Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

From the 50s and 60s to today . . .



Tuesday, February 25, 2014

My Hiding Place


See? Really old! And mysterious!

On the Stringam ranch, we had an old garage.
Really old.
Grampa Stringam old.
It was long and single storied with white, stucco siding and very small windows.
At the north end, there was the big garage door.
Opening into a large, dark room that smelled of old oil and farm cats.
Cut into the thick planks of the floor of that room, was the heavy trap door to the root cellar, described here.
But the root cellar only took up half of the 'basement'.
The other half was a strange stable.
Really strange.
The entire room was deeply covered with straw. And had solid wooden dividers, forming tie stalls, though there was no where in the stone walls to actually tie anything.
And there were no mangers if one did manage to . . . tie . . . anything.
The weirdest thing about this stable was access.
The only entrance/exit was a small window high up in the south wall of the garage.
I often wondered how one could get any animals down there.
Someone didn't plan that very well . . .
No wonder the straw was clean, even though it wasn't fresh.
The small window, however, made an eminently suitable entrance/exit for children.
Like me.
And their toys.
Like mine.
It was my secret place.
My hiding place.
Where no one could find me.
All right, I admit that it was only about forty feet from the front door of the house. Well within hollering distance.
And that when my Mom wanted me, all she had to do was shout.
But I felt secret.
Hidden.
The single window had no covering, so, during the day, the room was brightly lit. And there was no danger that one could be shut into darkness by a heavy door.
One could slide in through the window, toys and all, drop into the thick straw, and spend hours in one's own little sunlit, straw-filled world.
Perfection.
It became the place where I parked anything I didn't want the other kids to get into.
And where I hid the stuff wasn't supposed to get into. (I once lugged in an entire boxful of old pamphlets and envelopes and stationary that Dad had tossed out. I know. Kids . . .)
I played happily for months in my secret stable.
Finally, I asked Dad what had happened to the door.
He stared at me, puzzled.
I explained that I had to crawl into the little stable through the window. What happened to the door?
He laughed. “That's no stable, Diane. That's the old ice house.”
Ah. Everything was explained.
Not.
“Um. What's an ice house?
Dad tried to explain to me that every winter, the men would go down to the river which just happened to flow right past the garage, and cut great chunks of ice.
Then the ice would be hauled up to the ice house and passed through the little window to someone waiting inside.
The straw was to keep it cold.
Weird.
I suspected that he was pulling my leg because I had played down there for months and I hadn't seen one bit of ice.
“Why would they do that?”
“Well, they needed the ice to keep food cold.”
“Why didn't they use the freezer?”
“They didn't have freezers.”
I stared at him. How could anyone survive without a freezer?
“They didn't even have a fridge.”
Okay, now I knew he was just making stuff up.
Everyone had a fridge.
Some people, like us, had two.
I shook my head. “Dad. Dad. Dad. That's just silly.”
And I went back to my playing.
But you know something?
He was right.
Sometimes dads are.

14 comments:

  1. Great post! I haven't "stopped by" in ages, but saw this pop up on Google and thought I'd visit. All kids need a hideaway. I had one in our downstairs closet that we used for a pantry. I would spend hours in there snuggled up reading with my cat.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a great safe place to play...all secret and hidden like....

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dads are sometimes right???!? When did that start happening??

    Anonymous Husby/Father Figure

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's an illusion . . . You're dreaming . . . Go back to sleeeeep . . .

      Delete
  4. Your stories are so much fun to read, Diane. I can so clearly see a little girl mystified by that information!

    It appears that Anonymous Husby/Father Figure has not reached the age of being respected by his offspring yet - only another thirty years to go, don't give up now! LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She totally was!
      Pfff . . . Anonymous Husby/Father figures . . .

      Delete
  5. I've read about such ice storage in novels of yesteryear, but never before known anyone who actually had such storage on their property. We had an ice chest when I was very young, before mum bought a refrigerator, the ice was delivered once a week in large blocks by a man in a truck lined with some sort of metal, he'd grab a block of ice with very large pincers and drop it into the top of the ice chest.
    What a fabulous place for a child to hide away and play!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dad says we got our first 'fridge' just two years before I was born, so the ice house was only recently obsolete in my day. But I loved it in there!

      Delete
  6. Every child should have an ice house/hiding place like that, you lucky woman you.

    I don't my father ever really listened to my ramblings. He just said "mmmm" Again you lucky woman, you, eh.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting! Drop by again!

Real Estates: All Murders Included in the Price!

Real Estates: All Murders Included in the Price!
My FIRST murder mystery!

Blessed by a Curse

Blessed by a Curse
My very first Medieval Romance!

God's Tree

God's Tree
For the Children

Third in the series

Third in the series
Deborah. Fugitive of Faith

The Long-Awaited Sequel to Daughter of Ishmael

The Long-Awaited Sequel to Daughter of Ishmael
A House Divided is now available at all fine bookstores and on Amazon.com and .ca!

Daughter of Ishmael

Daughter of Ishmael
Now available at Amazon.com and .ca and Chapters.ca and other fine bookstores.

Romance still wins!

Romance still wins!
First romance in a decade!

Hosts: Your Room's Ready

Hosts: Your Room's Ready
A fun romp through the world's most haunted hotel!

Hugs, Delivered.

Compass Book Ratings

Compass Book Ratings

Ghost of the Overlook

Ghost of the Overlook
Need a fright?

My Granddaughter is Carrying on the Legacy!

My Granddaughter is Carrying on the Legacy!
New Tween Novel!

Gnome for Christmas

Gnome for Christmas
The newest in my Christmas Series

SnowMan

SnowMan
A heart warming story of love and sacrifice.

Translate

My novel, Carving Angels

My novel, Carving Angels
Read it! You know you want to!

My Second Novel: Kris Kringle's Magic

My Second Novel: Kris Kringle's Magic
What could be better than a second Christmas story?!

Join me on Maven

Connect with me on Maven

Essence

Essence
A scientist and his son struggle to keep their earth-shattering discovery out of the wrong hands.

Essence: A Second Dose

Essence: A Second Dose
Captured and imprisoned, a scientist and his son use their amazing discovery to foil evil plans.

Looking for a Great Read?

E-Books by Diane Stringam Tolley
Available from Smashwords.com

The Babysitter

The Babysitter
A baby-kidnapping ring has its eye on J'Aime and her tiny niece.

Melissa

Melissa
Haunted by her past, Melissa must carve a future. Without Cain.

Devon

Devon
Following tragedy, Devon retreats to the solitude of the prairie. Until a girl is dropped in his lap.

Pearl, Why You Little...

Pearl, Why You Little...
Everyone should spend a little time with Pearl!

The Marketing Mentress

The Marketing Mentress
Building solid relationships with podcast and LinkedIn marketing

Coffee Row

Coffee Row
My Big Brother's Stories

Better Blogger Network

Semper Fidelis

Semper Fidelis
I've been given an award!!!

The Liebster Award

The Liebster Award
My good friend and Amazing Blogger, Marcia of Menopausal Mother awarded me . . .

Irresistibly Sweet Award

Irresistibly Sweet Award
Delores, my good friend from The Feathered Nest, has nominated me!

Sunshine Award!!!

Sunshine Award!!!
My good friend Red from Oz has nominated me!!!

My very own Humorous Blogger Award From Delores at The Feathered Nest!

Be Courageous!


Grab and Add!

Search This Blog

Ghost of the Overlook

Ghost of the Overlook
Need a fright?