Ichabod Lane and Sleepy Hollow

No, its not a typo, I mean Ichabod Lane not Ichabod Crane. House number 11!
One weekend Mom and Dad told us they had bought a new home but it wasn't built yet. We were going to spend the weekend at the new building site doing some of the work ourselves. For us kid it was usually grand fun. We raked and shovelled, we moved rocks and moved lumber.
One weekend I remember in particular wasn't so much fun. The basement was poured and the forms were removed. Now the basement needed to be sealed on the outside to prevent it from leaking. When we arrived Dad built a bonfire in the back yard and hung the buckets of tar over the fire. Dad passed out the rag mops. We were each to dunk the mop into a bucket of tar and smear it on the walls of the basement. It was one of the most miserable days I could remember from my childhood years.
Tar really stinks. It burns the skin if you aren't careful and when you get it on your skin it really hurts to pull it off. By the end of the day my clothes were ruined, my freckles were brown and black and my hair was stiff. It was many days with much turpentine to get clean.
When the house was finally complete we were all excited to be able to move in. It was a great day and all the wonders of the new home we ours to explore. The hardwood floors were made of random lengths of 2x4's on edge. The fireplace was of man made stone of pastel colors, very modern at the time. I had a large bedroom with a window facing east.
The house was on Ichabod Lane in the housing development known as Sleepy Hollow. We were here for a short time. One night my Dad got up in the middle of the night. He crossed the living room in the dark and his bare foot landed in the open snarling mouth of the bear skin rug centered on the living room floor. The blood curdling scream of Ichabod Crane could be heard throughout sleepy hollow that night!!!!!!!

Slide Rule

While we lived at a motel I attended yet another school. It was a nice school, with a great math teacher. East Valley Middle School was my next stop on my education trip. Unfortunately I was only there for a few weeks. This was my third school.
At the time I didn't realize it but we were at the motel while we were waiting for our house to become available.

At the first of September 1959 we moved into a small house on south 7th in Coeur d'Alene. It was a nice house but very small and home number 9.
We started attending the Catholic School in Coeur d'Alene. We wore uniforms and attended church before school every morning. The nuns taught the classes. For the first time my teacher was interested in me and how I learned. Before, I was forced to learn anyway they could teach me.
So in the fourth grade I finally learned how to learn and from then on learning was fun!
I remember one night the lighting struck very close to our home and broke several windows.

I also remember I was getting nose bleeds all the time so I had nose surgery. I was recuperating for the surgery , lying on the sofa in the living room for days, my nose packed with cotton.
My sister was dating an older guy, Gary Boothe. He was in college and very intellegent, he was studying to be an engineer. He came to the house to pick up Jerry for a date. Jerry was late so to fill the time he showed me how to use a slide rule to do my math homework. It was so much fun.
One day many weeks after I was back to school I came home and the brand new car Dad had bought was in the drive way with all the tires flat! I knew something was going on and I couldn't wait to find out what the story was.
I didn't say anything when I went in the house. I put my books away and sat down in the kithchen. I waited.........nothing all through dinner. Then as the table was cleared Dad asked my brother "Why?". My brother tried to explain. He saw on tv kid lined up nails behin the car and when the car backed out of the drive the tires went flat. My brother wanted to know if it would really work.
I couldn't beleive it. My Dad just broke out laughing. It was so unfair.
I learned the next day that my little brother would lose his allowance and have to work at the shop every weekend for the rest of the month.
Mom was working at JC Penney's and Dad has opened a shoe repair shop. Things were going good. In October, we moved across town to a much larger home. It was an older two story home with a wonderful front porch and Chestnut trees at the curb on Montana Steet. My half sister Deannie was married and but for some reason she came to live with us. I think her husband was in the military but I am not sure. House #10

