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.
cistern
Life at Schubert’s… by Aunt Bea (part 1)
Down at Schubert’s, daddy built mom a sink safe (or cabinet). He never painted or varnished it. The pump was green and the pipe went straight down into the cellar. At Schubert’s, the cistern was kind of right outside the cellar somehow and we need to ask Vernon how daddy managed getting it into the cellar… I don’t remember. We could pump water into the sink and it didn’t freeze up like the outside pump in cold weather. The pump outside was a chain device like ours was on the Stressnor place. The cistern was under the porch room, so the water was usually cold. And when the summer heat melted the butter and soured the cream, we put them (I don’t remember how) down into the cistern to keep them from spoiling. That was before daddy bought mom the coal oil refrigerator. I remember the frige was full of gallon jars full of cream before we made butter on Friday. Daddy would get ice at the Schubert service station to put around the butter on Saturday while we peddled it. We also had cooked cheese made on Friday. The cheese curds were soured and allowed to ferment on a shelf in the kitchen. It stank very badly. If someone came, Mom took down one of the pans of cheese and stirred it in the presence of the guest so that they didn’t think the smell was of baby diapers. Mom was a very resourceful person…bless her soul!
Photo Friday
I really like these old photos taken around Grandma and Grandpa house. It’s really fun to look at how things have changed over the years. Kenny Williams has obviously changed.
Aunt Cleo send this photo in. She says that it’s the only photo she has seen that has their old well in it. Does anyone have another?