Saturday, January 10, 2009

"Old house" with "old" memories











This house is where my father grew up and where as a young boy I went to see the "Grandparents". To the right (South) of the house was a stream. In back was a large underground potato cellar as well as some chicken coops and open land. Somewhere back there was the "Silver Fox" pens written about in the last blog but by the time I remember going to the farm the fox pens were gone. In front of the house was a road that when I was young was the main highway from Idaho to Utah. Across the road, to the West, were the fenced off areas for cows and hay storage. A trail went much further west to where the cows spent their days. Each morning the cows were taken to their fields on a horse and then again late afternoon the horse went to bring the cows back. They were heavy with milk and wanted to be milked and they came back quickly. This farm was only 60 miles away and we went to it often. The experience of going for the cows and living in the country was an influential part of my youth. My father, having grown up on this farm, didn't look at it as much else than just hard work and never had any interest in living again on a farm.
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The front room of this house was the main room. It was the kitchen as well. A stove heated the room and the back room that was mostly a large open bedroom was heated by a smaller stove. The main stove was also used for cooking. The stove had several top burners and a oven and wood was the fuel that provided the heat and allowed the food to be cooked.

1 comment:

Just Trudy said...

Awesome!! I only remember the house from when the cousins lived there a whole generation later. And I LOVE the fox story. I had forgotten it..... frighteningly! Keep them coming :) Love, Trudy