Then there was 3rd Grade

It was late October of 1958. We drove only a short while in the semi with our new home tagging along behind. We pulled into a small trailer park and slept the night in the cold, unlit and unlevel trailer. Come Monday morning we went to Winton School in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Winton School was a wonderful place. I learned cursive writing, my times tables and wore my first pair of glasses. I had a friend that was dear to my heart, we shared many times and I especially loved the ride home from school on the school bus. She got off the bus before my stop and I was lonely the rest of the ride home. One day I begged her to stay on the bus with me promising it really wasn't very far. She stayed on till my stop and then went home with me. She called her parents from my home and her parents came and got her. The next day at school we snuck off to the restroom. I asked if she got it much trouble, I was feeling very guilty for begging her to do wrong. She raised her skirt and I could see the black and blue marks of the belt. I have never forgotten the terrible guilt I felt. This is the first time I truly saw that my actions hurt someone else. It is also the first time I realized that I actually had very good parents. Our neighbor was a couple from Sweden. They spoke very little english but some how we communicated. I remember a lot of pictures and a translator dictionary. This is when I realized my Dad was deaf. I never noticed before that we had to be sure to face Dad when we spoke or that sometimes we had to write what we were saying. It seemed normal to us. Dad could read lips well enough to not need much help in the world in general. I never thought of Dad as being any different than anyone else's dad. On the other hand I always knew Mom's vision wasn't the same as everyone else. At this time she wore very thick glasses but she could still see and drive. We stayed at this location until August of 1959. Mom and Dad sold the trailer and we moved to a motel in Spokane Valley. Home number 8.

little trailer BIG TRAILER

It was only the last week of school, May of 1958. I came home from school that same as always. I got off the bus and walked about 2 blocks to our house. There in the driveway was a silver trailer, the kind used to camp in. Mom and Dad were chatting and packing things into the trailer. My brother and I assumed we were going camping. We each went to our bedrooms to find that even our bed had been disassembled and were sitting in the garage. Finally we are told that we are moving again. It sounds so exciting. We are moving and it is like an extended camping trip! Come to find out we are only moving to a suburb of Spokane, Opportunity and a new school. We moved to a little trailer park by the railroad tracks. It was grand for us, as children. We loved to watch the trains as they came by but my parents didn't see it the same way. Each time our little trailer rattled because of the passing train Mom and Dad would grumble. I knew they were unhappy. We had a tiny yard, just big enough to play hula hoop in....Dad showed us how to tie a slip knot, how to watch the stars and we even sat outside very late one light and watched sputnik streak across our sky. It was wonderful, I even read about it the next day in the newspapers. We lived in the little trailer for about 4 months and as always Mom and Dad made it seem like a great adventure and wonderful. This small trailer was our 6th home. This chapter ended one day in late September of 1958 when Mom and Dad pulled up in front of the school in a Semi with a large mobile home towed behind. Dad was driving and Mom called me to hop up into the cab and I knew we were off to another adventure.

This is the seventh home.

Another Move

We're moving, we're moving! We sang it throughout the house, throughout the day, throughout the entire drive. We didn't know where we were going but we didn't care. It was the excitement of the change! Better or worse, at least it would be different!! Mom and Dad had worked most of the evening before and now we all worked all day sorting, packing and loading everything. Two trucks, Mom driving one with my brother and me as her passengers. Dad driving the other truck with my older sister along. Down the unknown road we all go, to a new town, a new home, new people and a new start. It was all delicious and breathtaking. It was July of 1957. We all pulled into the driveway of a big new modern home. Very different than the barn-turned-home we had been living in. The new home had sheet rock walls and a Basement! I had my own bedroom, there were two bathrooms and both of them were inside the house. The surprises went on and on. We had a lawn rather than a wheat field around the house. I was in a wonderland.
I have many memories of this home, playing canasta with Mom and Dad, eating grapes form the plant in the backyard, coming home from school with the measles, the doctor coming to the house to pronounce the sentence of bed rest, the mumps a week later. So many things.
My half sister on my Dad's side came to stay with us for the school year. That was awful. I didn't care for her much and my older sister really didn't like her.
We even had an automatic dishwasher in the tiny kitchen. Dad worked at Goodwill learning to upholster furniture and cobble shoes. Mom worked at Safeway as a cashier. We went to McFarland School the entire year. I joined girl scouts and brownies. It was a good year. Dad even bought a Cadillac car.
It was so large that my friends and I would play house in the back seat. It was our living room and the front seat was the kitchen. It was so plush and made a wonderful play house.
I never knew why but it was all to end in May of 1958.

This was our fifth home.

Retirement Present?

