We were always looking for a
house. We lived under the possibility that Paul Kroon, the former pastor from
whom we were renting, would want the house back or he would come back. Wirth
interest rates hovering around 16% all that year, we finally gave up in
despair.
It was at church one Sunday in our
second year when we were approached by a lady planning to move to Wisconsin to
marry her former brother –in-law. Both had spouses who had passed away. She had
a house on 12 Avenue that she would sell us for 12% and a manageable monthly
payment. It was still high, but the lowest available at that time.
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| It's hard to see on a black cat, but you can see a hint of a right eye. She had no left eye. |
We got the house and her cat
Lovey. I was not excited about Lovey. He was a strange cat. She had found him
thrown over her back fence and spent a small fortune getting him put back
together, The best she ever figured out was maybe the cat had been hit by a
car.
Lovey was missing one eye that was
sewn shut. He loved to brush up against you but because of a broken hip it you
moved your leg, the cat fell over. He had no control over the extension of his
claws. When he stretched or was content the claws came out and he would hook
you every time. If nothing else, Lovey was a conversation piece. We had him for
11 ½ years before his kidneys gave out and he died. His name really fit him. He
wanted more love that he likely got. Those claws were in the way.
The year around school system was
perfect for us. If I remember right it was 12 weeks of school then three weeks
off with everyone out of school the last two weeks of August. That lasted only
two years and they switched back to what most people would consider a “regular”
school system. The problem with year around was that elementary and high school
kids were on breaks a different times. As a result, families took vacations
when they wanted and pulled their kids out of school to do it. High School was
on September to May for sports and other school competitions. Made sense to me.
We avoided all that conflict because they changed before out kids got to that
age.
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| Rhonda and mom one Christmas |
Della could not get over the fresh
fruit. We had no idea how juicy strawberries could be until we got to Canby.
They were pretty dry up north. Out kids spent some summers picking strawberries
like so many others in the area. It was a cool way kids from 10 up to make some
extra money. Rod also picked cucumbers. Rhonda wanted to be the buckets were
too heavy.
Out daughter did not throw her
money away. She saved every penny from every job she had so that when she
turned 16 she bought her own car with her own money, We were impressed.
We have always had to have a real
Christmas tree. In Canada trees came frozen and bound so that you had no idea
what they looked like. I always picked one by weight. Now we could see them and
instead of $40, they were only $10 those first few years. We were in awe. We
also loved picking the tree out and cutting it down ourselves.
We had a tree in out backyard that
had a bicycle chain thrown over a branch at the truck that was being surrounded
by the tree trunk. We could have dug it out when we first got there, but left
it. When Rhonda and I moved twelve years later it was in the middle of the
trunk. I don’t think I ever took a photo.
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