Going back home

I talked about my grandparents home in a post a couple weeks ago...about how they didn't have indoor plumbing until 1981 and so on.
Read that post here: http://petersoncreekprimitives.blogspot.com/2008/09/tagged.html

I've only been back to my grandpa's house 3 or 4 times in the past 20 years. However, just a day or two after reminiscing in a blog post, we took an unexpected trip to his house to deliver a bed for him.


Nothing, nothing, nothing has changed in his house. It all looks exactly the same from my childhood in the 70's. And, it has many of the same elements as when my mom was a child in the 40's. Same floor in the kitchen, etc.


I think my husband nearly passed out while we were there (lol) and I nearly choked to death from the dust, but I was able to look beyond all the junk and be transported to my childhood days spent at this very house. We didn't have toys there-we used our imaginations! We made mudpies, slept out under the stars (tried to anyway, until we got too scared!), ate apples straight from the tree, walked in the woods, walked to cousins' houses, walked walked walked. Never thought about sitting in front of television. Speaking of television, my Grandma always kept a clothespin on the TV's electrical cord at the wall plug-in to remind herself to unplug the TV when not in use. It'd been struck by lightning once and she didn't want it to happen again. She also kept a clothespin in her car. Whenever she turned her headlights on , she put the clothespin on the "knob" so she'sd remember to turn her lights off later. Of course, that was back when you had to pull a knob to turn your lights on and the high beam thingie was on the floor and you clicked it with your foot! lol


I took lots of pictures while at Grandpa's. My mom was mortified I think because to her, all the junk represents something she never wanted to be. I think it is why she hates the primitive look. She doesn't understand why someone would intentionally distress furniture, etc. I understand her feelings. She lived in this. I just visited and had fun! lol


Before I get started on the photos, my Grandpa's father, John Crockett was the nephew of Davy Crockett! His mom, Daisy Belle Crockett was a spitfire. Short little thing that chewed 'baccy! lol She lived to be almost 100 and passed away in about 1980. My great-grandma Daisy Belle is the inspiration for the name of our adoption blog, www.mydaisybelle.blogspot.com/

My grandpa Russell (Jack) Cox meets his great-granddaughter, our little girl Ryleigh for the 1st time. Papaw said "HE's a cute little feller!" LOL

Papaw is 95. He is a World War 2 veteran, serving our country in the Navy. He still remembers the name of his ship but rarely talks about details.

The blue box sits in the living room. It used to store coal but now stores wood. He'll have it heaped up pretty soon. All his coats and hats still hang above and around the wood box.

The woodstove that sits in the middle of the living room, by the blue box.

There's a cupboard behind this old curtain. They store canned goods and things in this. I think it's the same curtain mamaw hung there in the 80's. The old door to the left of the cupboard leads to papaw's room.

The only cabinets in the kitchen. I peeked in them the other day and there's stuff in there from the 60's and 70's. Old medicine bottles, spices and so on. Ugh.

This is the wall behind the stove. Yes, I'm serious. The curtains hung in our house in the 70's and have hung in papaw's house since about 1980. They've never been taken down and washed. Double ugh. The spice rack has been there from at least the 1970's. The white thing in the bottom right corner is a calendar. There were calendars everywhere! I think this one was from 2004.

The front porch.

A string of old canning jar rings hangs from a nail on the porch.

Other stuff hanging in the porch

Still using the same phone.

Old cracker tin

This is the very sink I refered to in the previous post!

The outside of the house, looking at the front porch. In the center, you can see that dark thing leaning to the right...that's the old separator I brought home.

This window belongs to my mamaw's old room. She passed away in 1987 when I was a senior in high school. As a child, I always slept on a cot in her room when I visited. Each night, we would do the same things...rub on some Ben Gay on whatever ached and suck on Halls Menthol cough drops. LOL Then, we'd pray "Now I lay me down to sleep...: and we'd sing a few old songs. My favorites were The Mockingbird Hill, Gene Autry Songs, Patsy Cline songs & "I found my thrill on Blueberry Hill". In warm weather, we'd open this window...and I can still hear the whipporwills calling out to this very day. I rarely hear a whipporwill these days, but when I do, I'm immediately transported back to my carefree childhood days of summer spent on the little cot in Mamaw's room at night.

Here's the outhouse my mom got bit by a snake in. I think she was 14. She's now 63.

My Uncle Don lives at home. He was telling us a story about his dog chasing a skunk the day before and the skunk turning around and chasing the dog!

Remains of an old fence in their yard

I'd also mentioned in that previous post about being baptized in a horse trough at a country church. We stopped by the church. The trough was just beyond the white railing. Mom said they have a baptistry in the church now.

The back of the country church.

Going "home" last week was good for my soul. Thanks for coming along with me on the journey!