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Thanking you helping Audrey. God knew to get her to you! I am taking an internet break again so I won't be posting for awhile. :)

Audrey looks like such a little sweetie.  Bless you and Charles for saving her and giving her a second chance at life.  I hope she finds a wonderful home!

Audrey is so very cute. It was truly a blessing that you found her.

It is so sad as the number of dumped dogs and cats is growing rapidly. Fosters and shelters struggle. I won't say more as I have a very strong opinion about people that abandon or abuse animals.

Something that my paternal grandmother said to me one day as I was leaving her house was, "Always forgive, but never forget". It took me years to figure out her meaning. Forgive those who hurt you, but never forget their actions, so be careful. It is not necessary to be around hurtful or toxic people, just because we have forgiven them. That comment has stuck with me throughout my life.

Your pictures are so calming and heartwarming. I love when I see someone has made a comment or there is a new post.

Such a sad story but with a happy ending.  I am more in tune with animals than people these days, I'm afraid.  I had such a caring loving upbringing and now find we're more or less by ourselves - we do have two daughters - one a caring loving girl with husband and adult daughter, the other who has forsaken us for some unknow reason.  We're old - let's face it, we're old - and old people don't matter much these days.  That saying of 'always forgive but never forget' is true of our estranged daughter.  I don't need toxic relationships in my life.

Awe what a sweet looking puppy. We got our “trusty k9 companion” from the HS. He’s not very smart but he’s sweet.  
Growing up, we would stop by to see people (or vice versa) and would end up helping feed cattle or ride along on a tractor for a few passes or help snap peas or whatever.  I have mentioned it to hubby more than once how it’s too bad folks don’t do that anymore.  
One of my favorite memories is a time my aunt and grandmother and I were snapping bean and joking about one in the mouth and one in the bowl. 

My grandmother kept a pot of beans & rice warm on the stove all day in case someone dropped by. Down south if someone came by you fed them- didn't matter what time. 

I long for a dog. Until the temperatures drop to 20 degrees or less. Lol

This was such a lovely post to read Grandma Donna :) Audrey was so blessed to have been rescued by you both and loved so well. 

When I was working as an assistant at a kindergarten, the head teacher would always say to the children "don't put it down, put it away". I loved that so much and tucked that thought away in my pocket and used it with my own children and grandchildren. It's pretty much the same meaning as what you shared too. They are practical, sensible pieces of advice which help to create order in the home and save time in the long run, as everything always lives in its place and is there when we need it. 

My Nana was a great example to me, as she always cooked/baked from scratch, sewed her own skirts/blouses on her treadle sewing machine and knitted all her own cardigans. She made rag rugs, washed her sheets in a copper kettle boiler in her outside laundry, kept a good vegetable garden on her own, as she was widowed in here 40's and would always feed stray cats and even left the back door open a little so they could sit with her by the fire in the evening. Nowadays no one would dare to leave the door open. She was such a dear and such an inspiration to me. Her sponge cakes were legendary. Her hands were always knitting, mending or crocheting. Aren't memories a balm.

Blessings to you both ~ Linda

First time commenting on the blog, but I have commented on the youtube channel in the past. LOVE reading here SO very much! Thank you Grandma Donna for being here for us all! And thanks to you and Charles for taking such great care of Audrey! I don’t know what I would have done because I haven’t had a dog since I was a child!

I wanted to comment on the Ozzie and Harriet and Leave it to Beaver references… I remember both of my Grandmother’s homes being neat as a pin ALWAYS. My Great Aunt’s also. They weren’t fancy,(well Great Aunt’s was a bit more fancy), but always neat and tidy, though I will say my maternal Grandmother did have a maid a couple days a week. We had a housekeeper/nanny too, because my Mom was widowed at age 28, and she was a school teacher. Our housekeeper took care of my brother and me. I remember watching The Guiding Light with her. She loved her “stories”! She would fold laundry while watching. I still have a girlfriend from that time, and she remembers our housekeeper making Christmas cookies with us Unfortunately, I don’t remember!

I’m trying to think of something someone told me that has stuck with me, and I’m sure there are many things, but I can’t think of one offhand. 

Thanks to all of you lovelies who contribute to this forum. I love reading all of your comments!

Grandma Donna wrote, 

Michele N, I was reading comments aloud to Charles and when I read your comment about your pup named Tristan Farnon we couldn't contain ourself from laughter.  I said to Charles, now imagine what you think a puppy named  Tristan Farnon would look like and then I showed him the pictures.  We both couldn't contain our laughter and Charles keeps bringing this up ever since reading this.   What a big name for such a tiny pup, we got the biggest kick out of this, he is such a cutie.   For those of you that do not know this name, Tristan Farnon is the name of one of the veterinarians on All Creatures Great and Small series. He plays the brother of Siegfried Farnon. 

Margaret P, my grandmother also kept a pot of something simmering.  She would make soup similar to a minestrone without the pasta.  It most always contained okra and tomatoes and then anything in season. It can be difficult to imagine keeping something simmering each day now for we have so few visitors. Those years people dropped by for a visit most any day.

