07/19/07 The Ranch House

Yesterday I told you about old houses that were built and lived in during the homestead days. I'm Jeff Keane. I'll be right back to tell you about one in particular. Some of the old homestead shacks were improved over the years and didn't deteriorate into just piles of lumber. A few are still lived in today. My Granddad's homestead house has seen a lot of changes and played a lot of different roles since it was just his shack to "prove up" his homestead land. Granddad added on to the original small building when he got married, but my Grandmother died very young and the place was relegated to a bachelor's den for about twenty-five years. With no female guidance for all those years, there was no insistence to improve, winterize or repair past the point of having a place to cook and sleep. It wasn't exactly the house on Dallas' Southfork when Dad married Mom and they moved in. There was a wood stove for heat, rooms filled with horse harnesses and wheat sacks and no running water. But Mom persevered and the house was added on to again. Mom's remodel project included a new roof, siding, first time paint, oil stove heat, and indoor plumbing supplied by a cistern filled with hauled water. In 1957, Dad contracted a company to install a power line to the ranch and I'm sure the old house was proud of its new electrical wiring. We still didn't live in the ranch house year round since it wasn't winterized and the road was impassable during snow time. We'll have to talk tomorrow about more roles for this old ranch house. I'm Jeff Keane.