I moved my little family to Manassa, while Arlo was in Denver in the hospital. I rented a house from Lucille Jackson, which was one block west of Grandma and Grandpa Dunn. Arlo was not happy about that. He thought Manassa was a terrible place. It didn't take him long to love it there.
Grandma Dunn helped me tend Larry so I could go to work in the school hot lunch. My hours there were the same as my children, who were in school.
Arlo had surgery on his spine and was not supposed to go to work for a time, but he was very anxious to make a living for his family. He did a job for uncle Loyd and was paid with a pig, to butcher. He killed the pig and I cured the bacon and ham, we cut it up and put it in the locker (a place to freeze food. They had places like wooden crates built into the walls, where we rented a locker to store our meat. Dale sowards owned the locker. That didn't give us any money. I made a small salary and we got by, but it was scant.
Arlo went to work for Boyd Pagett, who owned the service station that had once belonged to Grandpa Dunn. He worked for Boyd, until Boyd died and then he bought it from Elma. That was our income until Arlo sold it to Mitch and Mike. They didn't pay anything on it so it came back to us. That is another story.
The Christmas following the time Arlo came home from the hospital, Arlo said we would not have a Christmas that year. I said, äs long as I live there will be a Christmas for the children. We bought a pickup load of scrap lumber from a sawmill and Arlo made a elevator garage for the boys and we got some little cars for it. He made a table and chairs and a doll cradle for Bonnie. I think that was one of the best Christmases that we ever had.
We got a skunk under the house and it took a long time to get rid of it or them and the smell that went with them. We did finally get the hole closed up and that was the end of the skunk.
Grandma Dunn thought that Larry was the nicest little boy. He never made a mess when he ate and she could rock him to sleep. He never let me rock him. Grandma had a special touch.
We bought a house in the northwest corner of Manassa, and we lived there for a number of years. We lived across the street from Maggie Weston on the North side of Jake and Stella Parker.
TO BE CONTINUED!
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I remember the elevator. It was as tall as I was and was white and forest green. The elevator was operated by a crank on the site and we played with it for hours. The last time I saw it, it was in the garage at Grandma and Grandpa Dunn's house.
I can still remember the smell of the skunk under the Lucille Jackson house.
I also remember the apricot tree on the south side of the house. It bloomed, but I don't remember ever seeing fruit on it.
Mom would bring leftovers from the school lunch system to feed her little pigs (us).
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