I used to be able to buy a frozen vegetable mixture similar to what she made but I can no longer find it so I make my own mixture of vegetables and keep it in the freezer. I also freeze meat broth and so I can make soup, and stir up a cornbread batter in a jiff and have it on the table in no time. 

Sandi P, welcome to the forum with your comments.  I am happy to see you here :)  You have some wonderful memories, thank you for sharing your memories.   

Thank you all for your comments, I hope that we have many more. ( heart )

Bless little Audrey and I wish for her a long & happy life with people who will cherish her. We rescued a dog from Italy last summer, a 6 year old labrador who had been dumped at one of their awful kill shelters. A local rescue managed to get her out and we adopted her so she could make the journey on the happy bus all the way up from Italy to the UK which took 50 hours! She needed quite a bit of medical care but is the kindest dog and we feel very blessed to have her.

My grandma once said to me buy cheap, buy twice and I keep that in mind always, she was a canny housekeeper and I aspire to her standards every day. She had a lot of friends and family dropping in to visit and always made fresh scones or cake to offer her visitors with a pot of tea.

G.Donna, I didn't have a warm and welcoming home, but I had a grandmother who always welcomed me. As you wrote, she didn't interrupt her work when I visited. She included me and explained what she was doing and why she did it that way. That has had a profound impact on me to this day. Sadly, she passed away when I was nine years old. I think I could have learned so much more from her, and I could have repaid that love to her later on. Unfortunately, fate wasn't kind to us, but she lives on in my heart, even though we last saw each other over half a century ago.
The kindness of taking in this little dog shows what wonderful people you are!

Warmest regards from Germany,
Sibylle

I'm so thankful for people like you who teach us the old ways, and take in little Audrey!  The diary will be a welcomed addition to the new owner.  We just adopted a 2 yr old (I think more like 1-1/2) Siberian Husky mix.  You can tell when people haven't been nice and she is just the most sweetest thing. I tell her how we love her every day.  Audrey will get adopted - she's soo stinkin' cute!! --- I grew up with put it away and I do it now. I cannot stand clutter and junk everywhere. Everything has it's place. I'm not sterile though. Make a mess if you wish, but then clean it up!  My grandparents were both like this as well; I don't remember any of my aunts and their homes being in dissary as I've seen now, with dirty dishes covering the entire surface.  I complete the task from start to finish. I will no longer do potlucks because of kitchens I've seen afterward!  However I wasn't taught how to cook. It was only "turn on the oven."  But I believe in part of the time of doing is also cleaning up so make room in your day for that.  What I didn't get from my parents that I received from grandparents, aunts and uncles was unconditional love - where I wasn't always doing things wrong, or wasn't too shy (which my mother told me was an embarrassment to her).  They accepted me as I was and embraced it.  That feeling I got from them, is what taught me more about child rearing, than what my mother was like.

This post reminds me a bit of my little orange cat. His foster loved him, but they had other cats there, and he was insecure. They put him up for adoption. The little guy was an underweight stray that needed medical treatment and love.
Since we were looking for a long term companion, we felt he would be a good fit for us. We thought he was 1.5 years old, but it turns out he was more like 9 months! (according to our vet, and the timeline fits well)
I know his foster was sad to see him go, but we sent them photos and notes for the first week. Their biggest concern was him not fitting in well, or being taken back. Trust me when I say we felt like we were getting away with something, being able to bring home this sweet little guy! it felt like someone was going to tell us it was all a dream, and we couldn't keep him.
He is the most loving little guy, who expects little, and is grateful for anything. What he wants more than anything is constant love and affection.
Anyways! Back on topic!

I would say my grandmothers are people I have always wanted to emulate. Their apartments felt warm to me, and i loved the way they lived. Slower in some ways, but very busy as well. They weren't into technology much, preferring to spend time with people. One of them was a volunteer for an astounding 40 years consecutively. That was on top of church bake sales, knitting countless pairs of mittens and hats, and raising her family. She was the household manager, a volunteer, and devoted to her church.
my other grandmother has to many stories she's shared as well. Taking care of her kids and all the shenanigans they got up to. The hard work, and the wonderful rewards. Being able to retire and see the world with her love. <3 When he passed she kept on going, differently  than before. Less traveling, but very involved with the growing family.
Her apartment still feels lovely and peaceful to me. She loves to play cards and talk about what is new and exciting in the world. She sees her friends constantly, and the family just as often. doting on the grandkids equally, the big and small ones.
I love them so much. I started volunteering more, to be like my grandmother. I am inspired by both of their frugalities, and waste not want not mentalities. As children of the Depression, and one of them living rural, they didn't have a lot. But they had good, full and fulfilling lives.

*i mix past and present because both of them are slowing down now, with age. One has dementia. They are both still living, though their husbands are not.

My mother's saying, that I eventually cross -stitched for her and she hung it on the wall:  "When God closes a door, He opens a window."  She lived by that saying all her life.

