Staying with Grandpa was always a thrill. His place was just a mile from our farm and he had a lot of neat stuff to explore up there. All that is gone now – they cleared the whole thing off. I wish I had gotten pictures of the barn and house before it was torn down to aid in the memory of that place but I can still see most of it in my mind.
His house had two living areas (like nearly all of them back then). The north room he had turned into the “TV” room and “men’s” area when there was a gathering. The middle room was Grandma’s room and had the couch and her curio cabinet in the corner and some chairs. The house had split bedrooms (only two that I remember) and a huge kitchen. He had a big screened in porch on the west side of the house and his garden was just west of that in the fenced yard.
I remember when I stayed with him we would have “Post Toasties” for breakfast. He ate that almost every day and so he had a “tip-out” bin in the kitchen cabinets that was filled with bulk “Toasties”. He would just get a bowl down and “scoop” it full and we would set at the big table to have our “Toasties and milk”.
During the summer he would put out a big old wash tub with about 6 inches of water in the bottom then pour a little oil on top of that water to put on a “skim”. He then would string out an extension cord and put a light on the edge of that tub to capture “June-bugs”. Every morning we would have to drain off the bugs, and put more oil on top of that water to do it again the next night. I don’t remember why he always did this and I do not remember what he did with the bugs after we caught all of them that way? I suppose he would burn them as they were all nasty with oil and not any use for fishing or anything else by then.
I also remember that he had guineas to “guard” the place. He said they was as good as a dog for warning, and you could get the eggs from them if you wanted. The eggs were a bit smaller than chicken eggs and you had to know where they were nesting as he didn’t keep them in a regular place. He said they was good at keeping the ticks and small bugs cleared out as well as good watch dogs so they lived in his yard a lot. They slept in the cedar trees west of the house most of the time, but some would roost in the cedar trees just around the house as well. He would always supply a bunch of them for the local Lions club – “water melon feed”. They use them in place of the “greased pig” chase cause they were as messy that way. They would have 10 to 15 of them in a cage in the middle of the park and when they called for the event they would turn them noisy things loose and the kids would go wild trying to capture them. We all had big ideas about the money we would get if we could get one and bring it back in. Usually the kids would only catch half or less of them wily devils. They can sure fly good and once they got up in the trees it was pretty hard to get them down.
He had a really big old hay barn on that place. It must of been 3 stories tall. in the lower level was the stalls and milking area as well as some other stuff and a grain bin or two. up a ladders was a big loft where they stored hay and you could throw down bales from that loft into the feed bunks or out the front door. that area was huge and was real tall too.
Further back from the big barn was a his “repair” barn or black-smith shop and the grain mill. I remember he had a lot of old black smith tools and stuff with a big fire pit as well in there. I remember playing with the free standing pit that had a crank on it to blow air up into the coals to make them hotter. He also had a huge anvil on a big old wood log in the middle of the floor. It was fun to take the hammer and try to make it “ring” like he did. On one end he had what they called a “mill”. I can remember being there one time when they had a tractor with a big wheel on the side and a huge belt running to the mill. I guess they were making feed for the livestock, maybe grinding corn or rolling oats? I do not remember the outcome but am sure he made up a lot of his own feed for the livestock as he had some pigs and fed cattle in the area west of the big barn too. I remember the pig sheds were way down behind the trees and you could not see them until you got way back past that shop barn. He had several rows of cedar trees between them and the big barn and then to the house so from the house you could only see the fronts of those barns and none of the livestock feeding areas, only the huge water tank he had next to the barn.
That water tank used to also be our swimming pool and the place to put catfish in to “flush them out”. When ever he caught a mess of old “mud-cats” he would usually put them in that tank of clean water to to “get the mud out” before he would clean and eat them. He didn’t do that all the time but he said that sometimes them old “mud-cats” or “yellow-bellies” was a bit too full of mud to eat and had be cleaned out. The tank had a short stair on the outside and the inside so we could all get in and out. It wasn’t that deep – maybe 3 foot, but for kids that was big stuff. It was maybe 30 feet in diameter and had a concrete bottom poured in it. the sides were heavy steel and bolted together as I remember. It was always full of cool clear water, a little green moss and a few fish that just missed the cleaning. We didn’t care back then, when it was hot out, swimming was a great time no matter what you swam in. We swam in the old ponds a lot and the water in them was always muddy. Kids today would not even think of getting into that water.
I remember early that he had an old Hudson car that he put in the small – single car – garage just to the South East of the house on on behind that was another garage that he put his small camp trailer in. That faced to the west but the car garage opened to the north right down the driveway. It was a good walk form the garage to the house – maybe a hundred feet over there. A lot of the times he just parked that car at the yard gate to the house.
Strange how I can remember some of this well enough, that I think I could draw out the place. Maybe not anywhere close to dimension, as things were always bigger when you were young, but I am sure I could place all the stuff I remember from back then. Sure wish I had pictures from all that. Maybe we do in some of the old stored stuff around but if not, I have it saved in my mind. – WD0AJG