What Are Your First Memories?

 I read a blog post the other day about the writers first memories.  The writer said her first memory was from when she was 2 years old. I was blown away. I have written before about my poor memory, but it got me to thinking what my first memory was. I have virtually no memories of my childhood. Brief glimpses now and then, but only brief. I have almost no memories of junior or senior high school. I do have memories of things outside of school; my first deer, ducks, pheasants, but I really had to think about what my first memory was. Thinking back, I came up with 7 or 8 years old. 

Barb often teases me about my memory, I can watch a movie 4 times a year like it is my first time, I remember bits and pieces, somehow, she remembers every aspect of each and every moment of our life (mostly about things I screw up). It also made me wonder if life was like the movies I've watched multiple times and I was able to replay those lost years, would I remember any parts? Would something happen where I would say to myself, I know what happens next or would every moment be a surprise? The brain is a bizarre thing. 

So, what is my first memory? I don't not remember my age specifically, but I am able to deduce it base on the other participants. We were driving from Spooner to Shell Lake Wisconsin in our Rambler convertible. If my sister Becky is reading this right now, I know her heart just skipped a beat as she knows what is next. She was in the vehicle too. I think all told it was her, my dad and my brother Bob. A car crossed over the centerline causing us to hit the ditch to avoid a head on collision. The only problem was, that there was no ditch, just an embankment, a very steep embankment going down and go down we did. We never rolled, but I distinctly remember that rough ride down, hitting the bottom and us coming to a stop. I was trying to jump from the vehicle and my brother Bob pulled me back in. If Becky was in the vehicle, she had to be 16 or 17 meaning a I was 7 or 8. I have other memories that may be earlier, but I have no way to validate exactly how old I was so those remain a mystery to me. 

But on to things I do remember, like what we did this past week. It was a rough week. It started out with Shane and Jess having to have their well looked at. It had been losing pressure over the past few months so Shane dug up the well head and called a guy to come look at it. Bad news, they need a new well. The well guy showed Shane (and the rest of us) that they have a terracotta well casing. He had heard of them, but never seen one himself. Now he has. 

The good news is the well is still operational. Next up was the fireplace in the living room. It was abandoned years ago, in fact in the '70's when their furnace was installed, they used the chimney to vent the furnace. Since we were working in that area anyway, we decided to build a false wall and center the mantle with the room. As you can see from the picture below the mantle was no longer centered after the previous owner added the 1/2 bath downstairs. 

So, we went into demolition mode. That decision ended up being a blessing and a curse. Here is something interesting I ran into during demolition mode while taking the trim off the wall. Look at these nails. I know many of you seen them in your lifetime, but these types of nails were not made after 1915. Crazy!

After opening it up we discovered that the exhaust vent did not go all the way to the roof, but just a foot into the chimney, plus, decades of condensation has caused the vent to deteriorate the vent to the point that it needs to be replaced. 

They looked into two options, replacing the pipe but running all the way up the chimney or installing a chimney liner. No worries, we can carry on with everything while we get that figured out. Until the third thing happened. The worst thing of all. A thing that has stopped productive economies in their tracks. The dreaded Man Cold!!!!!! Nothing can bring progress to a halt like a Man Cold, in fact, it is rumored that was the ancient Anasazi civilization that was thriving in the 12th and 13th centuries was wiped out by..... yep, you guess it, the Man Cold. 

Coughing, headaches, fever, chills. I was inflicted for several days. 6 of them all told. 6 long miserable days.  I did not even leave the camper most days, I could not lay flat, so I made up the dinette bed and just up trying to sleep it off only catching brief naps here and there, day and night. Poor Barb, she had to endure one of the most pathetic things known to man. I don't think she has gotten a good night sleep either. Dakota, on the other hand was elated. With the dinette turned into a bed, Dakota could not fit under it, so she got to sleep on my side of the bed. 

On day 2 of my 6-day stint, Shane got it too and was out for 6 days as well.

Keep in mind, we have everything ripped apart and no running furnace and you recall how cold it was last week right? They could not even get any repair places to return their calls. They have electric heaters in each room, but it was still freezing in their house. Thankfully Jessica and Barb were able to carry on with painting the bath and pantry.

Of course, this had to happen on the coldest and snowiest week of the year. With both Shane and I out of commission, that left Barb and Jess to do the shoveling and other chores. 

Friday, the girls made sushi for supper. Kendall has been begging for it for almost a week. Look at these three generations, triplets, born 20 something years apart. At least there is no mystery of what they will look like as they get older!

Saturday we were able to get out to Kendall's basketball game. Pretty dang entertaining. Here is Kendall attempting a free-throw. 

So, what all did we accomplish? Not as much as we wanted, but everything we could given the circumstances. In the bathroom we ripped out the old linoleum getting down to the original wood floors, gave it a new paint job and replaced the toilet. Still needs a new vanity, light and mirror which they have yet to pick out.  

The pantry has a new paint job, shelf configurations and a new spice rack on the door.

We could not enclose the old fireplace area until the venting gets fixed for the furnace. Besides that, they no longer want to stick with their original plan and are now thinking about installing a pellet stove in that room. 

Our time here is done, almost three weeks. Now it is time to hit the road and hopefully find some warmer weather! But before we do that, I told Barb that there is a new movie that just came out that I want to watch. When I told her the name of it, she just shook her head, mumbled "Lord help me" and walked away. I don't know what that was all about. The movie, maybe you have heard of it, is called, The Notebook.