My mother always kept the house neat, and insisted that we keep it neat as well, and her mother did the same.  After my grandmother retired (at age 72), she would get up at 6, eat breakfast while my grandfather slept, put on her housedress and do an hour or so of housework until my grandfather woke up and wanted his breakfast.  Then he went to town to visit with the other old men at the bakery while she finished laundry and housework for the day, then made lunch for both of them.  The rest of her day was for a nap - always a short nap! - and working on her flowers, sewing, mending, shopping and/or cooking the evening meal. My other grandmother died before I was born, but her daughter, my aunt, kept the family home for that grandfather, and it was always neat, even though she worked at a bank as a teller.  As a kid my mother's insistence on putting things away every time drove me crazy, but as an adult, I learned it was the best way.  It's the only way I can find things again!  I lived with two dyslexics (husband and one child) though, and it's not uncommon for them to be unorganized, so I had an uphill battle for awhile. 

In our families we stopped what we were doing when company came, with some exceptions.  Sometimes, company came for the express purpose of helping, such as when the soybeans needed to be harvested, the animals taken to market or the garden beans needed to be picked and snapped.  Sometimes,  my mother was canning and her mother came to help.  Sometimes, family members would be interested in what we had been doing and would offer to help, but our rule usually was - turn off the tv and radio and sit down with your company, offering them food and drink.   I don't say it was better, but it was just the way we did it.  There was one circumstance in which we were always expected to help, but we didn't mind - when extended family all gathered, it usually meant a hand-cranked churn of ice cream would get made, and we kids were drafted to take turns to sit on the folded towel on top of the churn while the men took turns turning the handle.  We kids complained about our cold rear ends, but we did it anyway, with the promise of homemade fresh peach ice cream for our labors. 

The little dog Audrey is adorable, and how sad that she was left out there, as pitiful as she was. Thank you for searching till you found her!  I know it was hard to let go of her.  I have adopted a good few rescues, some fostered.  With my last three, I made sure to reach out to the foster and let them know how well the animal is doing.  I would want to know that, if I had fostered a dog.  I think I would be a terrible foster dog mom, though - I would want to keep them all, and I can't.

Thank you Gr.Donna and Charles for rescuing and caring for Audrey.  It is hard to foster animals and let them go but fosters are sorely needed. I have fostered and adopted fosters for all of my pets until I got my Scottie 2 years ago.  With this economy a lot of pets are being surrendered, that's how I got my latest kitty. I live in an area that people dump a lot of animals, and it is so sad.

I was always taught put it away right the first time, not that I always did it but I do try. Now that we are in 1942 and life is slower it makes it a bit easier to do it right the first time because life is just slower. We always helped with chores or gardening when we visited someone, and they helped us when they came to our house.   

I most always have soup or stew made and in the fridge this time of year and biscuits are easy to make and bake if someone wants them. A pot of tea or coffee with a plate of biscuits and jam is a great way to talk and share.

The weatherman has predicted very cold weather and snow for our last weeks of January so I have been bringing in extra firewood and have the draft dodgers out for use. have stored some water in case of power outages, cat litter jugs filled with water for flushing and washing up. Extra pet food and chicken feed so they are taken care of. 

As the holidays approached, I knew there would be a huge influx of items - school papers, gifts, treats and end of year mailings. Over dinner one evening, I explained that as everyone looked at their chore and schedule for the week on the family board, to focus as well how they could follow through on the theme: 

One and Done.
Handle the item once. Take off shirt and place into laundry basket. Unpack backpack and set papers into recycle or homework folder. Open mail and shred junk, file tax documents or place bills into checkbook. It’s still a work in progress, but I pray they remember this small phrase for big impact in their own homes. We’re seeing it already in ours!

Love reading what everyone else is recalling as life lessons they learned and how they them out!

Letting go of Miss Audrey had to have been difficult. She sure is a cutie. But you served a very big part of her life and now she can go to a good family and live a good life. Without you and Charles, that would not have been possible. 

I am trying to think of someone I have met that influenced me greatly and well, I'm mostly reminded of books! I grew up in not ideal circumstances and books became my escape. The life you describe here reminds me of the Little House on the Prairie book series (which is very little like the t.v. show!) I told my sister once that I think books had more of an influence over me than those who raised me. She agreed. She said I was always escaping somewhere to read. I read Little House on the prairie, Anne Frank, the Yearling....I tried Walden but that one ...uhhhh...I didn't get very far in.  But the stories in Little House on the Prairie were a lot like you described. People always busy. Busy working, studying, caring for others, telling stories, visiting others....they showed perseverance in tough situation. Granted I know it wasn't a perfect portrayal of the past but it did give us a glimpse into the past. The character of those described in the books inspired me in many ways and I think really built me to be who I am. Also, I do believe that back then people were more careful on the media they consumed because they realized how much it impacts our behaviors. I am filling my book shelves with books like the Little House on the Prairie, Anne of Green Gables, Classics,  Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys...books that will help my children grow in knowledge but also help form their character. We can not change the world but we certainly can control what we allow to come into our house and influence us. 

Grandma Donna, I was hoping you might also share a story about the ring dial (photograph at the top of this story). It made me quite curious when I saw it. I found out that there are even smaller versions that can be collapsed and worn on a finger as a ring!

