The Story of the Picture

In the fall of 1975, we bought a house(?)
in Cooke Canyon, outside of Ellensburg.

The question mark is for the fact that the
building had two rooms. One "L" shape,
which was the living room and kitchen
combo. The other was a bedroom.

We had bought it from a single older
gentleman. It was on 10 acres at the
end of a county road. With a creek
running thru the property near the
building. Had a mountain of sorts,
meaning a huge 40 foot rock type,
on the south side of the creek.

Very secluded. There was one home
pass us, that was used in the summer.
This was a great place for the kids.
This is where the kids could play for
hours. Up on the hill, and even over the
hill on the north side of the property.

When we bought the house, it was pretty
bare. There wasn't a sink, nor water. We
did have a well and well house. So we had
to bring the water to the house. There wasn't
a bathroom, so we had an outhouse.

So one of the first things in order, was to get
a sink and bring in water to that. But we still
didn't have a water heater. So hot water was
made by boiling water on the stove and putting
in to a metal tub for baths, and into a pot for
dish washing and clothes washing. Which is
the why for this picture.

I was washing dishes first. Then as you can
see on top of the wood is the laundry basket.
The wood was stacked along side the porch,
about 4 or 5 feet high and 21 feet long, two
stacks deep. As we had wood heat.

My mother loved this picture. She said the
only thing missing was a gun. It was a good
time of my life. I was 35, the kids were happy
with their play ground of too many acres to count.
A gravel pit to play with their Tonka toys, and their
German Shepard dog called Heidelberg.

The following year, I designed an addition of 24x28.
Which gave us 3 bedrooms and a large bathroom.