Welcome to a World, and Outhouses, Made by Hand
An editor I worked with long ago who had lived through the Great Depression once told me her secret for surviving hard times: Be a jack of all trades. The more you can do, she explained, the better your chances of being able to eke out a living, no matter what.
Well, the way the economy’s going lately, it seems like it’s time to return to that can-do spirit. One man in central Florida has beaten many of us to the punch.
Vince Denimarck of Bushnell exemplifies the jack-of-all-trades lifestyle. A native of Long Island, he started work in the construction trade, got bored, then became a hairdresser. He’s also run a limo service, can fly small aircraft and knows how to turn wild hogs into sausage. And, one of his most recent hats to wear is that of outhouse-builder.
Denimarck’s outhouses range from basic crescent-moon model to a $3,000-plus “imperial” model complete with shower. More people were buying them in past years when money wasn’t so tight, but he still cobbles together a few each month.
A St. Petersburg Times feature quotes Denimarck as saying, “”My hobby is making a living. I can survive any crisis. I’m not afraid of anything.”
Those are as good as any words to live by I can think of. More of us should be so self-reliant.
To read more about Denimarck’s work, click here.
