I know I promised to go on with the story of my father but I washed today and got to thinking.. Bad idea! How many of you have ever had to wash on an old fashioned washboard? When I was growing up Mother used one and I never thought much about it. It was just something Moms did! She did, at one time have a gasoline run washing machine but still had to rinse all the clother by hand! I was married after Pearl Harbor which started WW2 and all metal products went into making tanks, bullets,etc. You could not buy a washing machine, refrigerator or aanything, no matter how much money you had! If you already had one you were O.K. but with Cappy and I, who had no furniture, let alone a washer and I have never. in all my married life and beyond had a dryer that I owned! So we were living out on a ranch where Cappy, my husband, worked with the Mexican Nationals that the Govt. hired to do the work for the men who were called into the Military. We had a nice "little" house furnished to us but there was no washing machine and so I had to buy a washboard and then the hard work began! We had a couple of "deep sinks and the washboard would go into one with the warm water and a bar of soap that was mainly lye, and so nice for the hands! I would take the jeans and heavier clothing, lay it on the board and take a heavy duty scrub brush, (incase someone doesn't kow what that is, women used to get down on their hands and knees and scrub their wooden floors to get them, as in my Grandmother's case, snow-white! Anyway, I would scrub and scrub those jease and clothing till all the grass stains, mud, etc. came out of them, then they would go into thee other tub where there was clean water and then they were "rinsed". Most of the time, they were rinsed once and then that water was drained out and clean water put in the sink and rinsed again. One had to wring the water out of the clothes by hand and then they were taken outside and hung on a clothesline to dry! Finally the war was over and one put their name on a list and you waited until your name came up before you could buy a new washing machine! The first washing machine I had was so old-fashioned that these big paddles would go around in the machine and literally bounce up and down on the clothes till they were, (or so the machine thought) clean! You still had to wring them and go through the rinsing process! Oh, the "ggod old days"!
Now back to my Father. He wqs working for the W.P.A. for #60.00 a Mo., remember? Well as the economy started to pick up he got a job in Kellogg, Idaho for a big mining Co. We had moved from Grandpa's house before this because Joe, my brother was born and there just wasn't enough room!!! We found a big house, two story about two blocks from the Immaculate Heart Academy, which was really nice. No more about 2 miles to school! I was a Senior there by this time and Mom had another baby, my brother David! My Grandfather died while we were living on "Wallace " Ave. infact he died about a month after I graduated! and so Aunt Josie had us move back in with hermove back up to the house with her. From there Dad got word about a new sawmill that was going in at White Pines, Ca. and so we moved to Ca. Dad came down first and the family came to Ca. before school started. But that starts another whole story so I'll stop for now. Love you all!
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