Greetings G. Donna and friends,

I am from the olden days, too. I'm sixty, but it's amazing what has changed in the last fifty years. Life was more normal back then. Real life friends and neighbors that one saw face to face. Dropping by for a short visit if you were in the neighborhood was  the usual way. Asking folks to stay for supper if they were visiting before or during the supper hour. That's where pot luck came from. You just served whatever you were having. I also remember the phrase, "I'll throw another bean in the pot," when inviting folks to stay. It happened with adults and with kids. The women just pitched in and helped get dinner. Maybe a pan of biscuits would be added to stretch the meal. Kids would ask their moms if their friends could stay for dinner. It was a good time to live. Yes. There were struggles and such and money was very tight, but we had real people in our lives. 

I helped my Grandma Mamie with whatever she was doing. I learned so much from her by doing. 

Thank you all for sharing.

Laura of Harvest Lane Cottage

Southern Missouri

Sweet puppy Audrey was so lucky that you and Charles found her and took care of her until she could be transported for adoption elsewhere!  I foster failed a decade ago and that dog was my heart dog, for certain.  I am best at helping a dog for a night or two, but know at this point that I can’t keep any more animals other than the two I have.

As an older Gen X member, I feel like the change between people stopping by and people feeling like houses had to be perfect and plans made before coming over happened over my childhood and young adulthood.  It was common to drop in when I was a child.  Homes weren’t expected to be perfect (homekeeping varied from homemaker to homemaker and that was fine).  A cup of coffee would always be offered to an adult, and there might be a packet of cookies to be opened.

As a young adult myself, and into the early years of raising children, I tried to cultivate a drop in atmosphere, but really only had one friend who was that kind of friend — the kind that would drop by, and maybe even find me in my pajamas with two very closely spaced in age children and help me fold the laundry and make my bed.  That same friend called me when she moved house and couldn’t find her iron, and I took my iron to her house and visited with her while she ironed shirts before family photos.  Baking and cooking together, and helping each other around the house was just part of what we did — along with just showing up at each other’s houses.  I had one other friend that I felt like I could continue my work when she visited, but she didn’t join in, and she never dropped by.  Now I feel stick with friends I don’t see for years because no one can commit to a time to visit.  It shouldn’t be so hard!  But as my husband pointed out again this morning, there is happiness in encountering people when we are out and about.

I think the cell phone is the biggest change to dropping in, because people have an easy way to give you a heads up if they want to visit.  And I think magazines, movies, and TV were some of the biggest influences in terms of what we expect our homes to look like, now replaced with social media.  No one feels like they can measure up.  It’s so hard for people to feel like they are enough just for who they are, and that their homes are enough.  I struggle with it too, I face a lot of anxiety and always feel like the house isn’t clean enough, even though objectively I know that isn’t true by a long shot.  It isn’t perfect though, and between my personality and the cultural standards, I have a hard time.

Pam, I’m sorry you are estranged from one of your children.  I have one adult child who lives with us and is very close in terms of doing life with us such as eating dinner together, spending time together, etc., and one who lives with a partner and I can’t get to answer my calls or even read or respond to my texts.  It’s not an estrangement (according to them), but it is frustrating.  They live 10 minutes from us and we see them once every couple of months at most, usually if I have food to give them or am buying them a meal out, and it feels like pulling teeth to make that happen.  I try to hard to remember what it was like to be a young adult and to understand that I am thinking of them far more than they think of me.  That seems to be one of the cruelties of life, that we don’t understand our parents until we are so much older ourselves.  The older I get the more I miss my mom.  She died when I was in my 30s, so it has been a long time now.  As the years go by I realize how much I miss having her as a friend as I get older.  I understand more how much she wanted to see me when I was younger and so busy.  We did the best we could (especially with both sides of the family living within an hour or so drive), but now that I am on this side of it, I wish we had done more.  Or at the minimum, I wish she had still been alive when the schedule eased and I had more time to be with her.

I can hardly contain my joy at my husband having retired — I am so happy!  It’s wonderful to have him happily and eagerly join me in the home-keeping.  It’s fantastic to let go of feeling pressed for time.  I feel so good knowing his hard work and my stewardship has led to him being able to financially provide for our retired years.  And with this happiness and deep contentment, the desire to shop for anything we don’t need has disappeared!  There is this feeling of grounded-ness, of enough, of plenty — we feel rich for being in control of our time.  There is also incredible gratitude, a noticing of all the little things.  Thank you Grandma Donna for sharing your stories and words of wisdom with us — I truly recognize it as the gift it is!

Grandma Donna wrote,

Jennifer C, I bought the pocket sundial for Charles a few years ago.  In the past they were used by ancient sailors and mathematicians.   People became interested in them again and are now sold online. Is not just a novelty but actually works and it folds flat so it can be carried in his pocket.  You have to learn to use it and not easy for me, but Charles enjoys using it.  

