Remembering the House on the Farm

The house I grew up in was located on a knolly hilltop overlooking the west forty acres near Sni Creek. The house was a two-story, five room, clapboard siding, with a front and back porch. No basement or garage, just a basic house. The kitchen, a living room, and a front room were on the first floor. Two bedrooms were located on the second floor. No plumbing. We had a two-holler outhouse out back and a "thunder bucket" for use inside the house when we couldn't go outside. We did have limited electricity with one ceiling light in the kitchen and one ceiling light in the living room. The rest of the rooms were illuminated with kerosene lamps. Our heating system was a wood-burning cook stove in the kitchen and a wood-burning stove in the living room. The rest of the rooms had no heat source and were cold as hell in the winter and hot as hell in the summer. (By the way ... is hell "hot" or "cold?")

My brother and I slept in the same bed upstairs, my two sisters slept in a bed together ... all in the same room. My parents used the other bedroom for their own. Sleeping conditions were tricky ... especially when getting up or gowing to bed. I guess the "sleeping" part was okay.

The outhouse was a real trip. It was about one hundred feet from the house with a board walk to it. It stunk to high heaven in the summer time. You had to hold your breath when you went in to do your business. Instead of having nice soft toilet paper we had the Sears Roebuck mail order catalog ... OUCH! Anyway, I will never forget going to the outhouse! For that matter I will never forget using the "thunder bucket."

There was no insulation in the house so the wind blew through with little resistance. Sometimes the curtains would swing and sway as the wind blew. It was especially uncomfortable in the winter time.

Our water source was a fresh water well just outside the kitchen window. There a pump handle at the sink in the kitchen and another one on the back porch.

The house is still standing today and is probably near or over one-hundred years old. I can tell by looking at it from the outside it has been remodeled since I lived there. It's probably been remodeled several times through the years.

I remember good times in the old farm house and I guess that is all that really matters.