We were the only white family allowed to live on the DeSmet Reservation. We lived there only because of Mom's position as Federal Post Mistress. We were not overly welcome and often teased about our race.
We attended the Catholic School with everyone else that lived on the reservation. The nuns were difficult task masters and, of course, very rule oriented. I was in the first grade and I was not an easy child, I often would leave class and go home in the middle of an assignment. I did the work when and how I decided to. Consequently I spent a lot of time in the Mother Superior's office (which is the equivalent of the principle's office).
Our class room was set up in rows of desks, the first grade was in the row farthest from the door. The next row was the second grade and so it continued through the 6th grade, all in the one classroom. It wasn't unusual for the class to be interrupted but it usually involved one of the older grades.
It was in the spring of 1957, probably May, when the Mother Superior of the Convent announced her retirement. Of course there was a lot of the talk among the students as to whom would replace her.
I was only 6 years old and in the first grade so all of this "school" stuff was new to me and I didn't understand any of this. What I remember was that one day the class was interrupted when one of the sisters walked into the classroom.
Today it was to announce that there would be a drawing to decided who would represent the school at Mother Superiors retirement. They had put every one's name in the drawing and although I didn't understand what was actually happening I did know that a drawing meant a prize! A prize was always coveted! I must want to win this very much!
I told my parents my version of the events and I was cautioned by them not to hope too much. There were many children in the drawing.
The next morning I was called to the Mother Superior's office. This was not an unusual event so I simply wondered which of the rules I had broken and how long until I could go to recess. Instead I was told I had been selected to ride with Mother Superior to the retirement convent in Spokane Washington. I had won the contest!
I was on a cloud. I got up early the morning of the ride. I wore my best school uniform. I had my hair braided with special ribbons. I ate a special breakfast so as to not be hungry on the trip. It was almost 90 miles!
Three us were to go in the convent's pick up truck. One of the younger sisters was to drive, I sat in the middle and Mother Superior rode in the passenger seat. I could see the road whizzing by through the floor board of the old truck. I was very nervous.
Soon the motion of the truck, the road flowing by underfoot and my breakfast began a war on my stomach. In one explosive moment I had ruined my day. I vomited on Mother Superior! I was terrified.
We pulled off the road and Mother Superior cleaned herself the best she could with the few tissues we had. We all climbed back into the truck and continued our trip.
I was so ashamed. I cried and apologized until I finally fell asleep in Mother Superior's lap and slept through the rest of the trip. I don't remember anything else of the trip but I am sure it was a trip that Mother Superior remembered!

Jobedien

I had a wonderful friend when I was 5 years old. Her name was Jobedien. We shared dollies, ice cream bars and sodas.
When Jobedien's mother would come to the grocery store Jobedien and I would sit on the porch steps and share what ever treat we could whine out of my mother.
I remember her face......round with youthful cheeks and dark shining eyes. We held hands as best friends at 5 years old often do. We talked of our dollies and traded their clothes. It was wonderful.
Then one day in June of 1956 it all ended! We sat on the porch step with a 1/2 Popsicle each. It seemed like every other day. Jobedien's mother came out of the store with her grocery bags.
When Jobedien stood to go home, her mother noticed the wet spot left on the step. "Jobedien did you wet your pants?" she asked. Jobedien never even hesitated. "No momma, Shery did it!"
I was aghast and heartbroken and betrayed. I never sat with Jobedien again. Even at 5 years old I was knew things wouldn't be the same again.
We left the reservation a few months later, moved to another town but 38 years later I was sitting in a restaurant in Chandler Arizona having dinner with a friend. A woman approached our table and asked if I knew of De Smet Idaho.
I was shocked and perplexed. It was such an "out of the blue" question. I answered "Yes I know of it. Why?" She asked if I remembered Jobedien. "Yes" as the astonishment showed in my voice and face I am sure. I asked if she knew her and how she knew I would know her. She announced that she was Jobedien and that she recognized my voice!
We sat a visited a little. I found that she was in Chandler just for the evening and I explained I was there for as long as the job lasted, which would be only a few months. We said our good byes and both went our own ways. Life is strange.

Thats our home?

The new house. What a project. When we first moved to the reservation we were living in a small trailer. Mom had gotten the job of Post Mistress at the reservation Post Office. It was a good job because it was a federal government job. The Post Mistress ran a small post office that was housed inside a local small grocery store. Dad managed the local grocery store for the tribal council.
Housing was not included in either job so Dad decided to tear down the attached barn board by board. He even saved the nails. He used the lumber to build us a home attached to the grocery/post office. Every night after the grocery store closed until the sun was down Dad would work on the house.
Often Mom would be right beside him helping. My self and my younger brother were each given a hammer and it was our job to straighten all the used nails. My older sister was the official holder and helper.
It took many months, from September to May. I never want to straighten another nail! Once it was finished we had a beautiful home, custom and polished with hardwood floors. We had running water, a kitchen sink, bathroom sink, tub and toilet.
I can remember the first time I used the new toilet. There were no walls so Dad tacked up some cardboard for a little privacy. It was so great to have an "indoor" toilet again. We had been using the outhouse.
One Saturday my brother and I had the day off from "nail duty". We decided we would use some of the left over lumber to make ourselves a slide. We propped a board against the out side of the house, we climbed on the roof and I took my turn first. I slid down the board......I only made it about 6".
I immediately went to Mom screaming and crying!! She asked why I was screaming and in between sobs I explained that I had hurt my bum. I lifted my dress and mom burst out laughing. I remember the relief as I lay over her lap, bottom up.
I never tried to make my own slide again.

