Once again, I am reflecting back on those "good old winter days of old."
Wood was plentiful, but also a job to get ready and use to keep those old farmhouses warm. Farmers always worked hard putting up wood for the winter whenever they could, especially in the fall, but with harvest and more winter chores, woodpiles didn't always get to be the size needed.
Winter days were often spent cutting trees with a cross cut saw (or was it a circle saw?) as there were no chainsaws back then. My grandpa had an old bucksaw that he used to cut chunks of wood.
Once the wood was cut, it had to be split into burnable size pieces. Later, the wood had to be carried into the house for the cook stove and the heater. Sometimes neighbors got together and had "wood cutting bees."
Once the wood was burned, the wood burner had to be cleaned and the ashes carried out. Some people used the ashes when they were making soap from lard or for the chickens so they could fluff their feathers, clean and remove little bugs that might want to hassle them. Some farmers spread the ashes in the garden to be worked in for fertilizer in the spring.
Sleeping cool was to be expected as the only heat that went upstairs was through a grate in the floor or from the metal chimney that went through the room and ceiling. The route down the hall and stair steps was colder than a "flight of reindeer." Hopefully, the oven door wasn't occupied so you could get your clothes on without getting too cold.
Beds were usually covered with fleece sheets, which helped keep them warm. The sheets were double, or attached at the bottom like a waterbed sheet until the toenails made holes too big to patch and they had to be separated or cut in two.
The biggest drawbacks to those sheets attached was getting them washed and then dried as they were about 14 feet long, and most generally, they were made of heavy flannel. People didn't need to worry about their homes being dry inside back in those days, even if they did burn wood, because something was always drying inside the homes.
Wood was also needed for the cattle as there was a wood burning tank heater in the water tank outside for the cattle when they were let outside for some brief exercise.
When people talk about those "good old days" I wonder if they are remembering some of the hardships. People had to work outdoors and endure some tough times.
Farmers, who, unlike most today who crop farm, had a variety of chores to tend to, especially when it got cold outside. My mother can remember that Grandpa was always glad once the inside of the barn frosted up. The moisture from inside the barn and the cold from the outside made freezing frost thick enough to fill the holes and cracks in the old barn so the cold air couldn't get in.
Water was a commodity. Though there was a pump in the kitchen, it usually had to be primed with water from the reservoir or from a tea kettle kept on the wood-burning stove.
The wash dish in the sink was always frozen in the morning. The tea kettle was kept busy filling buckets for thawing things out.
Bathing and hair washing was "cleanest person first," and not every day. All of the water for bathing had to first be heated. Hot coffee, hot tea or hot water for cocoa or a kettle of soup was on the stovetop most times, so if someone came in cold they could be warmed up quickly.
Wintertime was slaughtering time for a pig or cow or what have you, because without electricity and refrigeration, meat was not always in big supply in the summer. Those were long, hard days for the farmers.
Usually, the end of the corn crib that was getting low on ears of corn was used for hanging the animals for skinning and so on. Nothing was wasted. The cutting, wrapping, rendering the lard, preparing special cuts like heart, tongue, and pigs’ feet was a big job.
Sausage, hams, rullepulse, and head cheese were all enjoyed — never at my mother’s house, but neighbors often wanted to save the blood for blood sausage.
People weren't the only ones who frequented the house. Baby pigs and lambs often picked the coldest weather for being born and because some needed more heat than others to survive, they were brought in to the house in straw-filled boxes to be warmed and hand fed.
The oven door was a busy part of the kitchen for a number of reasons. My mother loves animals, but to this day she likes to see them kept out of the house. But back in those days, it was a case of "live or let die" and "profit or loss," so you put up with a lot of things you might not like.
Next week I will once again reflect back on more of those "good old days."
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Birthdays and Anniversaries:
• Thursday, January 31st: Ethan River Thompson, his 8th; Avery Routh, her 8th; Dana Jensen, Jim Worrell, Keith Hagen, Sue Richards, David Skroch, Jim & Lois Plunkett.
• Friday, February 1st: Grayson Joseph Bickler, his 5th; Richard Grunwald, Brad Hagen, Tom Olson, Shelly Wencl, Sam & Sharon Peterson, Darrin & Michelle Hanson.
• Saturday, February 2nd: Kia Jayann Buendorf, her 7th; Matt Davis, Addie Farr, Joey Farr, Michael Farr, Butch Otteson, John Fornberg, Robert Hanson, Jim Motz, Karri Bangert, Lillie Fenney.
• Sunday, February 3rd: Bowen Gregory Jensen, his 7th; Julie Hanson, David Johnson, Sherry Misgen, Tara (Stollard) Richards, Francene Pittman, Jeremy Hanson.
• Monday, February 4th: Aaron Duane Bauers, Tyler Cerney, Tyler Sorenson, Waylen Busho Jr., Billy Glynn, David Newgard, John Lent.
• Tuesday, February 5th: Crystal Simonson, Blanche Kasper, Darrell Howell, Randy Reese, Ericka Johnson, Kylee Jace Wilson, Wesley Schoenrock.
• Wednesday, February 6th: Jean Klocek, Carolyn Hanson, Dean Jensen, David Kelly, Martin Bartness, Colleen Borchert, Troy Haddy, Jean Clausen, Sonja Thompson, Megan Stephoni, Todd Nelson, Brooke Burns, Kay Swenson.
Let the good times carry you away on your special day.
