This contest will mostly be for the older people because they’ll be the ones that know what I’m talking about.
I want to know about the days before your family got electric or indoor plumbing.
Tell me some of your memories. I don’t care if it’s in poetry or story form. Just share your good ole days with me.
If you’ve never lived without it, and if you really want to enter, you can maybe write about what you’ve heard from your parents or grandparents.
Please, please do not post anything that isn’t true in this contest.
Gold 800
Silver 400
Bronze 200
This will close when I see fit.
I hope you enjoy yourself.
Thank you,
Cathy
Listed below are some notes about my childhood.
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I grew up with my grandparents and to me; our little home was heaven on earth. It still is.
We never got electric until I was 5 years old and water came years after that.
We had an old drum wood heating stove that kept us warm. It was in our living room.
In the kitchen was an old wood cook stove that mamaw cooked on.
Out side was a big ole black kettle that she built a fire under to heat our wash water as well as using it to make lard from the hogs we killed.
At bedtime, I’d snuggle under a thick pile of blankets and my feet would reach for the old iron that she had heated on the stove and wrapped in rags to keep us warm.
When we needed firewood, mamaw would take the double bit axe and go cut down a tree. I’d help her drag it home and we’d saw it up.
We had a nice garden and the vegetables we grew were some of the best I’ve ever tasted.
We had an old icebox in the house and I’d go with papaw to town to buy a block of ice to put in it to keep our food cold.
We had an old outhouse over on the hillside beside the hog pen. I thought nothing of jumping up in the middle of the night and running over there.
We had chickens and many a time would have to scare a chicken hawk off one of them. Sometimes the chicken didn’t live.
When it started getting dark, we would light the coal oil lamps and sit up reading or just talking.
We carried our water from a well that was down a little path on our neighbors land. That well is still there today but it’s open and the water isn’t any good anymore.
Although we finally got water as far as our front yard, it wasn’t put in the house until 1994 after my mamaw died.
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I hope this inspires you to share your memories with me.
Contest is Over
- Contest was judged on May 13
- Rewards: Gold: 800, Silver: 400, Bronze: 200
- Final notes: The entries in this contest were a delight to read and some of them brought back even MORE memories for me! Thank you for sharing these special times.
Contest Winners
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Fireplace, wood stove, chopped wood in a neat stack,
coal oil lamps, water bucket, outhouse out back.• Commented on by judge. [remove]
Gold trophy winner
Silver trophy winner
Bronze trophy winner
Entries [10]
1 - 10 of 10
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Family of fifteen,mom, dad,two sisters and me,
and yep ten boys, no bathroom,just an old outhouseby misticmoonlite 10 lines, 14 comments, on Apr 29 10:14 PM• Commented on by judge. -
Dad heated with wood because he could;
it was a choice he made.by ea 26 lines, 10 comments, on Apr 30 1:03 AM• Commented on by judge. -
roasted like peanuts in an oven
the six in the dining room whereby MysticBlue 21 lines, 7 comments, on Mar 16 10:53 AM. In Contemporary, Contest, Life, Love, Personal, Society, Thoughts• Commented on by judge. Prewrite -
• Commented on by judge.
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Comments
1 - 14 of 14
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how about this one.. my grandparents had a cabin in Iron Bridge Canada and there was no indoor toilet.. they had an outhouse
I remember that all to well.. I hated that darn thing especially at night...
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lol Now you're talking sissy. Tell us about your adventures as a contest entry. No poem needed so don't use your muse as an excuse.
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no poem needed huh>???? hmmm alright I will for you because its you..
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Thanks sissy. Love you lots.
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I really enjoyed reading what you wrote, Cathy.
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Thank you! I hope you'll enter.
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This sounds like so much fun. I'll be writing something since we didn't have inside plumbing until after I left home at 18, and I well remember the old coal oil lamps and the wood-burning cook stove. Thanks in advance for the memories I'll relive while I write, and good luck with your contest. Patricia
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That's exactly the point of this contest! So many folks hated those times but I call it real living. lol I do look forward to your entry.
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Anyone else see the irony of an ONLINE contest about the days before electricity....
Sounds fun though. Good idea and thanks for sponcering a contest...I think many of the best works on this site are written for contests. -
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LOL Yes there is a bit of irony in this.
I agree with you as well, I get wonderful entries for all my contests. A lot of them are amazing PW that I'd never have seen if not for hosting. I hope you can enter or at least read.
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I'll probably be reading a few of them but not likely entering this one. While it is true that my family owns a farm about one hundred miles away from me that doesn't have indoor plumbing all I do is hunt there, and when hunting we bring a pull behind camper with us....I just don't have any real experiences with no electricity and no plumbing...20 years old and still too young!
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I'm so glad that you wrote about your childhood and Mamaw! I just love hearing the stories about her and the old house.
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LOL I have lots of them to tell Crystal! I love you. Kiss the boys for me.
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I'll have to prod my mom and dad for info... then I'll try to get back...
this sounds like a blast from the past to write about!! thanks for the hook up
laurie
for now got to go.. bye
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