Kimberly F… You reminded me of when I was a young Navy wife. You and I are close in age, as I’m only 43 days a Boomer instead of Gen X. Ha! My husband is Gen X. Anyway, when we lived in Navy housing, we would have friends drop by! What a lovely time that was. It was so wonderful having a community of wives to hang out with. It was also the time of every party you could think of… Tupperware, Home Interior, some oil painting company, etc. It was definitely a way everyone got together! Not the best for the wallet though. ;) 

I finally thought of something I always remember that someone taught me. It was my maternal Grandmother, Leola. She said “Fools names and fools faces only appear in public places.” Growing up in the time everyone was writing on bathroom stalls and what not, I was never the slightest bit tempted to be a fool! :) 

Gma Donna, I love your description  'that we can be the bridge to help someone or something to get to where they need to be.' 

Hello Grandma Donna, 

I have been quietly in the background since the computer break. We have become empty nesters, even though we have one of our children down for holidays staying with us :-) . 

Your post moved me. My heart went out to you both for giving up Audrey. It must have been incredibly difficult. How lucky she was that she was found by yourselves and that she now has an opportunity to be loved by someone else. 

Your comment that you have in your lifetime made your life interesting in your own way, really struck me. It is a very powerful thing to not need to be entertained by external influences. 

My paternal grandmother and Aunty were both women who made me feel loved and special when in their homes. My warmest memories of my grandmother are of sleeping over and being made raspberry jam on toast for breakfast and the look of love and pleasure on my grandmother's face for having fed me. The memories I have of my aunt are similar. Being made a cordial with a glass taken from the freezer. It was just a drink or a simple meal but they always made me feel so special the way they did things. You could feel the love and care in everything they did. 

Both sides of my family were still being impacted by the great depression when the second world war started so I don't know that they were impacted as much as they had already been doing without, if that makes sense. 

I know for instance that my mother's family didn't have electricity or running water well in to the 1950's and that my father's family was still using a horse and buggy for a decade after the war ended. 

I know that you have jumped forward Grandma Donna, but I have continued simplifying my home in a 1930's manner while trying to prepare for difficult times ahead. If such a thing is possible. 

When our youngest child moved out last month we gave him our large lounge and kitchen furniture as we do not need such large items for the two of us. We kept our son's computer table that he was going to put out in hard rubbish, put a pretty tablecloth on it and added two old kitchen chairs we had lying around and we like it just fine. 

Apologies for such a long comment. 

Michelle. 

Thank Heaven that you were there to find Audrey and to give her the love and care which she needed.

We had our dog, Daisy, from Dog’s Trust over twelve years ago. She is a bossy little madame, reminding us of her routine and ours. Time to give the hens their scatter corn and collect the eggs, time for me to start cooking our dinner. She will be our last dog. 

Our Grandmother lived in the same village. We girls had afternoon tea with her after school every Friday. My brother helped her with the garden and we helped with polishing and seasonal housework, changing the winter curtains for the summer ones. We picked her lavender every year to fill the bowls which scented the bedrooms. She had a home help when she was widowed.

Granny had an adage for any situation.

Well begun is half done.

A stitch in time saves nine.

Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.

A penny saved is a penny earned.

Granny was my Godmother a role she took seriously. She taught me to crochet and I loved to hear her stories about the family, she was a VAD in a London hospital in WW1 and my Grandfather was one of the wounded.

https://vad.redcross.org.uk/volunteering-during-the-first-world-war/who-were-the-vad-volunteers

My Momma influenced me the most by her actions.  She was always doing something and not resting until after dinner each night and on Sundays. What I remember the most was her just working- not complaining about a messy house or lack of money or bad weather or that she needed self-care. We had a wringer washer and no dryer until I was middle school - with seven kids that is alot of laundry!  Yet she made sure we were clean and our clothes were laundered.  No dishwasher. We washed and dried the dishes. No takeout or convenience meals. The house was tidy but not pinterest worthy.  She focused on the needs of her family and neighbor - and in return when she aged, we focused on taking care of her as a thank you for her taking care of us.

One main comment I remember was Momma did say was to always have a baked good in case people stopped by for a visit. A loaf of fresh bread with butter and homemade jam.  Cookies, pies, cakes. She believed in hospitality. Her love language was food!

So my new year's goal is to not complain about my life, the daily task of keeping the home fires burning or the nuttiness of the world.  

Momma's legacy is to just do what needs to be done when it needs to be done. The simple life of laundry, dishes, cooking and fluffing the nest. Quietly taking care of the home and taking care of others is my wish. To be thankful for Momma's lessons in keeping house and of course, always have a baked good for visitors.

Praying for all those affected by this winter storm!

My internet break lasted a whole couple of days, and it was wonderful while it lasted! I've come to realize that it's not the internet that's the problem -- it's the phone! I think it's the light. I sleep better when I am not using my phone, and I even eat less! Then we got the storm warning and I had to go back to using my phone. 

It's really hard to understand how to keep ourselves warm in a power outage when we don't have gas and we're not allowed to burn wood. The solar and battery generators are too expensive for a sustained outage. When we lost power last winter and it was -8 or -12, the house cooled down very quickly, and we have a well insulated home. I've had to think about our water bottles freezing. I bought some more hot water bottles to tuck around the 5 gallon spring water bottles to cover with blankets to keep them liquid. 

