The Things Memories Are Made Of

 Anyone who has read here for any length of time knows the love and admiration that I have for my grandparents and that my parents, my two brothers and myself lived in the same home with my paternal grandparents.  I thought it would be fun to share a bit with you about the home I grew up in.

This eight room brick farm house was built in 1886 from bricks made there on the property.  This is what the front of the house looked like when I was growing up there.  Eventually, all of the pine trees were cut down because they became so full that they blocked the walkway.

I have always enjoyed this picture that was taken from my grandparents bedroom looking out onto the front porch.

This is a side view of the house and part of my brother's vegetable garden.  

When we were kids growing up that space was our grandma's flower garden.

She was still working in it when she was in her 90s.

This is an aerial shot of the main area around the house that was taken many years after I'd grown up.  In the foreground (if you click and enlarge the picture) you can barely see the foundation of the original barn that I remember as a kid.  It was a bank barn and I loved that place!  My brothers and I would have fun climbing up the ladder up to the hay mow.  So fun.

The little building to the left of the picture was the original milk house for the bank barn.  It was made of cinder blocks and is where the milk cans were washed up and prepared for delivery to the milk plant.  The building on the right was the old garage before it was taken down.  It had an attic to it and I loved to go up there and snoop around when I was little.

I can't remember exactly how old I was when the farm went "modern" but I was still fairly young.  My grandfather and dad were the first ones in that area to actually have electric milkers.  When they were in the bank barn the milking was all done by hand.  But with building the new barn, silo and building on the right for parking farm machinery, came electric milkers, an actual milking parlor and the big milk storage tank that someone from the dairy plant would come in their big tanker truck and pick up all of our milk.

This picture of Daddy and Grandpap is one that was taken by a photographer for the Dominion Post, the Morgantown newspaper.  There was an article about the modernization of dairy farming done about our farm at this time.  I loved to go down there in the milking parlor because it was always so nice and cool.  I was such a tomboy and would much prefer being with Daddy and Grandpap over being cooped up in the house.

Here the cows are being brought in for milking by my dad on a horse.  

When I started junior high and through high school, that became my job.

Every day after school I would come home, change my clothes and head out to the pasture to bring them in for the evening milking.

I loved it!

And here's the man who is responsible for all of these wonderful memories that I carry with me today.  This was taken probably months before he died of a heart attack.  He was such a hard worker and I dearly loved him.  

He was all crippled up with rheumatism, but he never complained.

I have lots of stories to share about growing up with him and Grandma,

but I will save those for another day.

Thank you so much for allowing me to share with you what some of my most precious memories were made from.