My Dad’s Story ~ part 2

Jan 30, 2020

But first, I wanted to show you the photo for the background…

as a background, I like it. It is very much abstract, I know, but for certain things it works.

And now, part two of my dad’s story.

Hope you enjoy!!

** I could’ve sworn I had found some pics of the houses my bad was born in and where he lived in Hyndman, but for the life of my I can not find them. I will continue searching… but for now, here’s part two of my dad’s story!

One winter, while we were still living in Ridgeley, I had my tonsils out. While I was there, one of my friends caught his clothes on fire while sledding. He had run his sled through a bonfire and was brought to the hospital at the same time I was there. I was probably about 6 years old. I don’t remember any other details, except that he was there at the same time I was.

In 1947 my family moved to Wiley Ford, WV. I was 10 years old at the time. My father built it, and when we moved in we had no indoor plumbing or basic heat. Not in the sense that you think of indoor plumbing or heat nowadays! For water, we used a garden hose that was hooked up to the kitchen sink. There was a well that was a common well that four houses shared. When we wanted hot water, we had to heat it up on the stove. When we needed to take a bath, we had to heat the water, run the water to the tub (indoors) and keep going back and forth until we had enough water. How did we drain the water out? With buckets! We didn’t have a bathroom (flush toilet) in the house until we installed one in the basement a few years later. We used an outhouse until then…

We didn’t have a basement when we moved in either. We dug it out later. Back in those days, you could do that! You built the basics, then added on as you could afford to. When we dug out the basement, we installed a bathroom with a shower.  I helped install the plumbing and the drain field.

One of my first memories, after moving to Wiley Ford, was looking for parts to put a bike together. Before living here, I could never own a bike.  After moving to Wiley Ford, my parents couldn’t afford bikes for all three of us. Was it fair to buy a bike for one, and not the other? So, we had to either do without or figure out how to get one on our own.  I did accomplish finding parts to build a bike. Have you ever heard the song by Johnny Cash, “One Piece at a Time”? That’s what I had, only it was a bike and it was easier to put together!

Eventually, both of my brothers had bikes as well. My brother, Keith, and I both had paper routes. I killed a lot of copperhead snakes! I was also run off the road by cars and trucks, chased by dogs (Imagine that!). Some of my customers really appreciated me on windy, rainy days. I would walk the paper up to the house and stick the paper behind the screen door when it was possible.   

I have always enjoyed working with my hands. I’d help my neighbors when they were building a house or garage. I helped put a roof on one of my neighbors’ houses, the Mongols. The neighbor couldn’t figure out the angles, so I made a pattern for him.  I also helped the Ross’ and Matthews’ put roofs on their garages. 

At Christmas, I made gifts for my aunts and uncles.  I made maple leaf shelves, book ends, and candle holders. I also made Christmas ornaments out of walnuts (we still have some of this handy work!!). I did this by cutting the nuts in half (after they were dried) and numbering them (so I could put them back together again), then spray painting them silver and gluing them back together.  

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To read part one of my dad’s story, click here

to read part three of the story, click here

Hope you enjoyed!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!!

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