Our relatives got worried about us and sent us a propane space heater, but I'm concerned about fumes building up. Hopefully it will be okay if we have to use it. I ordered some more soapstones because we can warm them on the Big Green Egg on the patio. The grill is supposed to be usable in freezing temperatures. If we have to huddle in our beds to stay warm, the hot water bottles and soapstones will keep us warm. :) 

This upcoming storm that is supposed to affect so many of us has really had me thinking.

I am wondering how all of our concerns would have been handled in 1942. The homes then were not as insulated as the homes of today, they didn't have the high efficiency furnaces and AC units of today but they did have coal or wood stoves in many cases.  I have a woodstove thankfully and plenty of wood even if I do have to haul it in. Of course if we lose electricity I will not have fans to blow the wood heat around and there will be no way to use the water pump. I have cat litter jugs full of water for flushing and washing up if needed. 

My grandma said she used to melt snow on the woodstove if they lost power and she always kept beans or soup simmering on the woodstove. 

I am baking extra bread and some persimmon bread today, and have plans for soup to be made later.  I placed a large insulated cooler on the back deck, will use it for freezing or cooling if we lose power. 

I also have a system for rigging up a tent like structure for conserving heat if need be. 

I really wish my grandma was still here so I could ask about so many day to day things she had to deal with. 

Prayers for all of the people in the path of this winter storm. We have family in Texas and South Carolina, plus gDonna and Charles look like it might circle around them, also. I read all of the comments and it sounds as if several of our gDonna family will be affected, also. 

We live in Wyoming and are used to wind, cold and snow. My relatives have described the lack of equipment for such conditions. I grew up in Kansas and we had ice storms; those are ugly.

Please stay safe everyone. ????????

It is strange but whenever I put praying hands in an e-mail it comes up as question marks. ????

A wonderful post as always and I love reading everyone's comments. 

My paternal grandmother was my world and I was lucky enough to have her in my life until I was 39 and she was 84. She taught me so much on how to live. My parents weren't very good at that and I mostly raised myself. I did, however go and visit my grandmother every school vacation and it was the best time! Her house was always very neat and tidy and she taught me to always put something back after using it. Everything had a home, so it was easy to get things you needed. She was amazingly frugal, which helped her save money to have a retirement home built and pay cash, even though they didn't have much money for an income when my grandfather worked. I remember once someone had given her 2 beautiful tangerines and she was out of marmalade so she made a small jar of it from just those 2 fruits! She would not waste a thing! As soon as we came home from the grocery store we would put things away and then she would immediately work on the fresh produce. Wash them, peel and cube the butternut squash etc. Same when someone gave her produce. Everything was taken care of right away. Once, when I was a teenager, we came home from clothes shopping. She had bought a hounds tooth grey skirt and jacket suit. The skirt was a little bit too big in the waist. Well, as soon as we got home, she unpicked the waistband, took it in, reattached the waistband and hung it in the closet. I'll never forget that. She took care of it immediately, no waiting until later and having it lay on a pile somewhere. And it only took about 30 min. She also taught me to save money, even if it's a little bit at a time. It will add up. Also, even though she was frugal, she never bought cheaply made things. She would rather wait and save up to buy the well made, more expensive items, than the cheap one that breaks in a year and you have to buy again. Her motto was "We are too poor to buy cheap!"  :) I've lived by that and still have some of her well made items and mine that are more than 40,50 and 60 years old. She also taught me to enjoy the small things in life, and that you can find entertainment and interesting things to do that don't cost any money. She and I were always busy doing stuff when I visited, without spending money. Like you Grandma Donna, I've never been bored. 

My grandmother had 3 sisters and a brother and they lived through the Depression and WWII so I think her way of being was influenced by that because her siblings were the same way. 

This is the tea set my grandmother gave to me. It is from 1932. The cups are a "tulip" shape. I've never seen another one like it. She also knitted the doily underneath. 

Grandma Donna Wrote, 

For those getting ready for this Winter Storm that may cause power outages in many places.  Safety first when trying to figure out how to stay warm.   

First wear many layers of clothing, Wear a warm hat, scarf, hoodies, wear gloves, double socks, sweaters, coats and especially wrap your head to keep all your body warm while inside your home. 

Some of you live in cold places and have the proper clothing but many do not and this kind of storm can really get to you so do not let your body get chilled at all because it is really difficult to get warm again when there is no heat. 

If you can heat water, drink warm drinks, Make a candle stove if necessary to heat water, tea, etc.  You can go to youtube and watch how to make candle stoves, please watch the safe ones!   

I read it is good to make a tent inside your home and gather together for body heat.  Also it suggested to make a tent over your bed to stay warm.  Pull out all of your blankets and use them. 

Of course hot water bottles, soap stones, generators, solar generators and such as that are good but most people do not have these items.  We like to use our oil lamps during winter because they create a little bit of heat.  Some people have issues with the smell of using a oil lamp. 

We have a kerosene heater and we use Klean Heat fuel and other types of fuel made for kerosene heaters that have less odor.  We also have a carbon Monoxide monitor mounted on the upper wall and we have never had any issues using ours inside our home because ours is made to use indoors.  We also have a fuel stove we cook on outside and we have a firepit.  But I am mostly commenting here for those that do not have all the extras to stay warm.  

