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| THE LAKE IS WAY DOWN |
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| GRANDPA'S SAUERKRAUT WAS HOME MADE AND STORED IN A CROCK |
Yesterday was a pretty good day for seeing wildlife. Midmorning, while on Chequamegon Bay Road near the lake, two huge tundra swans flew over just above the treetops, uttering their goose-like calls. Then in the evening we saw a half dozen deer in the orchard country near my deer stand. I have a feeling the wolves have moved elsewhere; I hope they stay there.
A few weeks ago one of my readers commented that we may all have to live like our grandfathers, if the current economic conditions continue. That has gotten me to thinking about how my grandparents actually lived. No central heat, only a pot-bellied stove in the parlor and a wood cooking stove in the kitchen. Somehow there was usually coffee, ground in the hand grinder on the wall. Coal was a luxury and apple wood burned branch by branch often provide heat all winter. No indoor plumbing, the outhouse about seventy-five feet down hill from the kitchen door. A chamber pot often sufficed. No refrigeration, so there was a lot of salty pork and sauerkraut, stored in a crock with a thick layer of grease on top , and potatoes and vegetables from the root cellar, the stairs to which were almost as steep as a ladder and one had to hang on to a rope railing to get up and down.
No car, as driving was given up early and the old Ford rotted away in the barn. No running water, there was a hand pump between the house and barn, and a smaller hand pump in the kitchen to pump water up from a cistern. No radio, the Victrolla and a stereopticon sufficed, remnants of better days. Electricity was only for a few light bulbs. My folks and an aunt and an uncle helped when they could, often bringing meals on the weekend, but my grandfather was a proud man and you didn’t dare do too much.
Did my grandfather feel poor or deprived? Although he never talked to me about anything, I rather doubt it. He had his pipe and tobacco and was free to cuss at anyone and anything, which he did liberally and often, and the country tavern was within walking distance if his arthritis wasn’t bothering him too much. Would I like living like my grandfather? No, but if I had my books I could probably endure it, and if the tavern was within walking distance and if my arthritis wasn’t bothering me too much.
Yes somehow Grandpa has lived to 104 years old and still going, he is very content with what he did in his life. He never bought anything he didn’t have money for and never had a mortgage. He built his own house with friends. If you can’t pay for it you don’t want to borrow money was his rule. He watched very little TV when younger, there was work to do. Exercise and gardening was what you did for entertainment. His lawn to this day is a trophy lawn. He never had the Internet or a I-Pad. Never was very material but was rich in relationships with others. Knew more people then I ever will and those still alive still visit him. When a open house 100th Birthday was held everybody was shocked that over 200 people showed up. We may enjoy our material things but he has something most of us never will have. I try to take some lessons from all of the above. But of course I love technology and my gadgets. One thing we can both relate to is the outdoors, he loves to see pictures of Lake Superior and the wildlife. He is very fond of pictures of fox kits that were taken last year. Likes to hear about the bears roaming around Bayfield. Keep the wolves from the door and hopefully the lake level will rebound and it’s not a metaphor for our coming economic years.
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