The Good Old Days

I remember growing up things were so much different. We walked almost everywhere. I had to walk to primary which was quite a distance. In the summer we played outside most days and nobody worried about us. I liked to catch toads and grasshoppers and watch ants. We always had cats and dogs and we never took them to the vet. If they got sick, they died. We never bought pet food. They had to live off table scraps. In the summer the cats would catch grasshoppers to eat. One cat we had like to climb the corn cobs growing in the garden and strip them down and eat them. We had a large garden and we canned many things even tomato soup. We even canned root beer.  One summer we slept in the garage as my aunt Beverly was going to summer school at BYU and our room was given to her.

My brother Chris was quite the character. Once he and his friend found an old tricycle and took the front tire off.  Then they tied the back wheels to a horse and wanted to pretend they were gladiators riding chariots. Of course they fell of the trike in minutes but the horse ran off with the chariot still attached and nobody really said what happened after that. My brother also used to go camping all by himself down at the swamp and use our poor dog as a pack mule tying all his gear to the dog. Then he would set up his tent and build a fire and stay overnight at the swamp.

My mother always had health problems and spent a good deal of time lying down. In the hot of summer, we never had air conditioning. All we had was a fan. One summer when it was so hot, my mother spent most days in bed by the window with a fan blowing in her face. She still managed to back 8 loaves of bread a week and do her canning.

I liked to go to the little Wilkins grocery store. One time my mom gave me a dime died in a handkerchief and I lost it on the way to the store. Dad was always busy. He worked so hard and did not believe in anyone doing anything if he thought he could do it himself. He was very tight with money and we lived on a strict budget. My mother bought some candy once and it was not in the budget so she was given a real tongue lashing.

The church was my mother's life. I sprained my ankle once after school and did not go to Primary after school and my mother was more concerned about my not going to Primary than my sprained ankle. I used to think everyone was Mormons. I got culture shock when we went to Wyoming and I saw a woman smoking. I also got culture shock when up in Salt Lake I saw my first black person. A old black lady cleaning the restroom at the zoo. I used to be scared of them.

I always watched people and I could tell if they wore garments or not. If they were married and did not, I thought they must be bad. The church really influences people especially back then.

In the summer we slept outside a lot and nobody worried about that. But one time there was a prowler we were told and that was the night we slept out. I guess he was just hungry as he stole a frozen chicken from our neighbor's freezer in their garage.

Until I was 11 years old, I had to sleep with my brother. Our house in Lakeview was so small. Two bedrooms, a very small kitchen which had to house the washer, a very small bathroom. It did have an attached garage. I could never could figure out why on one acre of ground, they had to build the house so small. It did not have a basement and my dad built a root cellar to put our canned goods in. These are just some of the things in those days but we enjoyed them immensely.