Let us know how you made it through the storm after it is over.  Grandma Donna

Grandma Donna Wrote,

I wanted to mention here that Kieva has put up a new update on the latest news on baby Jacob.  You will find it on the main forum page up at the top of the page where I made a page for Baby Jacob so you can find the latest updates.  Thank you Kieva for a new update.  HUGS

I have a question.....how did the women in 1942 dry their hair?  I had a blow dryer that died as we were starting this study. I haven't replaced it for a couple of reasons.

1. I am trying to do a no-spend January and if I do buy things i.e. groceries only buying what would have been commonly available then.

2.  I don't know if they had blow dryers then.

I have long hair and have been rolling it on rags or socks but sometimes it takes forever to dry.

Any suggestions would be welcomed.

Dear Tandi S

“This is the tea set my grandmother gave to me. It is from 1932. The cups are a "tulip" shape. I've never seen another one like it.“

The tea set was by Grafton, also called Royal Grafton with a Royal Warrant from Queen Mary. The design number is 5554, 1930's Art Deco Bone China, made by A B Jones of Longton in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire.

https://www.thepotteries.org/allpotters/609.htm 

https://www.trenthamheritage.org.uk/Grafton.html

My power is out, but I have a woodstove so I'm fine.

The high today was 3 degrees fahrenheit, but there was a windchill of -30 fahrenheit earlier.  It's supposed to get down to -4 tonight, but fortunately the windchill has improved to -20.  

Janet W, thanks so much for the information!

Kimberley F - thank you for your concern.  Nothing I can do that I haven't already done to try to find out why our daughter is estranged but I have heard that she blames us for a lot of things, and that she does have a bit of a problem in not realising the things she's blaming us for are of her own making - she is one of those type of persons who has to blame someone for their own failings.  It's been way too long now for anything to happen to repair the relationship so all we can do is not go down to that level and stay loving and caring, no matter what.  We're always here for her regardless, she only has to ask.  The sad thing is that our three lovely grandchildren are also involved and now being adults, don't recognise us at all - through no fault of our own.  Que Sera.

Joyce,

They did have hair dryers like the ones below in the 1940s.

When they became practical (1930s–1940s)

• 1930s – Improvements in motors and wiring
• Bakelite and early plastics reduced weight
• More households had electricity
• By the 1940s, home hair dryers were much more common

This is when they became a normal household appliance.

I hope all the others affected by this storm will be safe and make it through okay. I stocked up for myself and my cat, and I am staying home until it is safe to go out. Thankfully, we are getting abundant snow instead of ice. I heat with a wood stove, so I stay warm as long as I stay close to it. I hope others find ways to be warm and safe.

Becky Sue

The storm is hitting Baltimore now. My husband, son and daughter are at home in the Appalachians but the house is stocked with wood and we have a couple oil lamps and rechargeable lightbulbs if needed. Getting water would be the hardest thing to figure out but with the wood stove, a large pot, and plenty of snow, that can be figured out too. Although, speaking from experience, it takes a good bit of snow to melt if you want to use it as a water source. If you can find ice then you save yourself a lot of work! Jacob and I are hunkered down in the hospital. I'm sure they have back up power sources here just in case. The nurses and docs are prepared to spend the night here if they have to also. I hope everyone in the forum is safe and well prepared to weather this storm (for those in its path). 

Gosh Thank You Becky Sue!

I knew there were hair dryers available I just thought they were only used by the beauty salons so to speak. Not everyday people.

I guess when my no spend January is over, I will search Good will and see If I can get one there.

We got about 7 inches of snow here overnight and it continues to lightly snow here (northern third of Indiana) I have been out and shoveled/moved snow to get to the chickens and make an area for my dog. I take my time and take breaks, it doesn't all have to be done at one time. I have wood in house and eventually will shovel to the woodpile. 

I have seen snowplows on the road but live back a lane so probably not going anywhere for a while.

I don't need anything and no where I need to be so will just putter around here and be thankful I don't have to be out in it.

The snow has stopped here where I am, but it's predicted that we will have record breaking cold temperatures tonight. The power is still on.

One half of our house is the entryway, the living room, the dining room, the kitchen, and the laundry room, and it's mostly open space, so it would take a lot of energy to heat in a power outage. We wouldn't even consider heating that part of the house in an outage. That's where we store our 5-gallon bottles of water. The other half of the house is hallway, bedrooms, and bathrooms. 

When the power went out last winter in below freezing temperatures, it took six hours for the inside temperature to get down into the forties, so if we had a 24 or 48 hour outage, I expect the house to get close to freezing inside. We have solar and battery generators to heat food and water, keep phones and a radio charged, even light lamps if we wanted to, but our solar and battery generators would only provide about four to six hours of energy for an electric oil heater. We try to conserve the energy in case we need it for heating. The fumes from using oil lamps makes me sick, but we have candles and solar lights for lighting. We tried the propane heater yesterday for short while and it gave me a terrible headache. My husband and son aren't as sensitive so they could use the heater in one bedroom, and I would get most of the hot water bottles and soapstones to stay warm in bed in another room, in an outage. They could put a couple of the 5-gallon water bottles in the room with them, but we would have to make sure the other bottles didn't crack from the expansion of frozen water. That's why I ordered more hot water bottles to put around the 5-gallon bottles. 

