10 Houses

I was thinking about the houses in which Lowell and I have lived the 53 almost 54 years we've been married. We started out in the (1)little farm house that first summer. We had electricity but no running water - hence no inside bathroom. I had to heat water on the stove so I could wash clothes in the ringer washing machine. There were 2 tubs for rinsing that had to be filled and I put some bluing in the last rinse. Somehow I remember how my mother washed clothes although I really don't remember helping her. In my high school days dad bought her an automatic washer and dryer. There's a story about the ringer washing machine that I will write about later. We lived there one summer and one winter. Lowell remembers that every time he came in the house I was reading "Gone with the Wind". I remember a small drift of snow across the living room floor. We had an oil burning stove in the living room. In late february or early March I found out I was pregant with Randy. I don't remember the reason we moved from there but we moved in with Lowell's dad and where Lowell grew up - (2)again a farm house with no running water. We were there for only a few week until we found an (3) apartment. That apartment did have running water and a bathroom :) It was upstairs above a business in downtown Redwood. It was an inside apartment - that is - there were several others around the perimenter. That summer was the hottest summer since the summer I was born. Or so my mom said. We had one small window over looking a tar roof and no air conditioning so when I climbed those 100 steps (at least it seemed like 1oo) and very pregnant I was bushed and very hot. There's a story about that apartment, too, for a later time.
In late July we decided we couldn't take the heat anymore and started to look for a small house we could rent. The day we moved - Sept 1- it turned cool. It was (4)a cute little house - very, very small with a huge furnace. It was the same rent but now we had the expense of heating. Later we wished we would have stayed in the apartment. Oh well, you live and learn. The neat thing was that it was the house my mom and dad lived in when I was born. "How small was it?"
you ask. Well, the kitchen was just wide enought for my 30 inch stove at one end and had a 30 inch sink at the other end. The outside door was in the midde of the kitchen wall and a trap door leading to the basement was in the middle of the floor. In the living room we put the refrigerator, table, couch, Randy's crib and the only place left for the chair was over the big furnace grate. It was a wonderful place to sit when the furnace came on. The bedroom was just big enough for a queen size bed and the bathroom was just a step or two from the bed. Randy was born in October and we spent that winter and the next Spring in this little house. There's a story here, too.
In the Spring Lowell's dad died and so that summer we moved back to (5)the home place and again we were without running water and no inside bathroom. That winter my mom suggested that I wash clothes at her place so that I didn't have to haul water. Thank goodness!! Several stories here, too.
Just before Christmas of 1957 we moved to an (6) apartment in Austin, MN (a story comes later) and then we bought a (7) house in Austin Acres later that summer. In October Barbara was born. Several stories during these years. Both Karen and David were born while we lived in this house. From there we moved to Park Rapids. Lowell got a job working for Park Rapids Floral early in 1968 and since I was commited as organist until Easter we couldn't all move up here at one time. Lowell found a (8)little place so that Randy and Barbara could get started in school and I stayed in Austin with Karen and David. It was not a very nice house and very drafty so we found a (9) house to rent and moved again just before Christmas in a snow storm. It had 5 bedrooms upstairs, a huge kitchen, a huge living room and 2 bedrooms downstairs. (another story) From there in 1969 we moved to our (10) present home. We have electricy, running water, an inside bathroom and a good furnace. :-)