[Gaffer]

As very young boy. My mother, sister and I lived with my grandpa and aunt while my dad was at Eniwetok during the big tests.

The house had a well for water, a real cast iron coal stove for heat and other stuff, and REA electricity (thankfully). My first baths were in a big galvanized tub with water heated on the iron stove or that new fangled electric stovetop.

There was also that damned scary outhouse.

[Daffynition]

We had to get our water for a bath out of the stream ......ice cold water that took *forever* to heat on the wood stove.

And one night dad thought he was being funny, when he told my mom to *watch out for the bears* on the way to the outhouse....she was never the same.....and had to have an escort to the facility, every night, after that, before turning in.

It was always an advantage to be the first one up in the morning, b/c you had the *hot* water to wash up with, that sat on the wood stove all night.

Do you remember your *art class* in school consisted of the one time a year, the teacher told you to bring a bar of Ivory soap to school.....and you would *carve* it?

Gawd awful, primitive results....I was never any good at it. And we [girls as well as boys] all carried our own pocket knives to do the carving with ....today, that would result in a lock-down and SWAT teams being called.