I loved this house, but thank goodness we didn't buy it. The heating bill was almost double he rent. There was a livingroom, diningroom, kitchen, 2 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms (and another room,on the second floor, that had been a kitchen) There were 36 interior doors and the wood was in excellent condition. I don't think I ever knew the address. It was just~~the Johnson house.

After a couple of months, he re-thought his decision and reenlisted. (After all he only had 4 years to retirement) He was sent to Scotland but because the ship was only going to be there for 5 months his family couldn't go.

We moved back to Ames, with my folks, until we could move to Bremerton, Washington. His ship was due there in June of 70. We went out in April so we could get there before all the housing was taken by the rest of the families coming from Scotland.

House # 17
What can I say about Bremerton? It is such a wonderful place. Here was where I discovered that it doesn't matter where you are, it matters who your friends are. Bremerton has the friendliest people on earth. They seem to know that a lot of their livelihood comes from the Navy base. Instead of resenting the base, they make you feel welcome. Like it was your home town. We were there only a year. It was the only place where I cried when we left.

Houses # 18 and 19

When we were to leave Bremerton for Charleston, South Carolina, we were advised that housing was in short supply, and not to go to until our husbands could find a place for us to live. (What is this!....husband finding a place to live???)

When we got there, it took me 45 minutes to find a place. The rent was quite expensive tho, so as soon as Navy housing became available, we had to move.

We were in South Carolina for one year, then we were off to Jacksonville, Florida.

House # 20
Jacksonville, Florida. Wow! We spent two whole years in this house. This was where Al retired from the U S Navy with 20 years of service.

Houses # 20 thru 32

This was 1974 and it was big time recession. We sent out over 100 resumes with a positive response from 1. That was from Chicago. We really wanted to go back to Bremerton but there was absolutely no work there.

The Chicago thing didn't pan out, so Al took a job in Ames and we rented a house up the street from my folks. The job was just a "fill in" till the right one came along.

Within two months he was hired as manager of a telephone company in Havelock, Ia. We rented a big old farm house. There were major problems, with the well, and the landlady didn't seem real interested in fixing it so we decided to look for something to buy.

We found that house in Plover, one of the towns that were served by the telephone company where Al worked. It wasn't long till I discovered that small town (pop. 325 including all the pigs and chickens) living really wasn't for us. Not for me anyway!

Al found a job about 60 miles south of Plover, in Jefferson, Ia. However, no one told him he was to be laid off in 7 weeks. They gave us just enough time to rent a house, unpack, make an offer to buy the house, (rent till we could close) and then we had to pack up again. Thank goodness we did not have time to buy the house.

The next house was in Orient, Ia. We knew the owners really wanted to sell but, we needed to rent. So we made an agreement to rent for 3 months. At the end of that time we found a real nice little farm house outside of Greenfield. It was just a few miles away from the other house and closer to work.

Al decided that he really was not cut out for climbing poles. So he kept his eye out for something a little different.

That break came about within 4 months and we were off to Des Moines. We rented a house until we could find one to buy. Three months later, we bought a house on East Oak Park Street. Why are there 2 flag poles? You will have to ask my Irish husband.

We stayed there two years until I found out that the value of the house had gone up $10,000. We decided to take the money and run. (Not a good idea)

From there it was on to an apartment in West Des Moines. The noise was awful from the apartment upstairs. It was agreed that we could move into another building. So we moved across the parking lot. However, the maintenance, in the complex, was non-existent so when the year lease was up, we found a house to rent.

I won't go into why we left that one, but we were only there for 3 months. We ended up in another apartment.

Would you believe 12 houses in 6 years?

During this time our kids got married and started families. I should have known better to think that I could leave the area.

Houses # 33-34

We got restless again and the resumes went out.

Al was offered the sun and moon if he would go to Indianapolis, so Oct 81, saw us in a U-Haul again. We found a temporary apartment. We moved in on Monday, and on Friday someone from the home office came and asked Al to please come to Winchester, Kentucky to teach a telephone school. What a beautiful part of the country that is.

The home office was in Winchester and Al discovered that the company was really messed up. After only 3 months he decided to find a job back in Des Moines before his reputation could be tainted by that company. (I think he missed the kids as much as I did. After all, there were 5 grandchildren now.)

After he left, we heard that everyone in management, from the Vice President down was fired. Even the Company name was sold.

Houses #35, 36 and 37
So it was back to Iowa. In the short time we were there we managed to live in 3 places.

The first was at my folks in Ames. (If we unloaded a truck, even into a storage room, I figured it was a move.)

When Al was out of town, I found a house to buy and because there was a break in the weather, (it had been 24 below zero) we were allowed to move in until we could close on it. Then Al came home and said, "No way". So, 3 days later, out the furniture came. We found a little place, till something better came along.

What came along was the company decided it did not want a branch in Des Moines. The resumes went out again.

House # 38
Because of the Air Force Base, commissary and hospital at Omaha, we concentrated our search there. Al found, what appeared to be an exciting position right away. He was going to be head of the technical department of installing "high speed data transmission". It was a new concept. We moved to Omaha; Sahler Street. I loved it.

