A little about the present time, more about the past......

I have not posted for a long time. I had better get busy if I want posts in every month. We have had a long two months. My husband, Bruce, was diagnosed with prostate cancer and we were involved with radiation treatments. We have completed all that and are now awaiting the verdict once a test is made. Life sure does change in all its stages and we are amused that about all we get done nowadays is taking care of our infirmities. So much for the present.

Do any of you know how to prime a pump? I do. We did not have running water in our house when I was growing up. Yes, that means, no bathroom. We pumped the water and carried it in the house in a bucket. It was iron water so the bucket was red. It tasted wonderful when it was first pumped.

When people say "good old days" I think of that. And this. My mother took in washings and ironings. She would fill the boiler that she put on our cook stove in the blazing heat of our Iowa summers or freezing Iowa winters and bring it to a boil. Then she put in lye to remove the iron so the white clothes would stay white. Next, she transferred the water to the washing machine. The clothes would be put through the wringer to the rinse and back through the wringer before they could be hung outside to dry. It was an all day awful job. And that doesn't even cover the ironing. And I complained because my job was to bring in the cobs and coal for the cookstove. I have no idea how much she received to wash and iron for people but I bet she was fortunate to get $.50. They were the "not so good old days." By the way, cobs are the ears of corns once they had been shelled. We had a shed in the back yard that was partitioned with cobs on one side and coal on the other.

But I can think "good old days" also. This little town was safe. We played all over that town and no one was afraid that we wouldn't be home for supper because of something evil. There was little or no traffic. Cars were just beginning to be manufactured again after the war so we were safe. It was a simple beautiful time even though we had none of the conveniences to simplify the hard work to be done.

Our family consisted of my mother, my brother Bill, my sister Yvonne, my brother Keith and me. We lived in a Nebraska town where my father was a dentist. When he died she moved us back to their home town and families in Iowa. She was an educated woman but had lost her hearing. Therefore, she had to work so hard to support us.

You will learn more about her. She is my hero. I love her. I miss her.