The War .......

We didn't stay long in White Pines after our marriage. Remember the snow I told you about? Well, the mill shut down the Monday after our wedding for two months because of the snow!!! So here we were! No money and no job! Cappy's Dad was tearing down an old sawmill in Valley Springs which was not too far from White Pines and so, we bundled up our wedding gifts, dug our car out of the snow where it sat for two weeks and went down to Valley Springs! We rented a housekeeping apt. not too far from Mom and Dad Farnsworth and Cappy helped his Dad for about two weeks at $5.00 a week (Hey, we could pay our rent and eat!) After the mill was down, Cappy's brother Lafay had found work in the Bay area at a shipbuilding plant and so told Cappy, that he could definitly get work in Oakland! (Or Richmond, North of Oakland) So Cappy went with him and they had a one bedroom hotel room and that left me alone in the Motel! I put up a cot, with the help of my in-laws and brought Cappy's son, Lester Bert to stay with me nights. And that's about all he did! After all he was a kid and wanted to play with the friends he had, while living with his Grandma and Grandpa! After a couple of weeks, if that long, Cappy decided that I would go down to Oakland with him! Housing was at a premium! There were just no decent apts, rooms or houses anywhere! Where he and Lafay were staying we made an arrangement. First of all, let me tell you about the room! It was upstairs over a bar, that played "Boogie -Woogie" constantly and was in a very disreputable part of Oakland! It had a small table that held a two burner hot plate and had two chairs to sit in while eating, there was a double bed, and a small, very small closet with a curtain over the door where we kept our clothes. We had to use a common bathroon to wash up in or take a bath, and then down at the end of the hall was a washing machine. Then your clothes were hung on a pulley that swung out over the alleyway! Before I came down, Lafay was changed to the "graveyard" shift at work, which meant he had to be at work at 11:00 p.m. and he got off at 7:00A.M. Cappy worked from 7:00A.M till 4:00P.M.! So here was our routine. We got up at 5:30 and Cappy had to be at work at 7:00! He left at 6:30 for work, and Lafay came in at 7:30. That gave me time to make up the bed and cook whatever he ate, usually bacon and eggs and toast, and we made coffee in our new coffee pot. I cleaned up the table and then when Lafay came in to eat, I went and had my bath in the bathroom down the hall and then I was ready to go out for the day!!! I usually went to Church, and then I would go to a Walgreen's for breakfast, (they had a lunch-counter in those days!) I window shopped and gadded around in some of the better shops, I had to go quite a few blocks to get there, and then I would stop someplace for a sandwich for lunch and then go home about 4:00 P.M. Lafay would be up and dressed and then when Cappy came in we usually went to some small cafe for dinner and then we hung around with Lafay for awhile afterwards, either to go to a show or to a Bar for a drink or two, then we would leave Lafay downtown and he would go to work for his 11:00 P.M. shift! We did this for about 3 weeks and then a lady from the 3rd floor came to my door and asked me if we would like to change apts. with her and her husband. There was only the 2 of them and 3 of us! Her apt was two rooms. A nice big livingroom-bedroom and a kitchen with a door between the two rooms! It was like a palace to us!!! We still had a common bathroom on that floor but I had to go down to the second floor to do my washings. We were there about a week when Lafay decided to go back to Valley Springs! Hallelujah! Some of the fun things there were the "alarms" that would go off any time of day or night just in case someone was trying to attack our country!!! All the lights would go off and all these wierd alarms would be going off! Traffic came to a standstill, and people, or anyone that was that stupid, I guess, would head for the "bomb shelters" in town! I said stupid, because we were told that only if there was a different kind of alarm sounding were we in danger!!! Then after in a normal alrm, there would be an alarm and all the lights would go back on and life would return to "normal" if there was such a thing then!!! More another day!!! My eyes and my hands are getting tired!