In the same town where my Great-Grandfather's house is, my Grandfather's house still stands as well. This house is not still family-owned, so I didn't really get the chance to go poking around the property or to see inside. Because, as MB says, who wants a bunch of weirdos trespassing and traipsing around their lawn, staring at their siding? Probably not the guy who I'm sure has a loaded gun somewhere in the house, that's who. But we did stop on the road and take a quick look.
This is the house my mother lived in when she was little:
I love that rock in the front yard more than words can express. Sadly, I'm pretty sure that wouldn't have fit in my airplane bag, either. |
Back in the 1940s, my grandfather bought this land and tried to make a go at farming. Weirdly, his farmland is still there too, but it doesn't seem like anyone is really working the land these days. Here's the current view from his front window:
But wanderlust got to him. He eventually sold the farm and started moving around the country in a variety of jobs he held throughout his lifetime: potato sorter, gas station owner, trumpet player in a Mariachi band, washing machine salesman, sheet metal worker, bottled water deliveryman, building airplanes, building missiles, laundromat owner... I'm sure there are more, but I got tired. The man could do pretty much everything.
I was also impressed by how well this one has been maintained. Here it is today:
Here it is in the 1940s:
There have been a few changes made here, but it's still the same house.
Check out this shed:
Here's my Grandmother standing in front of it in the 40s:
Check out this shed:
Here's my Grandmother standing in front of it in the 40s:
Here's the creek (this word is pronounced crik, by the way) in front of the house now:
And here's the creek in around, what, 1949?
That little tomboy in the cowboy hat is my mother - cute, huh? |
If Back to the Future had been set in my family's home town, I'm pretty sure Marty McFly would never have actually noticed he'd gone back in time.
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October 31, 2011 at 12:05 PM
Love it! What's interesting about that canal in front is that we were never 'tied up' nor was it ever fenced to keep kids from drowning. Somehow we just all grew up with given knowledge of the canals and learned to tread carefully. None of the farm canals were fenced. It just wasn't done. And we all lived to tell about it.