JIM'S LITTLE BLOG

When Uncle Lester retired from selling Pioneer Seed, he recommended Dad to be his replacement. Since our house was only four rooms with two unheated porches, Dad used this old chicken house for his office.

I remember when Dad's uncle, a carpenter, helped him to build this house for the baby and growing chickens. Those small doors on the bottom were just the right size for the chickens to come and go as they pleased.

Also I remember helping Mom catch the chickens who wanted to sleep all night up in the trees. The catcher was a long heavy wire with a handle for us and a hook at the end to catch the chickens by their legs.

They had to be brought in to keep them safe from the coyotes, bob cats, and other animals. The chicken hawks mainly operated in the day time, but Dad kept them away or dead with his rifle.



Mom's 1974 Mustang II stayed here until they moved to town in the 1980's. I have it now, it only has 67K miles.




This is the house where I was born. Probably around the turn of the 20th century it was brand new. It had two bedrooms upstairs, a living room, and a country kitchen. Later two enclosed but not heated porches were added.

The porch on the right is where I had to sleep when my sister was old enough to have her own room. Cold mornings would find frost on my blankets where my breath would freeze. You can see it is fallen in now, first entered by the raccoons, then finished off by the tree.



The porch on the back of the house contained an added inside bathroom. There was a shower and washing machine area behind the bathroom (1950's). Also there was a water pump in the basement when Dad dug the new well in the 1950's.

In 1949 we had a blizzard with snow so bad that Dad could walk out that window in Lois's bedroom, onto the porch, and on the snow. We couldn't get out any door or downstairs window until Dad dug down and cut us a path.


Mom never used this wash house. The people who lived here in the 1920's may have. Mom would take the clothes (and me) up to Grandma's for washing. She got a Maytag with a gasoline engine in the mid 1930's.



We called this the 'chicken house.' The laying hens lived here and at another newer chicken house beside it. Before the house was moved onto the property, this was the farm house. The folks never lived here, as the newer house was moved onto the property when Dad was a child.



I also remember when we dug and cemented this cistern. Most of it was above ground to help the pumps for the house. As it was above ground water could be run to the stock tanks for the animals if the other well couldn't keep up.

Lois and I would sled down those cistern sides. They were steep so the sled would go a long, long way. I have the sled now in our garage.



After the farm visit, we visited our cousins, Jean and Dwain, who live on a nearby farm of their own. We had a very nice visit, as we always do when we come up.

It snowed the day after we visited the farm. Lois and Jim had arrived in Blair that night (late).

The next day in the snowy weather, over the snow covered highway, we went to Tekamah to meet with Mr. R.K. Robertson, the realtor who would do the auction and to visit cousins. We had an excellent lunch at Rumors Cafe with R.K. before settling all the necessary details.

The day of the auction:




This large Christmas tree and Santa were in the lobby of the bank. Upstairs we would soon have the auction in the community room. Coffee and donuts were served and it was a nice social affair. We got to visit with cousins and friends, many of whom we hadn't seen for several years.


Santa liked Mrs. Jim, don't you think? Who wouldn't? (She is the best wife I could ever have had.)





We had to say goodbye to Herman. Our farm was one and a half miles north and five and a half miles to the west.