Flashback Friday

Shortly after the Wombie and I were hatched, Marj and Herb built a house across the street from where they were living.  It's still there, 103 Pine Street, next time you are in Seaton.  As I understand from past conversations, a local architect whose name escapes me now did the building.  But the floor plan was drawn by Marj.  She made sure there was a large picture window in the front, and a laundry room, too.  A single car garage was attached and through the years, they might have regretted not making it a 2-car garage.  It was a typically 50's-60's single floor ranch style house with three bedrooms.  One feature that was a bit different was that the builder was used to using 2x6's on the flooring, but Marj insisted on 2 x 8's for strength.  

The above picture is an early one of the build - the basement has been dug and the foundation is being laid.  On top of the mound from left to right are Brother Phil, Bill Seaton from across the block and his big sister, Terry.

On the the far left you can see the garage of what was Uncle Ed's parents house, Mabel and Roy.  Behind that was farm ground that Ed would farm and that was a pretty cool barn in the back that was fun for exploring.  Directly behind the mound over in Mabel and Roy's yard would eventually be chickens and a chicken coop.  When the chicken business would be phased out the coop would end up where the white barn was and be a clubhouse for us neighborhood kids.  They even brought the firetruck over to hose it down.  The basement was forever dry and half of it was finished, with a nice size room that evolved through the years from various activities.   

Here is another one of a similar time period.  Phil is hauling, what looks to be Kim Kingry around in his wagon.  Directly behind is Arminta McKelvie's house, our long-time neighbor.  You can see the cement mixer just above Phil's head along with a wheelbarrow.   

Our basement was kind of fun.  Some of those activities were model building when the Wombie and I were into that stage.  I can recall they made all the neat monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein and the Mummy into models, and I think we had all those at one time.  They had a TV down there too so we could watch "Combat".  We eventually got a ping-pong table and that was quite a draw for a long time.  In its last incarnation, it became a lounge and exercise area for Herb, not to mention storage.  I'm not sure he was supposed to smoke down there but I think he'd come down for a cigar when it was cold outside.  

Just one more thing about the house.  Phil early on had scribbled stuff, including his name on the wall of his closet.  From that day till every Blythe had moved out of the house,  the wall of that closet was not painted over.  Marj simply couldn't bring herself to paint over that signature.  Good for her.