Best year of my life (so far!)
The happiest time in my life occurred in a run down mouse infested farmhouse that was falling down around our ears.
We had noticed this house, back in the trees several miles outside of town. It had been abandoned, but still had electric lines hooked up. We asked around, found the owner. He agreed to rent it to us for a very small amount. We spent almost 2 months setting mousetraps (killed 27 the first 24 hours), clearing out years old trash, shampooing carpets, having the 1940's floor furnaces checked out.
We moved in, and from the first night, there was a feeling in that house that wrapped around me when I came home... A welcoming spirit. R was working in the oilfield (as always) and was away a lot. Our daughter was 5. I was a stay at home mom.
Living room, kitchen, dining room, bathroom with a big clawfoot tub, and one bedroom on the main floor, three bedrooms upstairs. Hand made wrought iron railing going up the very steep narrow (only about 5 inches deep) stairs. Nice front porch, lots of south windows to keep a good breeze going all summer. If you have ever been in southwest Kansas, you know that the wind almost never stops. If it does, you had better be nervous. We never even had to have air conditioning. A row of ancient cedar trees shaded the south side of the house, and the breeze was wonderful.
The yard was basically stubble, large weeds had grown up and been cut down using a bush hog for years. It bordered on a wheat field, and the owner backed his tractor and disk into the back yard to disc up the hard ground so I could have a garden. It was a fairly large disk, and I had a huge garden. If you have ever seen previously unbroken ground disked up for the first time, you will know that I had a lot of work cut out for me. If you haven't seen it, think of the sod chunks that the pioneers used to make houses out of. R and I worked to get that ground soft enough to plant in, and plant we did. Tomatoes, green beans, carrots, onions, potatoes, radishes, herbs, okra. I spent hours, barefoot, working in that garden. Flowers, birds, the neighbor's horses and pigs... There were so many things to keep us outside and busy.
When all that produce started ripening, and we started harvesting, I had even more fun. Canning it all!
In the house, I had a big old fashioned kitchen. All free standing cabinets that were more like pieces of furniture, big countertops. No upper cabinets, but open shelving above the sink. I spent hours baking bread, home made cinnamon rolls, making lots of home made goodies. I love cooking even more than gardening.
I had the house on a schedule. Laundry, fresh smelling clothes dried on the line, folding, putting away. Cleaning, I love to clean. I spent free time reading (I developed an addiction to Mother Earth News that I still indulge in to this day!), sewing, quilting. We didn't have TV. Didn't need it.
I loved that life. It was so stress-free.
We ended up having to leave because since we had cleaned up the place, the owners nephew wanted to live there. Gave us 30 days notice after being there a year. The nephew lived there for a couple of months and moved, leaving the house a wreck and it turned to a party place for high school kids. Last summer they tore it down to build a cotton gin on the land.
I miss that house terribly, and I wish I would have gone there before they tore it down and invited the spirits to come with me to my current house. I loved the feel of that house.
That was the best year of my adult life. Lots of good memories, and simple little stories I could tell that were the pieces that all fit together to make it the best time of my life.
We had noticed this house, back in the trees several miles outside of town. It had been abandoned, but still had electric lines hooked up. We asked around, found the owner. He agreed to rent it to us for a very small amount. We spent almost 2 months setting mousetraps (killed 27 the first 24 hours), clearing out years old trash, shampooing carpets, having the 1940's floor furnaces checked out.
We moved in, and from the first night, there was a feeling in that house that wrapped around me when I came home... A welcoming spirit. R was working in the oilfield (as always) and was away a lot. Our daughter was 5. I was a stay at home mom.
Living room, kitchen, dining room, bathroom with a big clawfoot tub, and one bedroom on the main floor, three bedrooms upstairs. Hand made wrought iron railing going up the very steep narrow (only about 5 inches deep) stairs. Nice front porch, lots of south windows to keep a good breeze going all summer. If you have ever been in southwest Kansas, you know that the wind almost never stops. If it does, you had better be nervous. We never even had to have air conditioning. A row of ancient cedar trees shaded the south side of the house, and the breeze was wonderful.
The yard was basically stubble, large weeds had grown up and been cut down using a bush hog for years. It bordered on a wheat field, and the owner backed his tractor and disk into the back yard to disc up the hard ground so I could have a garden. It was a fairly large disk, and I had a huge garden. If you have ever seen previously unbroken ground disked up for the first time, you will know that I had a lot of work cut out for me. If you haven't seen it, think of the sod chunks that the pioneers used to make houses out of. R and I worked to get that ground soft enough to plant in, and plant we did. Tomatoes, green beans, carrots, onions, potatoes, radishes, herbs, okra. I spent hours, barefoot, working in that garden. Flowers, birds, the neighbor's horses and pigs... There were so many things to keep us outside and busy.
When all that produce started ripening, and we started harvesting, I had even more fun. Canning it all!
In the house, I had a big old fashioned kitchen. All free standing cabinets that were more like pieces of furniture, big countertops. No upper cabinets, but open shelving above the sink. I spent hours baking bread, home made cinnamon rolls, making lots of home made goodies. I love cooking even more than gardening.
I had the house on a schedule. Laundry, fresh smelling clothes dried on the line, folding, putting away. Cleaning, I love to clean. I spent free time reading (I developed an addiction to Mother Earth News that I still indulge in to this day!), sewing, quilting. We didn't have TV. Didn't need it.
I loved that life. It was so stress-free.
We ended up having to leave because since we had cleaned up the place, the owners nephew wanted to live there. Gave us 30 days notice after being there a year. The nephew lived there for a couple of months and moved, leaving the house a wreck and it turned to a party place for high school kids. Last summer they tore it down to build a cotton gin on the land.
I miss that house terribly, and I wish I would have gone there before they tore it down and invited the spirits to come with me to my current house. I loved the feel of that house.
That was the best year of my adult life. Lots of good memories, and simple little stories I could tell that were the pieces that all fit together to make it the best time of my life.
5 Comments:
It makes one feel so good to make something from nothing. Fixing up a house, planting a garden and the like, although hard work, is so rewarding. It gives one such a sense of accomplishment.
Again, well done. Very descriptive. Liked the description of how the wind almost always blows in SW KS and when it doesn't, watch out. Lot of good imagery throughout.
It was hard work, Sunsetman... But, like I said, it was also the most stress-free year of my adult life.
Thank you, Buffalo. I'm glad you enjoyed it. :-)
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