desparate to get clean even though it hadn't been that long since my last shower ~ I just can't stand to be dirty. All that gathering water taught me another thing as well ~ you can get perfectly clean in quite a small amount of water. This particular jug was about 1/2 full and I used less than a quarter of it.

Hehehehe ~ now that I'm clean, I can go out and start on my very own 'Snowman House of Horrors'...