History Part 2: Childhood Memories.

I am always amazed by people who say they remember clearly things from when they were children, as young as 2.
For myself, my childhood memories are patchy and I'm often unclear of the age at which the memory occurred. I am going to write some memories out but memories are subjective - meaning how I remember a certain event may not be how others remember it.

My memories from the "old house":
This was basically a cabin with a few chicken coops pushed up and attached for bedrooms.
My earliest memories are more tactile than clear.
I remember the smell of mom baking bread in the wood stove. I remember the warmth of the stove. I remember watching my mom bake a lot and stoke the wood stove and the comfort of the smells.
I remember the ice on the floor getting out of bed in the winter to use the "pee pot". I remember how warm, comfortable and crowded that king-sized bed was with 4 of us sharing it. The 4 youngest shared the bed and the 3 oldest got a triple deck bunk bed.
I remember the pot belly heater in the main room. I remember mom telling us to "look out for Marty" every time we opened the root cellar. I remember the dank, musty smell of the cellar and seeing the boys or mom getting canning out of it. I really remember the spiders!
I remember an uncle being drunk and breaking my favorite stool. Not sure which uncle, either George or Joe, both gone now. I remember the parties my parents sometimes had and of course, sneaking drinks.
I remember the outhouse and how frickin' cold it was in winter.
I remember we had a chicken coop and collecting eggs with mom.
I remember the boot room and getting ready for school.
I remember when the dug the basement for the new house. My brother Rick, martin and I collected frogs out of the hole and got in heck for it:)
I remember sledding down the hill and how fun it all was.

I think my sharpest memory, and the one I "blocked out" for most of my life, is the last memory I have of the "old house". That one is explained in "A History Part 1 under The Day It All Went To Hell".

Memories from the "new house":
This was a house my parents had brought to the farm. A 2 story with 3 bedrooms, a proper kitchen and living room and a bathroom.
Mostly I try not to think too much about this house. The best times were had outside of it.
A good memory is when they put the chimney in. The youngest of us kids use to sneak down the hole from the top floor to the kitchen or sometimes even to the basement.
My dad putting drawers into the walls of the bedrooms is another good memory.
There may be 1 or 2 more but I think I'll save them for another note:)
The Bad ones will definitely go into another!