Love - The Odessa Record "By Your Relative"

Odessa Record subscriber Larry Fisher of Spokane continues his series of articles on the history of the Batum/Lauer area (where his wife, the former Joyce Kiesz, grew up).

Hi, here I am again.

Continued from last week - the Kiesz children... Joyce remembers the following about living in the L-B-D: (14) Using wood stoves to cook/bake, to heat water for washing clothes, taking baths, washing hands and face, etc. (15) Using the back door to the main house to go outside to the underground cellar where the vegetables, the food that had been canned during the year, the dried and/or smoked meats were stored. (16) Her mother baking at least three times a week using old fashion potato water. (17) Her mother canning using a metal tub, hot water, wood racks, and a wood stove. (18) Her mother making everything they ate from "scratch." No "fast" foods or frozen dinners. (19) Having an oil stove in the living room for heating rooms not containing a wood stove. (20) The main house having one bedroom downstairs - their parents', and three bedrooms upstairs on the second floor. (21) In the summertime a gas stove was located in the kitchen so not needing the wood stove. This was to let the kitchen be cooler, so they said. (22) Having kittens and dogs to play with. One dog was named Socks. (23) The pantry where the dishes and silverware were washed and stored, and some food items kept. (24) Her mother keeping the floors in the main house spotless. She would scrub the floor, then get down on her hands and knees, then using a rag with Johnson's paste wax, go round, round, round, round, cleaning the floor, then take another rag, go round, round, round, polishing the floor until it would shine. (25) Her mother wearing a corset with stays to stiffen her back, from the time she got up in the morning, till bedtime. (26) Doing the ironing using a flat iron heated by placing it on top of the kitchen stove, prior to pressing whatever a person was ironing. (27) Taking milk from cows, separating it, churning the cream, making butter. (28) Ice cream being made several times a week. (29) Her mother had a rock garden outside with cactus in it.

Until next time.

Your Relative,

Spokane