Now that I have started it, I want to tell the story of the building of our house. It was an adventure right out of my Mom’s Nebraska and my father’s Oklahoma dust bowl days.
(I wrote early on this blog that my father was killed when I was 4. He is my father, I carry his genes. Mom remarried when I was 8, and when I talk about Dad - didn’t call my step dad father - it is this step dad that I refer to. He raised me and in many ways was more influential than my own father.)
The telling is mostly for my family, the rest of you may find it really boring. If possible, I’ll get a daughter or two to write a bit about their memory of it all. In my mind it is basically a happy story. My head was in turmoil, but that story will wait.
We built the house in 1976. Miriam and I were 39, Arline 19, Lora 15, Deanna 14 and Linda was 10. Arline had finished high school and had gone to college in another state.
Officially what I did was called a “skilled trade” but it was always a low pay/low bid situation. There wasn’t a lot of money, but we got by. The girls went to church school, something that was important to us, but as 6th and 7th graders, they did janitor work at the school to pay for their tuition.
I bought used tires to go on my very used vehicles that I worked out of. We went years and years without any insurance of any kind, we ate basic food, which we prepared ourselves, from scratch. As I think back, it reminds me of the days my grandparents would talk about.
But we dearly loved each other. We had a lot of fun together. I was home every evening, and spent time with my family. We didn’t have a TV, on purpose, so our evening were spent with home work, music (there were piano lesson), talk and lot of company. The back to the land movement was in full intellectual stride, and I as one of the first among our friends (and the last as well!) Those were very happy years in most ways
But there certainly was no surplus cash.
Gratitude #83 - Sweet Biddies!
11 years ago
1 comment:
Definately, the experience of living in a tent from May-December was a highlight of my childhood. I remember Linda, Lora and I in one big mattress on the floor with many heavy blankets on top of use to keep us warm while it snowed outside. I remember, using lots of "Shower to Shower" baking soda between freezing cold baths. I remember how exciting it was to finally move into the house--simply having running water--hot water--and electricity again, even tho there weren't carpets or paint. Definatley an adventure.
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