This is a picture of my grandparents on Mom's side. They are on the porch (!) of their home in Truth or Consequences. The family sons (and Dad) built it for them when I was about six. It was a smallish home, 24 feet or so on a side, square, with four rooms inside divided by two walls that crossed. Out back there was a screened in porch where I used to sleep when I visited there. I remember once how excited I was when I found a nest of black widow spiders in a corner by my bed. It was always kind of dusty, since New Mexico is always kind of dusty. This picture would have been taken in the early 1950's, I'd think. I think the dog is Butch, my family's black cocker spaniel, and a wonderful companion in all our travels. Good natured and willing to put up with a total lack of grooming, he was always there. He was struck by a car and killed on July 30, 1056. On the back of the picture is written, "Your old Folks. The dress I have on Anna made me for Ma day." I assume the picture was sent to Mom. Grandpa is wearing leather slippers. That's all I every remember him wearing, even when we went downtown.
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I remember Grandma used to sweep the dooryard. The earth was hardpacked clay. The back sleeping porch (that they're sitting outside) was what became their bedroom, and the one bedroom in the house (other rooms were kitchen, dining room, living room). All were equal size. There was a bathroom added on in the back. In fact, it is the bathroom wall that is behind them. When we were young we had to go across the yard to the privy out by the chicken pen, and in the dark it was about a half mile. Probably not more than about 100 feet. But, when we were ten or so, they got the toilet, and a few years later they got a bathtub. It was cast-in-place concrete and huge. I think we probably need to gather more pictures and write more description of the house. As basic as it was, I think it was one of the better places that grandma lived in.
Ah, the bathtub. It was in fact concrete. I remember Dad doing the finish work with a trowel. He'd wet the trowel and work the concrete with it so that it had a smooth finish, almost a glaze. After all, who wants to sit in a stucco bathtub. Since the tub had some vertical surfaces to it, there was a good deal of skill involved in the finish work.
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