Cabin Improvements

            In 1966, electricity finally made it’s way to Young, Arizona, the tiny community 15 miles south of our cabin.  It wasn’t long after that electrical wires were strung over the mountains, and we were able to get electricity to the cabin itself.  The old wooden stove was moved to the back porch and an electric stove and refrigerator were installed in the kitchen.  It had always been a tiny room, but now it was so small three people couldn’t work together without stepping on each other.  We didn’t mind, though.  Being able to cook without a fire heating up the whole house was a wonderful improvement!

            An electric pump was also installed, which meant we could get water to the cabin all the time.  Before that, a generator had to be used.  It would run long enough to pump water up the hill into a big tank Dad had placed on a tall platform supported by pine trees.  When the tank was full, water would spill out of a hole on the top.  Then someone had to run down the hill to turn the pump off.  We knew when to turn it back on when the water ran out. 

            Under the water tank became my favorite place to play house with Linda.  Wild grape vines grew thick up and around the trees, forming a back wall for our house.  When the tank overflowed we could even pretend it was raining! 

            One spring we came up to the cabin and found found that someone had stolen the wood stove from the back porch.  They had also taken Mom's old chest, the one that Grandma Johnson brought across the ocean with her from Sweden!  That nearly broke Mom's heart!

            Mom loved all things Swedish.  She painted some old ladder-back chairs bright yellow, and then painted a colorful Swedish design on them.   They were so cheerful and lovely!  Later we painted the same design on the kitchen cupboard doors, turning our little cabin into a Swedish cottage, or at least it felt like that to us. Years later we painted the front door with pretty blue flowers and wrote "Velcomen" on it, which means Welcome in Swedish.  On the back of that door we wrote, "Borta bra, men hemma bast".  In Swedish that means, away is good but home is best.  In a way, for us, going to the cabin was coming home.