About Smoke Detectors, Fires and Tragedies. Prayers are Needed

We were talking about smoke detectors earlier today... about how a family that was burned out of their home, lost their son and all of their pets, had no working smoke detectors. This brought back a memory to me of the old woodstoves that heated the homes of our parents and grandparents.

I remember once when I was very young, watching Dad put out the fire in our old woodstove because the stove pipes were red hot. He had just finished and stepped away when the stove pipe collapsed. Hot soot went everywhere. Once it had cooled and he had swept it up, he was able to put the stove pipes back together and wire them to the ceiling. What a mess. Mom spent the next two days cleaning soot from everything in that kitchen and soot is not easy to clean up.
It leaves an oily film that's very difficult to remove. But Mom used her Lest*oil and did a fine job.

Back in the day, there were no such thing as smoke detectors. Luckily, we never had a fire, but I remember that close call so many years ago. If it hadn't been caught in time, our woodframe house would have went up like a tinder box.

Today, we have hot-wired smoke detectors in our house. They are wired to a separate panel than the rest of the house and they have battery backup in case of a power outage. Yet in this day and age, there is a less possibility of fire than there was back when I was a child and everyone had woodstoves.

Please remember to keep the batteries in your smoke detector changed every six months. It is far less costly than losing your home, pets or loved ones.

Please keep Lucinda and her family in your prayers. The funeral for their 11 year old son was today. He was overcome by the smoke in the upstairs hallway and succumbed to the smoke. His mother, father and 17 year old brother are overwhelmed with grief.

The Old Home Place

The winter months are long and it's almost a year since I've had anything to really blog about. First it was the heart surgery, then Mom's subsequent illnesses and stays in hospital and then...winter. I am like an old bear in winter. I like to hibernate and stay in the house where it's warm. But yesterday I had to go out and even though it was minus 25 Celcius with windchill, it was a lovely winter day if you were in the sun and out of the wind.

I was thinking this afternoon about something to share with all of my followers. I remembered taking some photos of the old home place in the summer of 2009. I've written many times about childhood memories and thought maybe you'd like to see the property where it all occurred.

This was my parent's home until about 2005, When I was young, it didn't look like this. Basically when Mom & Dad were married, he bought a three room shack that had been a hired hands house. Dad & Mom, with the help of us kids, dug the basement and added on to the house. This is what it looks like today. The pine tree and shrubs weren't there when I was young and this yard, that consisted of an entire acre, is where the three of us, my older brother, myself, and my younger sister, spent out time playing as kids.

This was my grandparent's home and it now belongs to my aunt. To the left is my parent's home. I would run across the field in between to Grandma's to help her cook, bake and anything else she wanted a hand with. I spent many happy hours in the kitchen of this home, which was through the double windows. Now, that is a sitting room and the kitchen is the window at the extreme left. The small window in the middle was Grandma's pantry and is now a bathroom.

And the barn, which is to the right of Grandma's house. It was in much better condition when I was young, of course. I heaved bales of hay into the top of this barn. The metal granary wasn't there back then. To the left, the roof you can see was the horse barn. The right hand side of the barn was the barnyard, where we let the cows out after they were milked by hand. There was a pond in that barnyard that was filled with ducks, geese, goslings, ducklings, frogs, tadpoles and a host of other creatures. Lightning bugs were everywhere. We spent many an evening racing through Grandma's yard, jars clutched tightly in our hand, in an attempt to catch these allusive insects.

That's just a glimpse into the place where I grew up. There are so many more memories that come to mind when I look at these pictures. I hope you enjoyed coming with me for a stroll down Memory Lane.

It's Been A While

It's been a while since I blogged again. I'm not sure where the time goes.

It was bitterly cold here for a few days. Now it's warmed up to the freezing mark and it actually feels balmy. It won't be long now until we see the first signs of spring. February is a short month and I'm glad. In March the snowdrops and crocus should begin to bloom. I can't wait to get out in the garden. I didn't get to do anything at all outdoors last year. I was still recuperating from the heart surgery. This year I can do so much more than I've been able to for a long time...at least I hope so and am going to give it a good try.

Hubby's van broke down one of the nights it stormed. Thank goodness he was only nine blocks from a service station. This time it was the alternator. The tow truck cost $100 and that was a shocker. We haven't needed a tow truck for years, so had no idea the cost. Then the alternator for a refurbished installed was $307. That knocked our socks off again. Thank God for angels of mercy here on this earth.

Brandon is off school until next Friday. He tried his end of semester exams this Wednesday and Thursday. He has an entire week off of school and he is happy about that. Jordan is jealous. He is in grade 8 and so he has to go every day except for Thursday when the teachers have meetings all day.

Other than that, no other big news here. Life isn't very exciting during the winter months. I'm hoping to get by and visit all of you soon.

What's Happening

Life has really been quite boring here lately. Nothing much happening and so, nothing much to blog about.

I've been making some new cards for my Etsy shop and this is one of them. Actually, this was my first try. I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out. As some of you know, I love vintage ephemera and am always looking for a new way to use it.

The starter went on hubby's van last fall and we had a used one put in because it was so much cheaper...well, that was his outlook on it anyway. Me, I'm not so thrilled about used car parts, especially starters. Well yesterday the starter went again. Since it's been 2 months since the last one was put in, it wasn't guaranteed. He had the garage put another used one in. Price tag $75 for the starter. At least the fellow didn't charge us any labor, which was good. He could have. A smart business man looking to keep his customers. It didn't take him long, but am glad he installed it free of charge.

The boys haven't been doing much. Last Saturday they came over, but we didn't get to play any games. They went and shoveled Mom's driveway and sidewalk for her. Then we took a camera back to Wal-mart for her and boy, that is the last time I'll shop in that store. Might try the one a little further away, but the attitude of their workers is something to be desired. Even the manager was rude. I've found this in that particular store before and don't shop there myself. Only went there for Mom. Never again.

That's about all the news from here. We had one snow storm last week that dropped about 4 inches on top of the two inches we already had, but nothing serious. All around us this winter there have been storms that left a huge amount of snow. It seems to go all around us but am expecting we will get dumped on later this month or the first couple weeks of February. We usually do. Right now it's cold here and the temperatures are to continue dropping for a few days.

Mom is down sick again. This time with a bad cold and lung infection. Seems she gets this every year at least once and oftimes twice...spring and fall. She is improving though since the dr gave her antibiotics.

Looking forward to visiting everyone soon.