I do not remember the year, but it must have been about 1966. Sam was barely walking and he was born in 1965. We had been living in Garden City, but Duane (I some times refer to him as Earl, but he was always Duane to me. Earl Duane if I was pissed.) and his brother decided they were expanding the tree trimming business so we were in Liberal. Duane had found a farm house outside of town that was abandoned. He made a deal with the owner to fix it up and make it livable and we would not need to pay rent until it was done. We would buy all the cleaning supplies, wall paper and paint.
I have always been handy with soap, water, wall paper and paint, so that became my job, along with raising the kids, so the deal was struck. I am sure none of you are going to know what I am talking about when I tell you how we got water to the house. Ever see a windmill? That is a pump with a shaft that goes up a tower to a giant blade. When you want water, you loosen the brake and the blades begin to turn causing the apparatus that goes down into the well to go up and down, thus pumping water up the pipe and into the big holding tank above (and for the life of me I can not remember what that tank is called.). There was no top on this tank so I am sure it was good clean water. Water then flows from the tank into the pipes in the house by the gravity concept. It was important that the tank stay full so there was water pressure. All that is irrelevant to anything except that is the way we got water.
At that time we had the 4 oldest kids, Debbie 4, Patty 3, Dona 2 and Sam 1. The first item of business was to move into the house and set up sleeping quarters in the front room for the kids. The furnace was also gravity operating on the concept that heat always rises. The furnace was located in the basement and I do not recall ever going down there. I think it was propane. The vent was in the middle of the front room and the kids all learned very young to not walk on the furnace vent and if you look at the bottom of their feet you will probably find little squares where each one learned their lesson the hard way.
I vaguely recall that we moved in during the summer so by the time Christmas was upon us we were fairly settled into our new home. I had finished our bedroom, the kids room, the front room and was starting the kitchen when Christmas time came. Duane went to the "shelter belt" and cut down an evergreen tree, which ticked off the farmer, but oh well. Decorations consisted of popcorn on a string, some red and green colored papers cut and glued and linked together and tinsel. I do not know what Santa brought that year, but I do know he brought Sam a blue elephant on wheels and it was designed for him to set on it and move with his feet. Would have been nice had it worked that way, but he was scared shitless of it. Every time he seen it he went into screaming and crying fits like it was going to eat him. We mostly kept it hidden and the only time it came out was when the girls wanted to torment him, which was often.
As I recall, winter was mild in Liberal since it was down in the southwest corner of Kansas. I do not recall where they came from, but we had chickens which stayed in one of the out buildings. I also recall we had a little black dog who brought me one of the chickens and laid it at the back door. I do not recall ever seeing that dog again.
By the time spring arrived the house was in pretty good shape. Every room had been gone through and cleaned, the wood work painted, walls newly wall papered and the floors sealed. I only had the bathroom left and was finishing pasting the trim around the top of the kitchen sealing when the landlord paid a call to see how the work was coming. He was very impressed! He walked slowly through each room noting the clean windows, the wall paper, the paint and praised my work. The next day we got out eviction notice. Seems his son was taking a wife and this would be the perfect place for them to live. Talk about luck!
Back in those days we traveled light. It was easier and cheaper to just leave the furniture and scrounge up new, then it was to load it and spend the gas money moving back and forth. By the end of the next week we were living on the edge of town in a 3 room house with a huge back lot where I could grow a garden and a garage where I could keep my chickens. For some reason the owner had painted every room black. That was weird so the first order of the day was to drag out the paint brushes and spruce up the place. The first swipe across the door post proved to be a rude awakening. The place was almost devoured by termites! It soon became apparent that what we saw was what we got in that house. But I was always an optimist so I settled in.
I bought 100 straight run chickens and kept them in the garage. In 2 months they were butchering size and I rented a locker in town. 75 fryers went in the locker. The garden produced and I finished filling the locker with corn on the cob cut off the cob. I was ready for winter! The locker burned down and the man had no insurance. All that work was wasted. Then there was a windstorm and anything else we had was gone. At some point the chickens that were in the garage all ended up dead. I called the sheriff and low and behold two boys in the neighborhood were found to have killed the chickens just for fun !
Debbie had started kindergarten some where along that time. We decided we had enough of Liberal and we moved on. Not sure where to, but if I think about it, I am sure I will remember. That may have been when we moved back to Garden City. Or maybe that was when I moved to Hutchinson. I need to think about this.
