It’s been forever and a day since I’ve posted anything! My life is so busy right now that I barely have time to think it seems, much less putting my thoughts into words! But this morning, I found myself reminiscing to times long ago. When did I become my parents or grand parents?? Lol!
50 years old….thats what I’ll be this year. I remember when that seemed old and yet, here I am. And it’s not only the age…but time just goes by so much more quickly now, it seems. As I was sitting here drinking my coffee on this cold brisk morning, the temp outside is 7 degrees and the wind chill is negative 4!! We live in an old farm house that really doesnt have any insulation at all. It’s plenty warm in here though! We have two propane gas wall heaters that keep this old house warm for the most part. But the bathroom stays fairly chilly and the floors that aren’t carpet such as the bathroom amd kitchen are ice cold!! If you are a barefoot gal like me, you learn quickly that socks are a necessity during winter! But, it’s a small inconvenience really. Because growing up,it seemed far worse than now. As I reminisced back to my younger days, I remember as a child how me and my sister and cousin would have to split firewood and gather coal and pack it down into the basement. We had a huge coal furnace in our unfinished basement and it was our job to keep it going. Me and my sister got placed with our Aunt and Uncle at a fairly young age. I don’t have any memories of either one of them really doing much to keep the fire going. What I do remember is cutting and stacking firewood in the snow and I can still remember how heavy it felt. At the time, I was around 12 years old…my cousin being a year behind me and my sister being 2 years older. I also remember having to go out at night to load buckets full of coal and packing it downstairs into the basement and filling the furnace….sometimes making 2 or 3 trips at a time. Life was hard back then….much harder than most youth today experience. Many homes get heat at the touch of a thermostat. I remember having those huge grates on the floor that the heat woukd come up through….and my feet woukd be so cold that I woukd stand on the hot grate just to warm my feet up….and it was only once they were warmed that I’d realize the grate was actually hot from the heat.
Moving forward to my early 20s, I lived in a trailor that had no heat at all and most if the underpinning was off. During the winters there, wr would block off the living room and kitchen with blankets and we would run a kerosene heater to keep warm. And there were even times that I didn’t uave money for kerosene or didn’t have a way to go get some, and I actually remember sleeping in an army sleeping bag that I had gotten from my brother in law. It even had a head piece on it…so once it was zipped up, the only area exposed was your face. Amazingly, it kept me warm! During the snowstorm of 1994, we were without power for 1 to 2 weeks and that kerosene heater even provided a way to cook meals! And our refrigerated items were kept in a cooler outside in the snow!
Thos days and times were rough,but I learned how to improvise! A month or so ago, my daughter had an electrical issue and was going to be without power for a few days. Of course, I gave her the option to stay here but she preferred to stay home as our grandson has all his toys there, his bed, and she also has animals. So I told her how to hang blankets and how to keep an area warm with a propane heater and use candles for light. Luckily her electricity was able to be fixed sooner than expected and she never had to resort to that. BUT I was thankful to he able to teach her about that because it may come to be useful someday!
It’s no secret that young people today, both young adults and children, have many more conveniences and luxuries than our older generation had. So it’s important to teach them survival techniques that we may have learned when times were hard. Because technology can fail and weather can still be treacherous,and power outages still happen. The same goes for opening your cabinets to keep your pipes warm amd from freezing,allowing faucets to drip so the lines don’t freeze. Seems like common sense to me….but knowledge is power and if they’ve never been taught or shown to do these simple hacks….how would they know?
As difficult as times may have been for me during my younger years, I’ve come to embrace the lessons I’ve learned from them. And yes, maybe I have a love/hate relationship with coal furnaces and wood stoves and even fire places…..but it didn’t kill me and they did help keep me warm! And I do look forward to the day we can build our new house and then maybe our floors won’t be so damned cold🤣 But we have a warm home and some don’t even have that. And as I reflect back on those younger days, I think how nice it would have been to only have cold floors😊
So, if you have children and grand children….teach them what you have learned! Maybe they act as though you’re wasting their time or maybe they act like it’s an inconvenience to be taking them away from social media…..but teach them regardless! It’s the old ways that may become useful to them someday. Teach them while you’re still around to teach them. Knowledge is power🥰
Here’s to hoping you are all safe and warm! Take care!
Essential Homesteading 