Hot and not-so-cold stuff

"August 15, 1992:  Lester took Raymond to Omaha this morning.  His flight left at 10:30.  Something's wrong with the refrigerator -- the ice cubes melted.
August 16, 1992:  Gene J. came at noon.  Need a new compressor!  Greta, Mary, Mitch and Rick here in p.m.  Gaylord and Lois came, too.  Gaylord brought Howard a wood burning stove."

This must be the wood burning stove that went in to the Honda House.  What a great addition that was!  Just ask any of the cats that used to hang out there.  It's hard to truly describe the Honda House to people.  It was a get-away, a club house, a tool room -- all kinds of things rolled in to one.

Best photo I have on hand with the Honda House in it, even though it is in the background.

Mixing alcohol and drilling

"May 15, 1990:  John and Helen took possession of their house today.  Greta, Lester, Irene and I were there in late p.m.  We toasted them with champagne.
May 14, 1990:  Started quilting the quilt of 3-inch squares -- finished it May 22."

There Grandma goes jumping around in time again.  But I forgive her.

Champagne?!  What, booze??  Actually, Grandma was at times fond of Fuzzy Navels and Kahlua.  I don't remember what she mixed the Kahlua with, but for a while and at different times, peach schnapps and Kahlua were safe gifts to give.

Destructive drilling, but a little background first.  Dale and I were rather by ourselves, age-wise, at the family gatherings.  The other kids were either too old or too young to play with.  So, for me it was either hang out and listen to the grown-up ladies talk or entertain myself.  On this particular day, I don't know if Dale wasn't around or why we weren't playing together.  I do know he wasn't in on my antics.

Grandpa kept his hand drill and the bits in the Honda House.  I knew how to change the bits myself.  Grandpa would let me drill holes in scrap wood.  He kept miscellaneous pieces of wood in the corner by the door of the Honda House.  Normally he had plans for some of the scraps and no plans for the others.  I always asked him for wood when I wanted to drill because I didn't want to use a piece he had designs on.  Well . . . he was off during this particular family gathering talking to the menfolk and I was trying to think of something to do.  I was much too shy to approach him to ask about the wood with those men around.  And as I said, I didn't want to use wood from the corner that I shouldn't.  So, in my wee five-year-old mind, I thought the safest option was to drill into . . . the floor of the Honda House.  I drilled hole after hole and changed the bits to make different-sized holes and had a wonderful, wonderful time.  That was until the door of the Honda House opened.  In that one instant, the fun disappeared and I had the sudden revelation that maybe the floor wasn't such a good idea.  I am pretty sure Uncle Elmer was there with Grandpa when he peered in.  I was probably in mid-drill, looking like a deer in some headlights.  As was his nature with his kids and grandkids, Grandpa didn't yell or scold.  He did something Dale considered almost worse . . . he just laughed.  And laughed.  And so did Uncle Elmer.  I didn't until several years later, but did appreciate the lack of yelling at the time.

So, the holes stayed in the floor as a constant reminder of a little girl's folly.  Years later, Grandpa installed a woodburning stove in the Honda House.  I think he covered my creative drilling with some regret, but he wisely nailed tin over the holes to avoid the whole place going down in flames in the event an errant cinder crackled out of the stove and fell into a hole.  But, I knew the holes were still there and so did Grandpa.

The photo is from a different family gathering, but as you can see, Mom and Nancy managed to get their picture taken with Grandpa without him acting all put out about it.

Clarifications

Just to follow up -- the Honda House half of that particular outbuilding did have cobs in it at one time, but it also had chickens prior to that.  So we were all rather correct on that.  And the other half of the Honda House building that I called the cob shed or cob house (just what did I call it?) held coal some of the time.

Mom would like to clarify that the very precious picture to the right of me as a wee one was probably taken in April 1962, not June as she first thought.  Well, that wasn't her description of the picture -- that was mine.

Now I believe all is right with the world.

The previous life of the Honda House and confusion already

"January 12, 1990: Up until yesterday the temperatures have been about normal.  Yesterday and today are very, very windy.
January 5, 1990:  I put Greta's tumbler quilt in the frame."

So, why is January 12 before January 5?  Second post and a mystery already.  Perhaps Grandma wrote January 1 and then remembered it was the 2nd but forgot to cross out the 1.  I think this is not something to dwell on but something she would shake her head and laugh about.

Clarification about the Honda House comes from my pro bono family historians.  We may have to ask others, but Mom and Nancy think the Honda House half was once a chicken coop.  It makes sense because that half has windows, not something normally installed in a section meant for storage.  And they remember that my great-great grandfather who built the house did keep chickens.  So, either the Honda House was the coop, or the coop is gone and we still don't know about the Honda House.

Mom and Nancy did say that the cob house also held coal at one time.

Lastly, Grandma's mention of a quilt.  She was a prolific quilter.  She might have liked the modern rotary cutters and other sewing and cutting short-cuts, but she hand-cut all her pieces after tracing around cardboard templates.  A serger or electric sewing machine?  Nope.  Grandma sewed everything she ever made on an old treadle sewing machine.  Of course, it was what she was used to so she was good at it, but when I tried a treadle machine, I was mainly able to make the needle go backwards.  Much more on quilts later.

Here we go!

From 1989: "Howard fell Dec. 23 and hurt his back.  He finally went to the doctor Dec. 28 -- muscles bruised and strained, but no cracked ribs.  He took some powerful pain pills."

No date on this entry, but at the top of this page was "1990" so I am inferring the 1989 since she is writing about December.  My grandfather (Howard) would have just turned 82 when she wrote this.  He was very fit for a man his age and it is not outside the realm of possibility that he fell either chopping wood or going to and from the Honda House to crack black walnuts.  Of course, he could have just slipped and fell. 

The "Honda House" was a small outbuilding on my grandparents' place where my uncle used to keep his motorcycle....a Honda -- bet you saw that coming.  I don't know what that half of the building was previously used for, but everyone called the other half the cob shed.  There were plenty of kid-attractive treasures in the cob shed, but more in the Honda House.  Over time, and long after the Honda was gone, the Honda House was essentially Grandpa's mancave, long before the word was coined.  It eventually came to hold a radio, refrigerator, wood burning stove, an intercom so Grandma wouldn't have to holler at him to come in for meals, and an adopted stray cat.  More on the Honda House and the fun I had as a kid there later.