Aunt Naomi’s Story (Part 44)

Before the back porch was turned into a family room it was a wonderful place for storage, playing and work.  We had a porch swing there that the entire family enjoyed.  The washing machine was used there and wash was hung on clotheslines along the south and west of the house.  If the lines were full, we used the wire yard fence to hang them.  In winter we hung them out and they froze.  We could sit on the porch swing and try to catch sparrows that had built their nests up under the eaves by throwing salt on their tails. (We were gullible.) After the wash was done, we used the water (nothing was wasted) to wash down the porch and cistern rock.  The cistern got slick when it was wet, so we could “swim” or skate on it.  Under the porch was a crawl space.  Usually the kittens were born under there and we had to crawl in that spidery, snakey place to get them.  One time there was a cottonmouth snake around the cistern rock.  We had to be very careful after that.  The gutters from the house brought the rain into the cistern rock and this was pumped up and carried into the house for cooking, cleaning and washing.