Early Memories - Part 2 - The Raymond House

Some of those early memories include... Moving to the Raymond house where Mom and Dad established their first home. Aunt Em, was our pipe smoking resident nanny that lived in the Raymond house with us. Her room was on the first floor and had an entrance off the back porch. I remember her making toast for Wayne and me on her wood burning stove and her smoking her pipe while rocking in her rocking chair. The Raymond House was separated from Pop's store by about an acre of fenced in land used for grazing. There were a couple of apple trees in this field. A disconnected garage bordered the field with a barn behind the garage. The house was a two story wood frame with a coal furnace. I can remember the coal shute and Mom shoveling coal into the furnace. The front of the house faced the road and was on the way to Somerset from Pop's store. There were two large trees in the front yard with the house front entrance centered between the trees. The driveway was short and to the left of the house. A large garden always appeared in the spring on the right side of the house. I remember the ruhbarb plants were always closest to the house. On the back side of the house was a chicken coop, barn and pig shed. The chicken coop was back and to the right. I can remember Dad sitting on the back porch and shooting the head off a chicken with his 22. Watching the chicken run around without a head until it dropped and then fetching the chicken and plucking it for dinner. The barn had a hay loft and homed our cow, Pet. I believe she was a gurnsey. The pigpen was off the side of the barn and had an opening for the pigs to find shelter. Many years later I was told by my Uncle Ken that Dad had planted a small forest of pine trees back beyond the chicken coop. Some time in the 70's I visited the Raymond house and the pines had grown and filled in the back. Surronding the Raymond house was farm land. I remember during vacation as a preteen walking the corn fields and measuring the stalks to be greater than knee high by the fourth of July.