Omaha was a real friendly town. We were close to Des Moines but far enough that people had to call and let us know they were coming.

What we didn't realize was that this company was to have a very short life. As soon as Al realized what was coming, we sent the resumes again. (Boy, they were getting long by now. And I had to type them.)

When Al got an answer to his resume from a company in Rhode Island, he said, "Let's go. After all we have never lived close to my mother" She lived in Marlboro, Ma. just an hour and half away.

Houses # 38, 39 and 40
We found an apartment close to the school, in North Kingstown, where Al was teaching. But owning was getting to be a habit and this job seemed like it would be there a long time. As soon as our year lease was up, we found a big, 3 story tenament house in Johnston. It was zoned commercial, so I was able to reopen my store, Unicorns and Stuff.

Boy, was it a mistake to buy that place! The house was in dire need of more help than we could give it and we had managed to get the worst mortgage company in the country.

A little over a year later, we sold that house and bought another in Warwick. It was my favorite, of all the houses. It was funny looking from the outside, but when you went inside, you were in for a real surprise.

There were 4 bedrooms, livingroom with fireplace, formal dining room with antique light fixture. The kitchen was 15X20 feet. Two bathrooms and a main floor laundry. To add frosting to the cake, it had a full basement and an attic that was big enough for storage, that had pull down stairs. After painting each room and shampooing the carpet, (3 times) it was a showplace.

There was a very large yard and close to Narragansett Bay. Across the street was an estuary, so we could watch the tide come in and out. The rooms were large, however, there was no one to share them.

House # 42
When the company, Al worked for, closed its Rhode Island branch, we found ourselves headed back to Iowa. This time it was an acreage outside Cedar Rapids. We signed the papers and moved in Oct 24, 1986.

The company had a revolving door policy and Dec 5, 1986 we found ourselves looking for a job again. (We later found out there were 5 people in that job in one year)

From there it was back to Omaha. This time Al had a job just long enough for us to sell the acreage and move to an apartment in LaVista, which is a suburb of Omaha. Five weeks after arriving there, he was out of a job again. It seemed that this was getting to be a habit. The telephone industry was in an upheaval and we were caught up in it.

House # 43
A new job was located in Kansas and we moved to Lenexa, (Kansas City) the home of the Spinach Festival. It was there I got my Real Estate license. We were there 10 months when a job in Omaha opened up. Since Christine and Jeff lived there and Karen was close by, we really wanted to go back. Omaha was my second favorite town, right under Bremerton.

Houses # 44-46
We went back to the apartment building we had left. I spent the next month looking for a place to live and found a house on Sprague Street.

We were there for a year when I found (being the good real estate counselor that I, was) a darling house. It was only 7 blocks away on 53rd Street. I loved it. We were there 5 years and the only reason we sold it was that the laundry was in the basement, the bedrooms on the second floor and my knees were really getting bad.

House # 47, 48 and 49
This is such a long story, I am sure you don't want to take the time to hear it all. Maybe someday there will be a link about what happens when you try to have a house built.

This is not on the count, even though we moved most of our stuff in the garage for 3 months. The bottom line was that we had sold our house and had to move. (Even though the new one was not quite finished) We moved into a small place till the new house was finished.

That was when the builder raised the price $15,000.

We found a lawyer and a split level that we could move right into, so we bought it. But again, we are talking stairs. By now, we also had my mother with us and it was getting increasingly difficult for her to go up and down the stairs.

We had been there for a year and a half when we found this house in a little town north of Omaha. North 1st Street. (Yes, it was painted half gold and half brown) On the main level; 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, large livingroom with big windows, beautiful kitchen, dining room and main floor laundry. In the basement was a mother-in-law apartment. There were 4 garage spaces, 2 under and 2 in back. It actually was a raised ranch, but you could drive around the back and only 2 steps to get inside! The property included 2 lots. It was really nice.

Albert says we are going to die in this house. Update: Albert did "get his wings" in that house, August 5th, 2001. I knew I could not keep up the large yard, and wanted to be back in the city so I bought a house in Council Bluffs.

The house was built in 1920 and I started to remodel right away. New carpet, new wood floors main floor laundry. It was not only fun to watch the changes take place but kept my mind off the fact that I was now a widow. Luckily, I have 2 wonderful children that will live with me for awhile. (and some assorted grand children and great grandchildren) I don't know what I would do without them here.

I love being back in a city. Hopefully I will be here for a long time.

Well, I sold the house after 1½ year. I am now in a very comfortable mobile home. Just me and my kitty.

Tin's Life
The Author	Travels with Tin	Iowa, My Home	Loess Hills
DeSoto Nat'l Wildlife Refuge	The Snow Geese	A Lesson from the Snow Geese	My Husband
Mother	Daddy - Page 1	Tom	Links and Credits
Emergency Card	For Tom	This Child	The Next Generation
The Grandkids	Tin's Babies Babies Babies

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