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Being 76 (next month) I definitely experienced what a lot of you have said and can remember how it was.
The one thing I can't really remember is how the hell we managed with all of us kids getting up at the same time for school and dealing with one bathroom !
Were our bladders just better?
Being 76 (next month) I definitely experienced what a lot of you have said and can remember how it was.
The one thing I can't really remember is how the hell we managed with all of us kids getting up at the same time for school and dealing with one bathroom !
Were our bladders just better?
My Dad liked to read the newspaper, sitting on the toilet, and you couldn't scream him out of there when absorbed in the newspaper, except my mother.
As long as it was after sundown, I'd just pee outside.
Every time I return from a camping trip, even a car camping trip with a modern campground, flush toilets, and shower, I am very grateful we live in a country where indoor plumbing, built-in electricity, and good heating systems are the norm.
I was at my grandmother's for Christmas dinner today. It was her, my aunt, mom, dad, me, aunt's stepson/wife, and their six year old boy. That living room was tight There isn't enough room at the kitchen table for more than five, so stepson/wife ate in the living room.
I can't imagine what it would be like raising a family in such a small house (1200 sq. ft) with such awful room proportions.
When the weather was nice, we were always chased outside to play.
The first house I remember was a very small 2 bedroom house. My older brother and I had bunk beds. Dad was building a new 3 bedroom house for us, but he and my uncle got into a fight (to this day, I don't know what was involved). Uncle got our new house. Mom and Dad scrambled to find another house. We lived in my Grandmother's 2 bedroom house while they searched. Mom delivered my middle brother while we lived there. After we moved into a 3 bedroom house, my mom had 3 more children. The last one (a girl) was still born. The 3 boys shared the back bedroom (2 bunks and a crib). My younger sister and I shared a room. I remember how tiny the kitchen was in that house. Couldn't open the fridge if we were all seated at the table. It did have an unfinished basement. I helped Mom do the laundry on the wringer washer. When the weather was bad, we hung the clothes to dry in the basement.
Eventually we moved into a larger home with a semi-finished basement which included a built-in bar. The 3rd bedroom was a loft large enough to hold the 2 bunk beds and a twin bed. My sister and I shared the small back bedroom. Mom bought a trundle bed because the room was too small to hold 2 twin beds. Both houses had only 1 bathroom. It seemed like there never was any hot water when it was time for my bath.
During the winter blizzards, Mom would get out the card table, put it up in the living room, and we would work jigsaw puzzles. Living near Chicago, we had decent TV reception for 3 channels. Eventually we got a few more stations with UHF - one was Fox which back then played the old classic movies from the 40s, TV reruns, and Svengoolie was on every Saturday.
Once I was out on my own, I loved the peace and quiet and being able to think without interruption. I had foot surgery in my early 20s and had to spend a week back at my folk's house. I couldn't wait to leave! lol
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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life was very simple 'then' (except for Dairy Farm Boarding School)
I do miss the party lines!~\
Still heating with wood (as in at the moment)
Tumbleweed as a Christmas Tree,
Lambing and calving during the worst of storms.
Busted fences - Ugh, what a PITA all the time (mtns and streams / rivers are tough to fence).
I am SO happy to had ditched the TV by age 8 (passive entertainment / waste of time / so much MORE to do on a farm - ranch).
House was big enough (to sleep in), but the barn and shop could have been a lot BIGGER! (as is still the case)
life was very simple 'then' (except for Dairy Farm Boarding School)
I do miss the party lines!~\
Still heating with wood (as in at the moment)
Tumbleweed as a Christmas Tree,
Lambing and calving during the worst of storms.
Busted fences - Ugh, what a PITA all the time (mtns and streams / rivers are tough to fence).
I am SO happy to had ditched the TV by age 8 (passive entertainment / waste of time / so much MORE to do on a farm - ranch).
House was big enough (to sleep in), but the barn and shop could have been a lot BIGGER! (as is still the case)
Tumbleweed Christmas tree sounds amazing, never heard of that one.
Tumbleweed Christmas tree sounds amazing, never heard of that one.
Russian Thistle (tumbleweed) is not something desirable as a Christmas ersatz-tree or anything else. It is covered with sharp thorns.
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