the homesteaders daughter: The house that Jack built

Monday, October 19, 2009

The house that Jack built

My son Jack is a builder and owner of Capital Country Homes out of Olympia, Washington. The family all teases him a little with, "The house that Jack built." And now, there are many of them.

This guy was a whopper when he was born...10 pounds and 18 inches long....or should I say, "short." On my birthday this last July we made arangements for him to take me to lunch when he wasn't right in the middle of building one of the pretty, custom built homes that are his specialty. We hadn't been able to complete those plans until today.

Before we went to eat we stopped by my sisters log home--which he built and said it would be the one and only log house he would build; I guess because it was such a huge undertaking. It's a dream house to me and my sister has it decorated like something out of a Home and Garden magazine. As we were leaving I tried my best to get a picture of the house. I am just not that good at it. Fooey! but I tried and I promise to get better. The three pictures I did get are the front of the beautiful log house; me and Jack, and me and Jack's truck.

It really is a gorgeous home

4 comments:

KathyB.October 19, 2009 at 11:20 PM
Well the three pictures you did get are pretty good Audrey. And you are so right about your sister's home, it really should have it's own magazine spread . Jack built a home that has withstood a raging flood when most of the homes near the lovely log home washed away.Jack should add that tid-bit to his building credentials, built to withstand the Nisqually River!
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AnonymousOctober 20, 2009 at 2:28 AM
Thank you for sharing your day. The cabin with all the pretty plants is beautiful! I know you are very proud of Jack.
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DebbieOctober 20, 2009 at 7:53 AM
Dear Audrey, Please read A.Joy's post and then add for me "....and I'd like to live at the end of a dirt road in one of these beautiful homes!HAHA!
Deb
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AnonymousOctober 21, 2009 at 7:50 AM
Agreeing with KathyB. Definitely needs to be in a magazine.

Glad you had a good day!!
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A Little bit about the grandparents

I consider myself blessed to have known my paternal great-grandparents. Allie and Knapp were a couple straight out of "Little House on the Prairie. They lost a child while still in Kansas and soon after traveled to Washington state where they homesteaded a goodly piece of land and proceeded to build a beautiful farm where the flowers bloomed with abundance to match the fruit of the orchard and the fields of grain.

Their second son, Glenn married Pearl, had a son by her but she gave her life to bring him forth. She died when her baby son, Lloyd, was born. The grandparents raised the boy while Glennn married a young woman named Beulah. They had two boys, but grandson, Lloyd stayed on with them . when he was 8 years-old his father, Glenn was killed by a truck load of logs that rolled off a train and crushed him to pieces.

Their lives seemed one long tragedy, yet love was more alive there than most any other place I have ever been. My father, Lloyd married Maudie Clark and I was their first child, born in our own little house on the Moore property. How could anything so right go so terribly wrong??

By the time I came along the grandparents were in their 80's and life happened. My parents divorced and though I stauyd mainly with my mother I spent a great deal of time with my dad and Grandpa and Grandma on the farm...or what was left of it by this time.

There never was running water in the, "big" house or an inside toilet and only limited electricity.

On most days Grandma sat in the parlor in her rocker in front of a standing radio and two windows where the honeysuckle smiled- in during the summer months; the Bible at her side.

The kitchen floor sank in a little and the oil-cloth on the big square table
was worn from the meals that had been served there. A kerosene lamp stood there also and somehow it always smelled like apple pie.

My grandma was just under 5 feet tall, with grey hair pulled back in a bun and little tiny feet. She could not see well and wore thick glasses, maybe not a pretty picture to anyone else but a matchless queen to me, and whenever she asked me to go to her closet and bring a certain box to her side I knew I was about to see wonderous things or to hear grand stories

My family's history was in those boxes and over the few years that I had my dear great-grandparents I learned who I was. Grandpa had his tales to tell also. One such story was the one about a horse kicking him in the chest and he DID seems to have a hoof print in that spot.

Grandpa chewed...tobacco that is... and watching him bite off a chunk of the rich chocolate colored stuff was very tempting. My mother told me that when she was expecting me she was so overcome with temptation that she snuck a piece of the tobacco when Grandpa wasn't looking and had her chew...and spent some time with her head hanging over the dandelion field behind the house.

Grandpa Knapp was an unusual fella. Once a year the grandparents house was scrubbed inside with calsomine, a white paint-like substance. He had to walk to the paint store which was a good 5 miles one way. His walks were going to become a problem later on after Grandma was gone but that will have to come later.