In the outage last winter, we turned off the water from the valve in the garage, but my son had to go out and drain the outside faucets. He said his head, hands, and upper body were warm, but his legs and feet were cold. I made a note to buy a pair of snow boots and snow pants in December that I forgot to do, but I've ordered them now. 

We also filled the car with gas in case we needed to use it for heat. 

And that's how we've been preparing for an outage. :) 

Wow, you guys are freezing and we're melting in up to 40 degree heat - that's celcius.

My power came back on this evening from a three day outage.  The house stayed fairly comfortable with just the woodstove (I normally use a combination of that and electric radiators for heat) but I guess part of the crawlspace fell below freezing, because I don't have any water to the bathroom.  I just hope they don't end up bursting!  Unfortunately the way this house is plumbed, the lines can't be drained because they loop up and down.  If they ever do burst, the only silver lining will be that when I replace them, I will do the work myself and make it so they can be drained. 

The snow is absolutely beautiful tonight, extra sparkly due to the cold temps and big flat flakes.

Grandma Donna Wrote,

When the storm line when through us down here in southeastern Alabama yesterday, it came with tornadoes.  We are okay here at our house but small communities around our city have unfortunately have damaged and some quite severely.  Now that the storm line has gone through it has brought freezing temperatures.  We dropped below freezing this morning and tomorrow lows will be much lower. Many of you that have extreme frozen in temperatures.  At least down here our high temperatures will rebound above freezing and then drop back below freezing.  We will be draining our pipes late this afternoon for tonight's freeze because we have a crawl space under  our house and in the morning we will have a hard freeze.  

A few years ago we had a plumber put in a cut off valve to where we can easily get to it and simply turn the water off and drain the pipes and also the hot water heater.  We have five gallon buckets sitting in our bathtub filled with water, another five gallon spout can at our kitchen sink and composting toilet ready. We also have a tractor supply water tank in our greenhouse that holds 60 gallons so we can get water from there.   We do not want to risk the expense of plumbing repairs so we do all of this instead. 

One of our Grandsons is in Pennsylvania and they have a lot of snow and ice and hovering O degree temps going on to negative temps this week.  The difference from the northern states and southern states is here in the south our cities and towns are not prepared for this kind of cold, we do not have plows and such as that other than to clear bridges.  Also clothing is a factor, it is difficult to find wool clothing and coats made for below freezing temps.  Layers is what we do and a lot of them :)  We are being told that next weekend we might have another winter storm.  

During 1942 heating a home was different than now, at least for most homes.  They had more gas heat, fireplaces, wood burning stoves, and fuel stoves, they also had the clothing for cold.

Then came the reliance on electric central units as many have today, to me this is a mistake..  That goes for the southern part of the U.S.  Sometimes I feel like we need to move north to where many areas still have the equipment for cold weather and closer to 4 seasons. 

While many of us are really cold, our friends here from Australia and other areas are really hot! I do not look forward to that kind of heat so I will enjoy this cold while we have it.  Donna

Grandma Donna -- You have a fireplace. You could put a wood burning stove in it, couldn't you? Or do you have laws preventing that? Our relatives in Colorado can only use their fireplace on certain days. I'm going to see if I can get permission to have a wood stove. I have a small one picked out that has soapstones on the sides. :) We would put it in the largest bedroom. 

Wow, tornadoes too!  I am so sorry for the people who experienced this, on top of snow and the deep freeze.  I am glad you got through this storm !

Here in southeast PA, we got about 15 inches.  Reports vary, but that's our best guess.  We are still digging out, or I should sat snow blowing out, even though we started yesterday.  The hardest part was the end of the driveway, because it was capped by an almost 3 ft wall of frozen snow from the plows that came thru last night.  No complaints--I am grateful for the people that plow our roads in the dead of night.  Thankfully, no power loss.  We were lucky in that we didn't have high winds.  We did get a good coating of ice from freezing rain and sleet, but without the wind it didn't bring anything down. 

Looking ahead, we have a similar report as from your grandson.  Overnight low tonight is 8 F, the temps during the day the rest of the week hover in the mid teens during the day and single digits, as low as 1 F, overnight, with, at least right now, the high likelihood of snow both days for the upcoming weekend.  :( 

We have a fireplace but haven't used it in years.  It's on my to do list of things to repair/get checked out this summer.  I don't want to risk a house fire, but it would be nice to be able to use it.

Grandma Donna Wrote,

Stephanie G, our fireplace is a set in unit where they built around it and with a high hearth so we cannot put a stove in it.  This is on our list of things to change, I would rather have a heat and cooking stove there or at least a fireplace that the hearth starts at floor level.  This would be so much better because we lose a lot of heat with this fireplace but it will heat the one room that it is in and this is a source of heat.  We have a fuel stove sitting on top of the hearth right now and that will heat much of the house but fuel is so expensive now we are using it wisely for certain.  We are using all of our portiere's right now to keep the rooms warm that we need warm.