Commercialfarmer
Well-known member
The cold house thread sparked a conversation between myself and my dad. Like several of you, he would talk about waking up in the morning and having to run to the room with the heater to put his clothes on. And having snow blow through the old loose window seals and it be there in the morning. I always thought he was just kidding, but his stories never changed. The outhouse was real, because I saw the old rotting boards.
From my perspective, always knowing central heat and air, and indoor plumbing, I knew on one hand, but never really appreciated how modern they really were. There is such a big difference in life style in one generation, it just never really hit me until the other day.
I asked him how they kept the pipes from freezing in that old house.... before I got it out, I realized they didn't have pipes to worry about. Hence the outhouse.
I remember a kerosene lamp grandma kept on a stand. I always thought Abraham Lincoln read by candle light while going to school. Never hit me that dad more or less did as well. It still boggles my brain a little, the difference in perception of the world from entering it just 30 years later.
I always thought he had grown up with gas heating (I remember warming my feet and hands by the old furnace before they put in central heat and air), didn't realize that dad started out living in a house with only a wood stove for heating and a cooking stove that used kerogas that you filled it with. He said that they were big time and had a buzz saw that they would hook up to a pully and run it off the PTO of a tractor. In a day or two, they could have enough wood for the winter. They just had to take the branches off the tree and fall it. I thought, that wouldn't be that bad, but then again realized they didn't have chain saws.
We were talking about how they handled food, with no electricity. I've heard about ice boxes and seen a couple but didn't think about the effort involved in using them. Something else that totally took me by surprise was the handling of milk. I knew they always had milk cows, and I grew up with a building called the "milk house". But without refrigeration, I was asking about what they did with the milk. He informed me that they drank the milk, or fed the calves and hogs, kept the creme in jugs and just ran well water over them. Then once a week, took the creme to town to sell. They made their own cottage cheese and it wasn't refrigerated :shock: I realized that his early life had pretty much been outlawed.
I always assumed that the majority of milk was sold, surprised me that they didn't. Later on, they did start selling the milk on a daily basis. And grandpa had a route that he would pick milk up.
When I was young, there was a man and his wife in their 80's that lived not to far from my grandparents, and we rented some land from them. They were great people. They continued to live with an outhouse and wood stove to heat and cook with all their lives. The man would get a pail of water from the well every day. He did that until the day he died suddenly of a heart attack. They owned several much newer rent houses in town, but chose to live they way they always had.
From my perspective, always knowing central heat and air, and indoor plumbing, I knew on one hand, but never really appreciated how modern they really were. There is such a big difference in life style in one generation, it just never really hit me until the other day.
I asked him how they kept the pipes from freezing in that old house.... before I got it out, I realized they didn't have pipes to worry about. Hence the outhouse.
I remember a kerosene lamp grandma kept on a stand. I always thought Abraham Lincoln read by candle light while going to school. Never hit me that dad more or less did as well. It still boggles my brain a little, the difference in perception of the world from entering it just 30 years later.
I always thought he had grown up with gas heating (I remember warming my feet and hands by the old furnace before they put in central heat and air), didn't realize that dad started out living in a house with only a wood stove for heating and a cooking stove that used kerogas that you filled it with. He said that they were big time and had a buzz saw that they would hook up to a pully and run it off the PTO of a tractor. In a day or two, they could have enough wood for the winter. They just had to take the branches off the tree and fall it. I thought, that wouldn't be that bad, but then again realized they didn't have chain saws.
We were talking about how they handled food, with no electricity. I've heard about ice boxes and seen a couple but didn't think about the effort involved in using them. Something else that totally took me by surprise was the handling of milk. I knew they always had milk cows, and I grew up with a building called the "milk house". But without refrigeration, I was asking about what they did with the milk. He informed me that they drank the milk, or fed the calves and hogs, kept the creme in jugs and just ran well water over them. Then once a week, took the creme to town to sell. They made their own cottage cheese and it wasn't refrigerated :shock: I realized that his early life had pretty much been outlawed.
I always assumed that the majority of milk was sold, surprised me that they didn't. Later on, they did start selling the milk on a daily basis. And grandpa had a route that he would pick milk up.
When I was young, there was a man and his wife in their 80's that lived not to far from my grandparents, and we rented some land from them. They were great people. They continued to live with an outhouse and wood stove to heat and cook with all their lives. The man would get a pail of water from the well every day. He did that until the day he died suddenly of a heart attack. They owned several much newer rent houses in town, but chose to live they way they always had.