This barn converted to home was our fourth home.

HOLY SMOKE!!

We have been living in the rented house since September of 1955. We rented it from the Catholic convent for the winter months because Dad had not finished building our home. He worked on the "new" house on week ends only so it was taking a long time to complete. The house used to be the convent's handyman's quarters. Dad had taken the position as handyman also to help with the finances. Each day both my parents went to work and we went to school at the convent. After school we would stay with the nuns until supper time when we would head home and have the meal Mom had already prepared and put in the refrigerator. On weekends Mom and Dad would work on the new house and we would go with them when possible, which was most of the time. Occasionally we would have to stay at home and my sister would babysit us. This Saturday Mom and Dad were working at the new house all day and it was extremely cold so we stayed home. It was only 4 days before Christmas, Mom and Dad had put the tree up, set the lights on it and put the gifts around the bottom. The tree was set in the corner of the living room with a window on each side. It was the perfect place for the tree. We were suppose to add the ornaments, tinsel and popcorn garland. Jerry, myself and my little brother occupied our day by decorating the Christmas tree. We spent most of the day adding to the tree. We stopped only for meals. My brother and I made paper snow flakes, while my sister set up the small manger scene on the floor next to the tree. We were very proud of our work. It was now after dark and Jerry decided to surprise Mom and Dad by lighting up the manger scene under the window to the right of the tree. There were three little candles that were in the scene. She had been told not to light the candles but we thought it would be OK because mom and dad would be home soon anyway. The candles were lit and it was beautiful..........................for about 30 seconds. The candles lit the manger on fire, which caught the plastic curtains, which lit the tree which caught the house on fire. We were running from the kitchen to the fire with pots of water as fast as we could. The fire just grew and grew and soon the presents were on fire. As the flames grew and smoke billowed the nuns came running and they pulled us out. All the nuns rushed the fire and tried their best but to no avail. The sight was not a pretty one that greeted Mom and Dad a few minutes later. It was a Christmas to remember but not in a good way!

Spring Cookies

In the house my family rented from the Catholic convent in De Smet, Idaho we had a few memorable moments. My sister is 6 years older than myself so she ended up babysitting me and my younger brother. Being so young, 11 years old, she thought more like a child than an adult. One December Saturday she wanted to be with her friends but instead she was babysitting us. To entertain ourselves she decided we should bake some peanut butter cookies. We were excited because we could surprise Mom and Dad with the cookies and we could all eat as many cookies as we wanted before they came home. I remember helping measure and stir, my sister even let me put some cookies on the baking sheet. In the oven they went to bake for 10 minutes. We set out glasses of milk to drink with our sample tasting. We went to the living room to play cards while we waited for the rest of the 10 minutes to lapse. We soon forgot the cookies. The banging on the door and the yelling of the nuns from the convent broke up the card game. As we rushed to answer the door we had to pass through the kitchen which was filled with acrid black smoke. As I ran to open the door, sis opened the oven and removed the black pucks. After the nuns "admonished" Jerry to tears, they "assured" us not to bake anymore cookies. Jerry was worried that Mom and Dad would be angry over the burnt cookies, cookie sheet and the commotion we caused the nuns. To hide her "sin" ( the burnt cookies and ruined baking sheet) she buried them in the snow bank under the eave of the house. We opened all the doors and window, mopped the floors with pinesol, bleached the sink, anything we could think of to get rid of or cover the smell of the burnt disaster. When Dad and Mom got home they praised us very much for all the cleaning we had done. We felt we had gotten away with everything and soon forgot about it all. However, when May came around, the weather warmed and the snow had melted Dad found the baking sheet with the burnt cookies still on it. We were found out! Of course enough time had passed since the "sin" that Dad was not mad and we were relieved.

A Better Mouse Trap?!!!