For now, I think I will get another cup of coffee and maybe run through the shower. I am sure of one thing, the sun is up and the geese want out of their house. Tomorrow is my anniversary. I think I will bake me a cake.
I have always been handy with soap, water, wall paper and paint, so that became my job, along with raising the kids, so the deal was struck. I am sure none of you are going to know what I am talking about when I tell you how we got water to the house. Ever see a windmill? That is a pump with a shaft that goes up a tower to a giant blade. When you want water, you loosen the brake and the blades begin to turn causing the apparatus that goes down into the well to go up and down, thus pumping water up the pipe and into the big holding tank above (and for the life of me I can not remember what that tank is called.). There was no top on this tank so I am sure it was good clean water. Water then flows from the tank into the pipes in the house by the gravity concept. It was important that the tank stay full so there was water pressure. All that is irrelevant to anything except that is the way we got water.
At that time we had the 4 oldest kids, Debbie 4, Patty 3, Dona 2 and Sam 1. The first item of business was to move into the house and set up sleeping quarters in the front room for the kids. The furnace was also gravity operating on the concept that heat always rises. The furnace was located in the basement and I do not recall ever going down there. I think it was propane. The vent was in the middle of the front room and the kids all learned very young to not walk on the furnace vent and if you look at the bottom of their feet you will probably find little squares where each one learned their lesson the hard way.
I vaguely recall that we moved in during the summer so by the time Christmas was upon us we were fairly settled into our new home. I had finished our bedroom, the kids room, the front room and was starting the kitchen when Christmas time came. Duane went to the "shelter belt" and cut down an evergreen tree, which ticked off the farmer, but oh well. Decorations consisted of popcorn on a string, some red and green colored papers cut and glued and linked together and tinsel. I do not know what Santa brought that year, but I do know he brought Sam a blue elephant on wheels and it was designed for him to set on it and move with his feet. Would have been nice had it worked that way, but he was scared shitless of it. Every time he seen it he went into screaming and crying fits like it was going to eat him. We mostly kept it hidden and the only time it came out was when the girls wanted to torment him, which was often.
As I recall, winter was mild in Liberal since it was down in the southwest corner of Kansas. I do not recall where they came from, but we had chickens which stayed in one of the out buildings. I also recall we had a little black dog who brought me one of the chickens and laid it at the back door. I do not recall ever seeing that dog again.
By the time spring arrived the house was in pretty good shape. Every room had been gone through and cleaned, the wood work painted, walls newly wall papered and the floors sealed. I only had the bathroom left and was finishing pasting the trim around the top of the kitchen sealing when the landlord paid a call to see how the work was coming. He was very impressed! He walked slowly through each room noting the clean windows, the wall paper, the paint and praised my work. The next day we got out eviction notice. Seems his son was taking a wife and this would be the perfect place for them to live. Talk about luck!
Back in those days we traveled light. It was easier and cheaper to just leave the furniture and scrounge up new, then it was to load it and spend the gas money moving back and forth. By the end of the next week we were living on the edge of town in a 3 room house with a huge back lot where I could grow a garden and a garage where I could keep my chickens. For some reason the owner had painted every room black. That was weird so the first order of the day was to drag out the paint brushes and spruce up the place. The first swipe across the door post proved to be a rude awakening. The place was almost devoured by termites! It soon became apparent that what we saw was what we got in that house. But I was always an optimist so I settled in.
I bought 100 straight run chickens and kept them in the garage. In 2 months they were butchering size and I rented a locker in town. 75 fryers went in the locker. The garden produced and I finished filling the locker with corn on the cob cut off the cob. I was ready for winter! The locker burned down and the man had no insurance. All that work was wasted. Then there was a windstorm and anything else we had was gone. At some point the chickens that were in the garage all ended up dead. I called the sheriff and low and behold two boys in the neighborhood were found to have killed the chickens just for fun !
Debbie had started kindergarten some where along that time. We decided we had enough of Liberal and we moved on. Not sure where to, but if I think about it, I am sure I will remember. That may have been when we moved back to Garden City. Or maybe that was when I moved to Hutchinson. I need to think about this.
For now, I think I will get another cup of coffee and maybe run through the shower. I am sure of one thing, the sun is up and the geese want out of their house. Tomorrow is my anniversary. I think I will bake me a cake.
