Saturday, work, work, work

       Hubs and I went to the church to help clean as it was our week and no one else showed up so we got to clean the whole church by ourselves.  It was not too bad as we are used to cleaning a big bank and we just divided it up like we do the bank.   We are going to work on Nutcracker set pieces today.  I am going to do a little sewing and some cleaning.  The refrigerator desperately needs a go through. Laundry could be done.

     Hubs is going to Home depot to get some supplies for the props. I have a couple of customers coming over so I need to stay home and wait for them. I am a little bit cold.  I think I worked up a sweat cleaning the church and now I am sitting and freezing.  See what hard work does to you?  I just have so much to do, I cannot even face the list.  I simply have to get my books done for both the house and the studio.  I cannot put it off any longer.  Blah!  I really want a nap, waaaaaahhh...

 Cont:

     Alcohol was abused on both sides of our family.  Dad's family had alcohol and crazy which was worse than just plain old alcohol.  Things were always really volatile with dad's family.  I loved them, I loved my cousins family, but they were scary in a way as you never knew when there was going to be a blow and you did not want to be around when things got ugly.  There just was not a lot of stability.  My mother had no help or support from his family and they did not want him back.  I remember having lots of laughs with my cousins but always waiting in trepidation for the other foot to fall.  Mom felt she was rescuing us when she left the Dakotas and I have to see now that she was.

     I remember the night before we left everything was packed in a Uhaul truck except for 3 mattresses we were sleeping on.  My pet dog Sparky was big pregnant with her 2nd litter of pups.  We were worried about her traveling, but what could we do?  We had dinner down the street at the neighbors and the whole neighborhood was there.  We all ate out under a huge mosquito shelter in the Butcher's back yard.  I remember we had fried chicken gizzards my favorite.  I was such a gourmand.   Mom and dad put us to bed early as we were leaving town very early.  I remember the neighborhood kids coming to the bedroom window to say goodbye.  They were on their bikes and wanted Sis and I to sneak out the bedroom window and go for one last ride around the block.  I do not know why I who was always the timid good girl would be convinced that this was okay.  But I climbed out the window and got on the handle bars of my friend Marvels bike.  We were riding and laughing in the twilight.  I was wearing light baby doll pj's seersucker with little pink flowers.  We rode around and said goodbye to a lot of our friends.  I felt so scandalous.  On the way home Marvel hit a large bump and my foot went down into the spokes of her front wheel.  It stopped us instantly.

     I can still remember the pain.  We were a couple blocks from home and a strange man came out of his house because he heard me screaming.  What a mess.  I had done a really good job and spokes had to be cut away to release my ankle.  There was blood everywhere.  I remember the man's hands being very slippery, I did not realize it was my own blood.  I must have been in shock.  He carried me to my house and Mom and Dad came to the door.  I remember Mom in a nightgown and dad in his shorts.  They were very upset, but I was badly hurt so I did not get a beating.  My ankle was not broken but sliced clear to the bone.  I had a piece of skin sliced off to the cartilage on the outside of my ankle.   I remember Dad cutting the end of his sheet off into strips to bind my leg.  It took forever for the bleeding to stop.  Neighbors came everyone loudly offering advice.  Sis was jealous as I was getting all the attention, but I would have gladly changed places with her.  When we had finally all gotten back to bed and the house was quite, I could not sleep.  My ankle throbbed, and throbbed, but I could hear something funny in the hall way, when I looked out I thought I could see a blob in the middle of the floor.  It just looked like a blob but it was moving.  I remember calling out for Mom as the blob scared me and she got up and I saw her stop by the blob.  She shouted out to Dad, " Sparky is having her puppies!"  There was a trail of puppies leading into the bathroom.

     Dad started to cut more off the sheet to clean up the floor.  He then folded the remainder to make a bed to Sparky and her 5 pups.  We took off the next morning.  My bandages were changed and I could not walk at all.  Dad carried me to the moving Van. I had to ride in there as Mom thought the kids would bump my foot.  There was no air conditioning back in those days.  We put Sparky on the floor in front of me and I was seated next to dad with my foot propped up.  It was so hot.  Even with the windows open it was hot.  Poor Sparky really suffered with the heat.  My ankle was oozing and we had to keep stopping to change the dressing and let Sparky cool off.  When we got to the Montana broader we looked down and all the puppies were gone!  Dad pulled over and we realized that the puppies had wormed their way into a cool air shaft in the front of the truck.  Mom and Dad were beside themselves.  There was no way to get to them and Sparky started to go nuts.  Luckily we were at a truck stop and a trucker was able to take the dash board apart enough to get to the puppies.  Dad then blocked the entrance. 

     We were a sorry sight pulling into Grandma's house with 7 sweaty dirty people, me unable to walk and oozing blood and crap out of my ankle, and dog with 5 brand new puppies.  Sis and my siblings were excited to see cousins and I had to go soak my foot in hot water.  I was blooming hot and here I was sitting in a tub full of hot water.  I had to do that several times a day.  It was at least two weeks before I could put weight on the foot.  I still have the scar today, it took over 3 months to close up.  I wore a bandage over that ankle bone until almost Halloween.  I never rode double on a bike again.

       Mom and Dad found a small house immediately and Dad found a really good job at a lumber mill.  He never missed a day of work.  His last day at the newspaper Union was Friday.  We drove out over the weekend and Dad went to the mill Monday morning and they gave him a push broom.  Mom went to work in an office.  We were all very happy, it was like things were working out so well.  Our house was very small.  All of us kids were in one room.  Even bro's crib could not fit in mom and dad's room.  Their mattress just fit on the floor without the bed frame.  You walked into their room and stepped on a mattress.  Now that I really think of it, I believe they were sleeping in the lean to pantry of the kitchen.

     Sis and I were enrolled at Emma Dickenson grade school for the beginning of 2nd grade.  We went out to buy new school shoes and I got red and black patten leather saddle shoes.  Sis wanted white and black.  Mom tried to talk us into getting shoes that were a like but I insisted. It was the first time I would insist on something different.  Those shoes were put away in Grandmas closet and every time I would  go there I would visit my shoes.  I thought they were the most beautiful shoes I had ever seen.  We were not at the school for very long, maybe 6 weeks, when grandma started to build another house, so she rented a really nice big house and we went to live with her.  Sis and I were enrolled at Cold Springs Elementary and we were put in the same room.  This was to prove to be a real mess.

  Cont:

Well I had better get busy, hubs is out there sanding and he will be in shortly to see what I am doing.

Out My Window:  Cold, rainy, overcast, typical, Idaho Winter.

Have a great and productive day!

Kim