As was usual in our home, life was unusual. The house we had was too small but it had been the easiest one to rent quickly. I slept on the porch, Floyd slept in the eating area of the kitchen. While I enjoyed the openness the windows of the porch gave me, my brother longed for privacy. He decided the best way to get this was to drape a tent canvas from the ceiling to the floor to make a wall between his sleeping area and the active kitchen. (I say active kitchen because it was the entry to the house, we actually never cooked or ate in this home.)
He then painted the walls flat black, including the canvas "wall". He papered the windows with paper grocery sack and painted them black also. He had turned it into a dark hole in the living space of the house.
We lived in this house for 4 months. I didn't object to this house but I wasn't sorry to leave it behind either.
On to # 13.
This house was a tract house, smart yellow and landscaped lawn, on the south side of town. It had hard wood floors, a nice kitchen (again, it was never used other than to store cold drinks and occasionally a loaf of bread.) a modern stylish fireplace of stone and we each had our own sleek bedroom.
It was a very long distance to walk to the city pool though. What I remember most about this house was the loneliness. It seemed no one was ever there. We had no tv, I had no friends in this neighborhood. Although we had moved to the other side of town, mom and dad decided to keep up in the same school district we had been in. All my school friends live on the other side of town. The pool was the meeting place for all the kids in town as this was a desert town.
I have only two outstanding memories of this town:
1. I was at the pool when the lifeguard pulled me out and told me I would have to sit out until my nose bleed stopped. I didn't even realise I had a nose bleed! An hour later the lifeguard called the ambulance because my nose bleed was not stopping. I was sent to the hospital and I remember thinking "Sure hope Dad and Mom can find me". I was given some coagulants and antihistamines and released. I was 12 years old and I walked out of the hospital and walked 3 miles home. I don't think Mom and Dad ever found out about this. I was afraid if I told them they wouldn't let me go swimming again.
2. On Saturdays we went to the "potato sheds". These were buildings with a roof but no floor or walls, just posts supporting the roof. Trucks from the potato fields emptied their load here and the potatoes were moved to the processing area by a conveyor in the center of the building. The ground was covered with potatoes that spilled from the trucks and the conveyor. These potatoes were free to anyone that wanted to glean them. We ate a lot of potatoes that year.
He then painted the walls flat black, including the canvas "wall". He papered the windows with paper grocery sack and painted them black also. He had turned it into a dark hole in the living space of the house.
We lived in this house for 4 months. I didn't object to this house but I wasn't sorry to leave it behind either.
On to # 13.
This house was a tract house, smart yellow and landscaped lawn, on the south side of town. It had hard wood floors, a nice kitchen (again, it was never used other than to store cold drinks and occasionally a loaf of bread.) a modern stylish fireplace of stone and we each had our own sleek bedroom.
It was a very long distance to walk to the city pool though. What I remember most about this house was the loneliness. It seemed no one was ever there. We had no tv, I had no friends in this neighborhood. Although we had moved to the other side of town, mom and dad decided to keep up in the same school district we had been in. All my school friends live on the other side of town. The pool was the meeting place for all the kids in town as this was a desert town.
I have only two outstanding memories of this town:
1. I was at the pool when the lifeguard pulled me out and told me I would have to sit out until my nose bleed stopped. I didn't even realise I had a nose bleed! An hour later the lifeguard called the ambulance because my nose bleed was not stopping. I was sent to the hospital and I remember thinking "Sure hope Dad and Mom can find me". I was given some coagulants and antihistamines and released. I was 12 years old and I walked out of the hospital and walked 3 miles home. I don't think Mom and Dad ever found out about this. I was afraid if I told them they wouldn't let me go swimming again.
2. On Saturdays we went to the "potato sheds". These were buildings with a roof but no floor or walls, just posts supporting the roof. Trucks from the potato fields emptied their load here and the potatoes were moved to the processing area by a conveyor in the center of the building. The ground was covered with potatoes that spilled from the trucks and the conveyor. These potatoes were free to anyone that wanted to glean them. We ate a lot of potatoes that year.