De Smet is the beginning of my continuous memory. I have many memories from De Smet. I remember we were all sitting at the dinner table one evening in a small house that we rented from the Catholic church. It was really just a shack. We always heard the rats in the walls, but this night my dad looked up at the kitchen sink and saw a rat looking at him from behind the counter. Dad was so angry he went into the bedroom and got the shotgun. He stuck the barrel in the hole he had seen the rat through and fired. And I remember him hollering "Take that you filthy creature!" Of course the shot gun killed the rat, the wall, the counter, the sink and the water pipes. What a disaster! Water was spewing everywhere, there was a 12" hole in the wall that you could see the outside through. Dad had to work the whole next day getting everything repaired. I think that was the day Dad decided to build our own home. It was a long project but that is another story for another day.

BINGO!!!!

In 1955 my family lived in De Smet, Idaho. De Smet is an Indian Reservation and we were the only white family allowed to live there. My mom had a government post there as the Post Mistress. The Reservation was served by a Catholic convent. The convent ran the school on the reservation.
To raise money for the school and church the nuns held bingo nights. I was only 5 years old. Mom enjoyed bingo so we children went to bingo with her. If we behaved we were allowed to play our own bingo card. My shining memory was that one night I had bingo and told mom. She told me to yell bingo but I was too shy. She cried out for me "BINGO" but I had to go up on stage and pick out which prize I wanted. I took a long time and looked at all the prizes. I finally decided on a set of Pyrex pots. I was so proud of those pans. They were too heavy for me to carry by myself. The Mother Superior helped me carry them back to my seat. It was a wonderful night.

Beautiful Memory

As we meandered the road in our 1939 Ford Mom and Dad talked. The cupboard at home was bare. The night before mom had fixed the last of the meat for dinner. The family was on the way deep into the mountains to do a little hunting. We live in remote Idaho but we drove even deeper into the forest because it wasn't hunting season, but it was time to fill the larder.
The old truck was very cold. Dad drove, Mom was in the passenger seat and my little brother on her lap, My sister and I were squished in between. The rain was sheeting down with thunder so loud we little ones cried. The lightening was so close that dad told us to not touch any metal in the truck in case we were struck by the lightening.
We were creeping along the road, very slowly. Once I peaked over my brother out the side window. The road was so narrow I couldn't see the side of the road beneath us. I was terrified.
It had been dark for a long time. I was exhausted. Finally there was an old abandoned shack off a side road. There was no stove, no source of heat, there wasn't even a door. There were, however, a few holes in the floor. We each laid out our sleeping bags where we wanted. I remember choosing to lay so I could see the door. I was terrified a bear would come in the door.
Finally my exhaustion won out over fear and I fell asleep. I woke up once in the middle of the night, there was a scratching sound in the far corner. I eventually plucked up my courage and peaked over the edge of my sleeping bag. I saw to little eyes with a sort of red glint, a rat! I knew that look. I threw my shoe and it was gone. I slept the rest of the night.
The opening with no door faced east. I woke early, whether from the discomfort of sleeping on the hard floor or from the shivers of being chilled all night. I woke just before the sun rose. Even at the age of 4 I knew the special moment of that day. I was the only one awake as I watched the sun peak over the mountain view out the open doorway. Slowly the sunshine mark moved across the floor. I noticed a waterfall across the ravine. The memory of the waterfall in the morning mist is the most beautiful memory I have.

My earliest memory

My earliest memory.....It was a spring day. There is a main house, a dirt road, Hauser lake and a mobile home or camper. My sister is standing in the door way of the camper with a very pretty speical dress on. It has methiolate spilled on it. Mom is very angry. I am crying, my sister is crying. Later I was told this was my sister's birhtday at my paternal grandparents lake home at Hauser lake. My dad had built a small shack type home on one end of their property. My sister had scratched herself and mom had told her it was ok. My sister wanted some first aid. She decided to do it herself. When she opened the methiolate she spilled it on her party dress.That is all that I remember of that story.
The other memory of this same age is of two large gallon glass jars sitting on the kitchen counter next to the sink. There is no lid on the jars, instead they are covered with thin dish towels and sealed with large red rubber bands. The milk had curdled with the whey at the top. I know from familiarity that mom is making cottage cheese. I was very small, probably 2 maybe 2 1/2 years old.
According to my mother this was the third place we had lived since I was born. The first was Thompson Falls, Montana, the secon was Noxon, Montana and Hauser Lake was the third.