Wow!

Thank you for the encouragement...I wasn't sure anyone would want to read this.

Karen asked about learning to light the gas stove. My mom was teaching at Sandridge (about 6 miles out of Lebanon Oregon). She taught all eight grades in a one room school. We lived in a 30' trailer. The people that owned the farm next to the school house let us park the trailer on their property...about 50 yards from the schoolhouse. My dad had built a garage sized building next to the trailer (we called it "the shack") and we used it for sleeping and the trailer for our kitchen. The trailer had a small gas range that used Butane (a close relative of Propane). We must have eaten a lot of potatoes, because I remember peeling a lot of them. I guess my parents decided that if I could peel potatoes, I could learn to cook them too. The first hurdle was striking the match! That was scary enough. I definitely wasn't cut out for arson...but with much practice, I finally could light a wooden match without dropping it. Next was the really terrifying part...to light the gas stove. I had to light the match, then turn on the gas and wait for the "POOF"when the gas reached the burner and ignited. Needless to say, I still dropped the match, but on top of the stove.  I was scared to death of getting burned...but that didn't happen until I was in a high school chemistry class. My lab partner turned on the Bunsen Burner and waited to light it...It definitely went "POOF" and singed my bangs and eyebrows.
He thought it was terribly funny. I never did like him!!!!!