Halloween
14 years ago
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Moving to the country!!
When Cindi was just a few years old, we moved to Durand, Illinois. It was an old farmhouse about a hundred years old. Tom and his family lived there years before when he was younger. It was old but huge. There were 2 stairways to go upstairs-one on each side of the house. The things that I did not like is that there were only 2 closets-one upstairs and one down and the kitchen was very tiny. Shortly after we moved there we started meeting neighbors. One of them had a few of the close neighbor ladies come to her house for a breakfast to meet me Sue and Cindi. Everyone was so nice. That's where we met Mary Jo and her 1 year old daughter, Heather, who was just starting to walk. Mary Jo's husband, Neil, was a farmer so when Mary Jo and I decided to have a garden together at our place he came over with his tractor to plow it and plant our sweet corn. We also had green beans, tomatoes, lettuce, squash and peas. The kids helped when they were older picking the corn and taking the ends off the beans. Everything tasted so good in the winter. I would can lots of tomatoes and freeze lots of beans. Everytime someone came over and we had vegetables in the garden we would fill their trunks. The kids played a lot outside and liked to play school or with their dolls. The winters were cold but the snow was fun to play in. I remember one time during the winter when Sue was waiting for the school bus on the front porch she decided to put her tongue on the iced up window and it got stuck!! We have lots of good memories of living there. Lots of family holidays when the house was filled with people. The country is a great place to raise kids. If any of you kids have any special good memories please write them here-I'd love to hear some. I might not remember them but will if I hear them.
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5 comments:
Wow! Living on the farm sounds wonderful. I hope we own some property with an old farm house (renovated) some day.
I remember doing a lot more than picking the corn and taking the ends off beans!!!
I remember planting seeds, lots and lots of weeding, picking all the veggies, husking the corn, etc etc...
Of course I could write TONS of memories about the farm. But I remember that big ditch in the front off the house was fun to play in, Ikes Lane, the broken down cheese factory, planting a time capsule in the fields, the swing set, playing on the tractor in the garage, the basement: playing pool down there and getting things out of the freezer and also having to turn on some switch in that dark scary back room of the basement, the hole in the floor in my room: which the top of the Christmas tree stuck through, the hot air balloon landing in our field, cows in our front yard, playing "house" in the old outhouse, playing house in the pig pen, the walking sticks and daddy long legs, the abandoned tree house, the tree circle we called our tree house: climbing from tree to tree, the lilacs, cooking up the mushrooms, having 16 outdoor cats at one time, all the litters of kittens we got to play with and sneak in the house, the mouse we snuck in, having gerbils and bunnies, the boxelder bugs in the windows, the tiny room upstairs we all took turns using, Cat always getting stuck up on the roof, the piece of glass in my ankle, the ticks on my head, picking rubbard on the side of the road, our apple orchard, seeing a fox, Theresa living with us for awhile, swim lessons in Pecatonica, Durands Sunoco gas station, the candy store, Dots Diner, Fireworks at the school, garage saleing, girls scouts, swimming in the plastic pool out front and being cold, my "city" friends loving to come and spend the night on the farm, sleepovers with friends, birthday parties at the house, Snow ice cream, having babysitters (poor girls), when the playroom was downstairs in your bedroom: remember playing with Sue in that room, Flame chasing every car that drove by, us digging for worms, dividing up the yard to mow and rake, the Pinto, playing dress up with the clothes in the upstairs closet: your old clothes, getting in trouble for jumping on the bed, hiding food under the table so I wouldn't have to eat it, swallowing the magnet while watching Mr Rogers; you pounding me on the back over the sink, picking the berries, sledding down the hills and the snowmen, getting snowed in at the bottom of the hill not being able to go to school, our phone number being 248-2845, watching Wizard of Oz on a black and white TV, playing ping pong game on the TV, learning how to ride a bike, plus many many more memories.....
Thank you so much Cindi!! That brought tears and laughter to me I loved reading about everything you remember. I bet if everyone did that we'd have lots that we didn't remember. I really loved living in the country with all you kids. It was a great place...
