Power

This writing is in answer to my friend Sally‘s question. It is in no way intended to be disrespectful to anyone because what occurred was normal and correct for that time and the people involved.

Are you the Jackie that did not have electricity? If so, where were you born? Sally

That is a long /short story And I will tell you the sad tale my friend Sally.
As a little one, up to almost 7 we lived in Cleveland and had all the proper accoutrements of city life. Electricity, gas, coal, water and the ice wagon that went down the street.

When we bought the farm summer of '45, it, (the farm) had a generator. We had wiring for the house, brooder house, chicken coop and barn. but, soon after we moved in, the generator broke, irreparable, forever defunct. All the cash had gone into the house and we had no money for another one nor enough to bring the power down the road to our home. So everything was changed to propane gas that could be changed. The Refrigerator and stove. We had a coal furnace for the winter and kerosene lights for light in the house and lanterns for the outside work.

We had to buy a gas brooder for the 350 chicks I raised every year. (as a side bar, it broke in winter of 51 and we lost most of the chicks. That was the last year for my chicken farming.)

Not till 1950 were my parents able to save the Two Thousand dollars to bring the electric power lines down to our home. There were three farms that needed power and we split the fee three ways.

After several years it was a big Christmas when we bought a Coleman Lantern and we could read in the house after dark. The kerosene lamps were at best dim and hard on the eyes.

When we were in the city we had baths like everyone else. On the farm much to our surprise, the water piped into the house was too hard to use as one would use piped hot and cold water. For baths we used creek water or water from another well far from the house. We also took advantage of Rain water with 50 gal barrels under the drain spout for baths and hair washing. However, sadly, it was always was my brothers job to carry the water by bucketfuls to the house to be heated on the stove for our "bucket baths". For all those years we sat on a milking stool in the bathtub with our feet in the bucket soaping up and rinsing off. Possibly that is why now I take the fastest showers in the world. At least with the soft water we soaped up rather than scumming up with the hard water.

I heard it said we had 55 grains of hardness, (whatever that means. I just knew it wasn't good!) Mom always washed my hair in the sink. Both of these things happened once a week if we needed it or not!
For washing dishes we used the piped water and a weekly chore was to chip the one inch deep buildup of granules from the inside of the teapot used for heating the water. The water heated just clogged up, never to be used again by us.

When the generator died Mom had to use a scrub board for the laundry. As an adult I look back on her life and it must have been horrible. She worked full time, and did "all" the things women of that area did with no help from my Dad, Men just weren't expected to scrub and cook and wash dishes. I had my choirs but surely if I had been more aware I surely would have chosen to do more for Mom.

One could read this and be shocked by the events but it wasn't like that. In those days you just made do, and do, and do. That is just the way it was. And so my friend that is the story of why I had no electricity from '45 to '51, not a sad tale, just a tale that led to more of a tale than "the generator broke".