Sunday, December 8, 2019

Before wall to wall carpet and central heat


 Early interesting Car:
    1950 Ford police car.

Now today:
Growing up usually one room of the house was warm in the winter. ours was the kitchen. The bedrooms were cold enough to keep meat at times. You slept under a stack of blankets or quilts. You laid there until you were about to ‘bust’ before getting up to pee in the night. The floor was cold and the toilet, if you had one inside, was cccold. I bet that seat was cold for girls! If there was no inside toilet there was a ‘slop jar’ or Chamber under someone’s bed.

 Upper is the one I remember most.

For the younger kids mama’s had some ‘neat tricks’ for cold feet. Some would heat a brick on the stove and wrap it in a towel for the kid’s feet. My mama would heat her iron and wrap it in a towel for cold feet.

Even in a cold house, my mama had time for a bedtime story.  Most of the time a Bible story, but not always.  Mama could tell some stories. Summer time she would read a story.


We had one light bulb in the center of the ceiling with a pull switch. Daddy had a string tied to the little chain and ran to the post of the headboard of the bed. That was COOL, you could jump in the bed fast, then reach up and pull the string and out went the light. That was the first remote control. LOL

School mornings it was hard to get up, two calls was the limit, after that, came the threat of a belt or switch. 

After I got older and learned North Carolina had mild winters, I wondered what you kids did UP NORTH!!!!! I bet you thought you would freeze to death.

What in the world did Y’all do up there in the winter?

Nite Shipslog


6 comments:

I'm mostly known as 'MA' said...

This reminds me of the time I spent overnight with two of my cousins. The had a pot belly stove in the living room for heat, but the bedrooms were very cold. We slept 3 in a bed snuggled up to keep warm. We are blessed to have central heating and carpeting for sure. The luxuries had now were only a dream then.

NanaDiana said...

I grew up in the mountains of PA. Our kitchen was the warmest room in the house,too, until we got the big wood furnace that came up in the center of the living room. It was a big square grate (probably 30"x30" and I can remember sneaking out of the bedroom with a blanket and sitting right next to that grate with the blanket over the grate to capture ALL the heat. That did not go over well at all. lol

Love your stories and memories, Jack.

Mevely317 said...

I love this post SO much!
While I always enjoyed indoor 'plumbing', I can sure identify with c-c-c-cold bedrooms and thick quilts. Growing up in the Rocky Mountains, my parents believed better sleep could be had by slightly cranking the casement windows -- even in the dead of Winter. Loved the sensation of jumping into cold bedsheets, then churning my feet furiously to warm them up.

Woody said...

Good Post, in the winter up North we Froze !!!LoL !!!!!!!! Stay Warm down there !! Hope Sherry is getting healed up !
Gary & Anna Mae !

Lisa said...

I remember a few years ago, frost knocked out our power for 2 days. I was so cold. During the day we turned on the gas stove at times to heat the kitchen. Night time was rough. I put our daughter in a sleeping bag that was first heated but the oven door. Me and Nick snuggled so tight to the blankets, we were sore the next day. We actually slept in layers of clothes that night. I was glad the next day to get to go to work where there was heat and power. I can’t imagine going outside to the toilet.
Lisa

Dar said...

We had a potbelly wood stove downstairs, slept upstairs. The open register like Diana explained was just above so it did help a little to heat the upstairs. The door to the stairs was always left open in winter, that also helped heat the upstairs.....but.........by morning the fire was out, girls in one bed, boys in another snuggling to stay as warm as possible. Jack Frost always had drawn many frosty pictures on the windows, nice to wake up to. The kitchen also was the warmest in the house until Dad built and kept the wood fireplace well stoked. I guess we didn't have it so bad afterall. Still hated the outhouse and the potty!
love n' hugs from up north where it's snowing hard, then starting Wed, the temp is going to plummet into the minuses...brrrr even in a heated house.