PopPop and three of his brothers in front of the house before it was moved onto the new basement.
Ok, I’m still doing some remembering. Even though the farm was sold at auction on Tuesday, that doesn’t end my relationship with it. I am incredibly blessed that the new buyers will welcome me there. And there are still so many stories to be told. This is the oldest photo I can find of Grandma’s house. The men picture here are four of five brothers…my PopPop is the third from the left.
This is when the house sat on stacks of stones. Vines grew on the front porch to help keep the living space cool in the summer. If you zoom in, you can see the oil well derrick that stood in the back yard. For many, many years, the house was left natural and weathered to a beautiful, rich grey. The bad part about that is, the wood is more susceptible to rot and insect invasion. Sometime in the late ‘70s, early ‘80s, I came home for a visit and my uncle had painted the house red with white trim. I was devastated because it didn’t look like “home” anymore. Now, I can’t imagine loving it more. The red has mellowed to a deep, rusty color in some areas…depending on sun exposure.
The Old Oxbow Spring
The house didn’t have running water till it was moved onto the new basement. That must have been around 1958 or so. This picture was probably taken in the early to mid-fifties, judging by the car parked in the yard. Grandma had to depend on the well to wash clothes and to bathe in the old galvanized tub. At the time, the well water was sweet and drinkable. However, once they took that derrick out of there and capped the wells in the area, the aquifer was fractured and the water was brackish. That was devastating when it was the only source of water.
An Old Milk Can (not my photo)
For a while, I remember hauling water from the old Oxbow Spring. I rode in the pickup with PopPop and hauled two or three milk cans of water home a couple of times a week. There was an aluminum ladle with a long handle that had a bend in the end of it that hung on a nail by the can in the kitchen. When it was really hot out, they kept the water cans in a root cellar to stay cool. I belong to a Facebook group that shares memories of the area and someone posted a picture of the spring. People still go and collect water there, although…someone mentioned there’s an old cemetery on the hill up above the spring. That might make me think twice about drinking the water now, but back then, we were happy to have it. I do believe Grandma always boiled our drinking water…no matter the source.
An Aluminum Dipper Like Ours (not my photo)
Our temps here in West Virginia have gone from meat locker to microwave in the span of a few days. It won’t be long and we can hop in the pool of an evening and cool off. We went over to see one of the granddaughters and her fiancé this morning. They just graduated from WVU and are fixing up an old house that was converted from a barn on 90 acres. They board horses and raise their own hay. I was telling Mr. FixIt…I would have given anything to have had something like that when I was their age. We are so proud of them…they’ve really been working hard, and it shows.
We went for a little drive afterward and checked out the high tunnels where they grow the best tomatoes just a few miles from the Ponderosa. They’re already waist high! I asked Mr. FixIt not to plant so many tomato plants this year…just enough for the table. I’ll buy from the folks at the high tunnels when I want to can tomatoes. We have ten plants instead of twenty-three! We also have zucchini, yellow squash, and lettuce planted. I’ve been so busy over at the farm, I haven’t dabbled in my flowers yet, but I will soon. I still want to bring some back from the farm. We will probably go over and mow today before it gets too hot. Even though the auction is over, it hasn’t closed and I don’t want to leave it looking like a hay field for the new owners.
I hope you enjoy your day. It’s been lovely!
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“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. What is the first thing you will do? Won’t you sit down and figure out how much it will cost and if you have enough money to pay for it? Otherwise, you will start building the tower, but not be able to finish. Then everyone who sees what is happening will laugh at you. They will say, “You started building, but could not finish the job.””
Luke 14:28-30 CEV