Nebraska winters can be extreme and bitterly cold. Mild winters are only occasional, and always include at least a few days of very low temperatures and some considerable snowfalls. My memories of winters when I was a child consist of wonderful fun and playful times in snow and sliding on ice. And in the midst of those memories stands a large brown monster of metal planted firmly into the corner of the center room of our house. It was ugly, cumbersome, dark, and dangerous if you leaned upon it, but it was my favorite place on those cold mornings as I prepared for school. It was the gas stove that heated our house.
On a January or February morning in circa 1960 I would awake in my room at the back of the house beyond the kitchen. Even though it nestled next to the warm kitchen, it still was the coldest room in the house, and that's one reason I liked it because I liked sleeping in a cold room. I awakened beneath so many blankets I wonder I could even move. There was a sheet, usually flannel in winter, two or three blankets, a quilt and a chenille bedspread. There were a few years when I was blessed to have an electric blanket. When I poked my nose out from under all this protection I would immediately see my breath as I exhaled from my warm body. I would turn to my right and look directly through the only window in the room, and on the sill would stand about an inch of frost, and the frost trailed up the window panes about one fourth of the way. Oh, how I wished I could stay under all those blankets, but I knew there was no hope for that. So, I would scramble from my warm bed, grab the clothes that I laid out the night before, and rush to the dining room where I would huddle behind that huge, warm piece of metal to dress. It took no time at all for me to finish; I didn't dally any longer than I had to. I dressed very quickly.
The brown stove was the first place I stopped when I came in from school. I removed my knitted gloves or mittens and laid them on the coolest part of the grilled top so as to dry and warm them if I had to go back out. I came home every day at noon for lunch because we couldn't afford school lunches, and I hated taking a sack lunch. We lived twelve blocks from school, so I appreciated the warmth of that old stove.
Mom also used the top of the stove to keep lunch warm for Dad and me. My favorite lunch was potato soup, so the big pot would be there waiting for us. Mom had many other chores to do, so making lunch ahead of time and keeping it warm was easier for her. On Mondays Mom baked bread for the week, and she would keep the baked bread on the stove until after lunch so that we could have hot bread.
In the bathroom, nestled next to the large claw-foot bathtub, was a very small gas stove to heat that room, and the kitchen was heated by the oven. On really cold days Mom would leave the door on the oven open to help heat the room, and the oven was never turned off during the winter months.
I am very thankful for the wonderful conveniences we have today. We didn't have air conditioning when I was growing up, just a large square fan perched in a screened window. Most of my friends had heat and air conditioning in their homes. We weren't that fortunate, but the memories I have of that old brown stove are sweet and precious.
