Grandma and Grandpa's House

This week I've spent time trying to remember my Grandparent's house in rural Ottertail County.  If all goes right, I'll be going there to visit next weekend.  So what did the house look like?  I remember the back door opens into a porch and into the kitchen.  On the right side of the door was the telephone.  The hearing piece was attached with a cord while the speaking piece was stationary on the phone.  With the party line telephone system, each customer had a different sounding ring when the phone was for them.  And Grandma knew which calls for her and which calls were for other people.  But she listened to almost all the conversations.  On that side of the room was a door that led downstairs.  Halfway down the stairs was the root cellar where the potatoes were stored.  All the way down the stairs was the basement where the wood furnace was kept.  A pile of wood was down there.  Inside the furnace and sometimes on the pile of wood was a good-sized piece of petrified wood.  The washer and dryer were downstairs.  On a shelf above the washer was a bottle of blueing which was added to the white load to make the whites look even whiter.  Next to the blueing was a box of 20 Mule Team Borax. Back upstairs in the kitchen, on the other side of the back door was a small hand washing sink. I believe there was a small medicine cabinet above the sink.  I also remember a shaving brush sitting on top of a cake of soap inside a shaving mug.  On the other side of the sink was a table and beyond that a long counter running the length of the room.  At one end was a pail with a dipper for drinking water.  Next to that was a kitchen sink.  The kitchen cabinets had knobs like Offspring #2 has in her kitchen now.  Grandma often sat on a kitchen stool that had a step you could pull out.  The stove was to the left of the kitchen door and at the end of the room was a door leading to the dining room. At this stove is where I learned how to grease and flour a cake pan and how to fry eggs.  Both of these are important skills that I still use today. The dining room had a big buffet with a bowl of realistic wax fruit (complete with a few sets of children tooth imprints).  On the walls were paintings that I think represented French city scenes where lights were reflected in the rain puddles on the street.  On the far side of the dining room, under the window, was a sewing machine with a treadle powered sewing machine.  I remember being allowed to run the treadle while she sewed. On the right was Grandpa's bedroom.  To the left was Grandma's room.  Her bedroom had lots on windows and was quite sunny.  Giant lilac bushes lined the yard on Grandma's side of the house.  She had a wind up clock that tick tocked very loud all night long.  There might have been a front room between the dining room and Grandma's room. I remember pictures of flower bouquets with peonies.  The front room must be where the front door led outside.  I remember dark wood and comfortable furniture. All these memories I'm listing here are 40+ years old.  Next week I'll compare and see how correct I was. Should be an interesting trip down memory lane.