OK...In addition to all of that, I remember...picking lots of purple violets near Ike's Lane; picking clover and sucking on the sweet nector; eating tomatoes and strawberries straight from the garden, hanging thousands of loads of laundry on the outside lines; picking tree sap off the pine trees to chew on, picking currents, gooseberries, raspberries, black berries, and lots of mulberries; playing on top of the pump box thing behind the garage, squeezing through the back of the garage wall to get outside; the HUGE rattle snake that Mom and I saw under the big tree out front that no one else believes we saw because by the time we found a camera it was gone; Robbie's friend climbing to the top of the pine tree and refusing to come down; riding bikes to the Salvato's and Cindi falling and getting hurt; the hayride we took in girl scouts when Lori's house was on fire; visiting the mobile library in the summer and the smell of smoke on the books after it burned; the sock hop I went to one time in downtown Durand; babysitting at age 9; the Apothecary shop; full service gas; the smell of spring; getting car sick in the back of the green car; finding an immigrant family's car in the ditch on State Line Road and them not wanting us to help them; our car going out of control in the snow; the station wagon we had for a short while that we could sit backward in; fitting all 6 of us in the Pinto to take a Sunday ride to the cheese factory, candy store, or A & W; my very first large root beer that made me sick; Sunday night community baths right before Disney and a big bowl of old fashioned popcorn; skating back and forth upstairs and getting yelled at; staying up all night playing school; finding our dog laying in the road on our way out and thinking he was sleeping; the park with the water pump we would take picnics to; swimming in Lake Summerset with the slide; getting my hair cut on the second floor of a building in Durand; hiding an old nickel under a huge boulder near the field; flying kites; the HUGE banana spiders in the corn fields; feeding cats big grasshoppers; only having one bathroom with 6 people; growing up with only one closet full of shoes that we took turns fitting into; bags and bags of clothes from Grandma Gulgren (felt like Christmas!); getting out the big boxes of seasonal clothes and trying them on each year; never beign able to climb the tree that Cindi could; riding bikes really slow to pop the tar bubbles on the road in the summertime; jellybeans all over the house on Easter; selling blackberries to the supermarket one summer; winning on a lottery ticket and buying lunchmeat and milk with the money; being hosed off in the front yard with a bar of soap; Kool aid all day every day; treat cups; home made popsicles; spending hours on the swingset; getting bubblegum from the mailman; the gas man coming and filling up the tanks in the winter; the other gas man exchanging the gas tanks on the front of the house; hiding in the basement during big storms; the baseball sized hail that broke windows; my aunt picking "special plants" and putting them in her trunk to take home; Wally getting stuck in a blizzard and having to walk to our house; a house full of guests at every holiday and having to hand wash all the dishes all the time; taking change to school for our savings account in little yellow envelopes; buying milk at lunch for 5 cents; cookies and milk in kindergarten; riding the short bus to school in kindergarten; phone calls from the school to see if it would be cancelled or not; being snowed in for weeks; washing machine in the basement and dryer in the bathroom; Open House nights and the Christmas program we were in every year; Cindi falling down the basement stairs; Cindi choking on the magnet; Tommy with his forehead gashed open; cutting my leg and getting stitches; no air conditioning in the summer; the smell of the snow melting when it got warm; thinking that sharing a 16 ounce bottle of soda between 4 of us was a real treat; corn on the cob for dinner; the Flintstones vitamin dispenser on top of the shelf above the kitchen sink; the old fashioned washing machine that connected to the kitchen sink and we had to manually move clothes over to be rung out; making a million chocolate chip cookies and always licking the bowl; liver night; sitting on the front porch coloring; the orchids in front of the house; getting stung by nettle; taking an hour to dress for sledding; the girl scout sledding party at our house with homemade hot chocolate; catching jars of lightning bugs; and so much more!!!
That was wonderful Sue!!! I really enjoyed reading everything. Some things I don't remember but am glad that you do!! Now Jen and Tommy have to add something!!
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