Warm radiators and furnace

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Its winter on the farm.

  The Old Farmer stokes up the coal furnace in the basement.

The is a twice a day job. You shovel out the ashes in the bottom,

Then shake a  grate handle on front of furnace. The cinders and smaller coals

fall through and the hot bigger coals remain on top of the grate.

By the next shift any hot coals that fell through are burned out and safe to shovel out again.

Then in goes a couple big shovels full of new coal.

 In the fall the Old Farmer had let any air pockets out of the radiators

with the radiator key. This was called bleeding the system. Sometimes

during the winter this process was repeated if there was an air block

and the hot water wasn't circulating.

Hot water would circulate through the radiators and they were toasty warm.

There was nothing like coming in the house from the cold and sitting
by a radiator and warming up with a cup of cocoa.
They were also a great place to dry our snowsuits and boots!

 

I remember being home from school sick in the winter.

The Old Farmer's Wife would bundle me up in a blanket

on a chair by the radiator in the kitchen. Then was she could

do her work and keep an eye on me. 

And the Old Farmer's would go outside the big windows and build

a huge snowman using bushel baskets full of snow.

The Telephone Party Line

A show of hands ... how many remember telephone party lines? 

Okay, how many have heard of a telephone party line?

The Old Farmer had an 8 household party line at the farmhouse.

If anyone in another home along the road was on the phone you could
listen in on their conversation, very impolite, and if they thought
they heard you pick up and not politely hang back up 

you would be called out on it, "hang up". 

or "is that you ......, hang up the phone or I'll tell your mother."

The phone would have a double ring or one long ring so you would

know if an incoming call was for you or someone else.
Eventually the house was updated to a two party line.
Then you knew who else was on the phone listening in! 

And of course you couldn't make a call or receive a call if the line was tied up

by another person on the party line.  

Long distance calls were very expensive and rarely occurred.
And when they did the clock was carefully watched...
Unfortunately a long distant call likely involved bad news.
If you accidentally picked up the phone when a neighbor
had a long distance call it was a matter of intense speculation
in hushed tones.

Sometimes Santa would call us on our phone. We got the old
have you been good this year, what do you want for Christmas,
if you have been bad I'll know it when I check my list and
you will get a lump of coal in your stocking! 

Then The Old Farmer's Children discovered the Beep Line. 

This would often involve young teens who discovered you could
dial your own number to get a busy signal, then you could hear
others talking between the beeps of the busy signal.
This was an early dating line, getting to know someone whose
voice you liked, getting on the beep line at the same time each day...
I don't know how many actually arranged a meet, it was a much
simpler time and certain standards were maintained,
it was innocent flirting. 

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