| All of Maria and Fred's children had lived in the ‘big white house' and the summerhouse that was situated north of it, and all their grandchildren will remember the two buildings. But there were other houses before those were built.
I have a vague recollection of my father mentioning a shack; his first home on the homestead. The shack was quite near the lake; I would think about the middle of the present garden area. He lived in it while still a bachelor. I remember a strange story he told us of him coming home from cutting hay (with a scythe). In his absence an intruder had been in his humble home. As he retrieved his few kitchen utensils from a shelf to prepare a meal, he noticed the stub of a burnt candle and a spent match in the bottom of the cup. He took the cup to the lake a few hundred feet away and quickly washed it out. Even though he was too tired and hungry to dwell on the likely act of witchcraft, he remembered the incident all his life.
It is likely that because Fred expected to get married that he built another house (north of the present house (2005). The couple had two or three little ones when that house met with disaster.
It happened when Fred traveled to Vernon , B.C. to visit his sister Dora Kazamerchuk. He found the Alberta winters severe and while visiting his sister, he scouted the area for the possibility of relocating there for a warmer climate.
Maria and the little ones were left behind. While baking bread, Maria got the stove hot. It is likely that the soot in the chimney caught fire and burned the house. The family escaped but a pig in a lean-to shed attached to the house did not. They also lost the few documents that they possessed.
Fred built another home on the highest point further north. Even though he could see most of his land from that vantage point, the house bore the brunt of the cold north wind. It was small. Each of the two rooms was about 12 feet square.
With the family growing in number, they needed a larger home. So Fred built the white house that we grew up in. I am not sure if the summerhouse on the site of the present bungalow (2005), had been built before or after the big house. When the larger house was complete, the little house on the high ground had been sold to a farmer near Hairy Hill. Since there was no way of moving the building, the logs had been numbered, the house dismantled and then put together again in its new location. (In the 1980s Steve pointed out the building to me and somewhere in one of our boxes of photos is a picture of it. At that time it sat on a field near the road about ten miles directly south of the farm. Because it was near the road it is likely that it had been someone's home for a while. However when we stopped to see it, the windows were boarded up and it was empty.)
By today's standard, the big white house was not big. The main floor was a living/kitchen/dining room. (Interestingly, many of today's new homes are returning to similar designs) The cellar door behind a wall led to the dirt cellar that kept potatoes fresh all winter. Jars of preserves and the occasional wooden boxful of apples (often sent by mother's sister and brother-in-law, Helen and Mike Cucheran, from Vernon ) were also kept in the cool cellar.
The upstairs, one large open room with a double bed in each corner were full most nights. Later a wall installed in the middle made two rooms. The chimney ran up near the stairs and provided warmth in the winter. A dormer facing south was Fred's attempt at design and light.
All the buildings to that point were built with available materials; logs off the farm. Few nails were used. Logs were shaped at their ends to make them fit and were often reinforced with the use of an old-fashioned drill that made the holes for handmade dowels.
Even though most of the buildings including the summerhouse had the ends of the logs protruding in the corners, Fred trimmed the ends on the white house. It was special. As well, only the logs on that building were squared to make for flat sides. That, I presume was done by hand, using a hatchet, axe and hand saw. What a lot of work! But Fred wished to build a fine house.
The site for the building was excellent except for one aspect.
On that location the house was protected from north winds by the higher ground behind it. The front view looked out onto two lakes joined by a channel and surrounded by willows, poplars and reeds. The landscape and waterfowl on the lake provided moments of pleasure and a feeling of peace. Upon rising in the morning, it seems that one always glanced at the lake and had the feeling that all was well with the world. However, the site presented the problem of stability. With cement for piles unavailable in those times, Fred's challenge was to build a stable building on shifting sand. And he did it!
Fred discovered a seam of clay east of the granary. Water and straw added to the clay and mixed by the children stomping it with their bare feet, resulted in filler for cracks between logs. In the case of the white house, after the filler dried both the interior and exterior walls were made smooth with coats of soft, pure clay. The final step was a couple of coats of whitewash.
In amazement, from a safe distance, we watched our mother make the whitewash. Lime in powdered form was bought. When added to a bucket of cold water, the mixture bubbled and boiled as it was stirred with a wooden paddle. Often bluing (used in laundry to make white clothes whiter) was added to produce a whiter paint. As well, when fine washed sand was added, the paint adhered to the clay.
Each spring mother checked the walls. Cracks or holes where the clay had fallen out were refilled and repainted.
In mid-winter one year, our home was almost lost. On our return from school we found the family in shock. Lucille who was about five years old was bored. She went upstairs, found a candle, lit it and proceeded to make wax dots on the trunk near a curtained window. She had seen older siblings make dots of wax on their hands and called them measles. But she got too near the curtains. When they caught on fire, she was too frightened to let anyone know. However, Maria's sixth sense prompted her to look up the stairs. Nick said he was the first one up the stairs but the heavy smoke stopped him. In the meantime his father rushed past him, pulled down the curtain and in heavy smoke fought the fire. He told us that he was about to give up, when by the grace of God, he had the fire under control.
The east wall, some bedding and a robe that hung on a nail at the head of our parents' bed were damaged. Maria was sad to lose the robe. It accompanied Mike's personal effects that were returned to us after he died (in Calgary ). When Maria went to bed each night the robe likely gave her the feeling that Mike was near her. The robe had to be discarded but miraculously its belt was fine. Maria lovingly saved the belt.
Over the years, the house witnessed many events. There was the whir of cream separator, spinning wheel, the knitting machine, as well as the radio and family discussions, disagreements, teasing and laughter. Some Sundays its walls vibrated as friends and neighbors gathered to sing hymns accompanied by the organ. During the war it saw the concerns of parents and saw neighbors gather around the radio to hear Fred translated to them about what was happening in Europe . The house absorbed the aromas of cooking and especially that of baking bread.
In time the house experienced a quiet period except for days when grandchildren again filled it with the sounds of laughter.
But after many years it became tired. It began to lean and sag. It would come down and give way to a small bungalow.
The Bungalow
At a farm sale Maria spotted a frame building that she decided would make a fine little house. She bought it for $300. Fred thought it ridiculous but she convinced the family that her plan was sound.
Steve provided building materials from his hardware in Hairy Hill. With the help of the younger folk, a concrete basement was built. During the process, Fred voiced his displeasure at putting so much work into the small building. He preferred erecting a decent house. I agreed with him but it was too late. The basement had already been prepared to accommodate Maria's purchase.
However, after the building was positioned, Fred took more interest. He built the lean-to extension on the west side to accommodate stairs to the basement, a hallway and a bathroom.
Only after Fred and Marie moved into the new little house, was the white house taken down. Alvin Stenson told me that they removed a log at a time all around the house until the top floor was at ground level. I think it was mostly nostalgia that swayed Maria to save the upper floor. It was moved behind the junk pile and used as storage. But it was there; a reminder of the many years it provided the family with sleeping quarters.
The little house behind the bungalow was towed from Hairy Hill. It was built about 1940 on an adjacent lot to Steve's lot as a house for the younger children to attend high school. When its usefulness was over. Steve had it moved to the farm. |