Kil-o-Watt Coco
A sense of humor is especially important in poor families.
There was no denying we didn't have a lot of money, but we didn't do poorly. We had plenty to eat, a roof over our heads, clothes to wear, and blessings to share.
At some point we were encouraged to be fugal, and our electricity became a focal point. I can't imagine how much we paid for our bill, but compared to our bill today...my grandparents would probably have a heart attack if they saw our bill today, but...
We were impressed with the idea of how many kilowatts we used and our need for cutting back.
In my ramblings I have various characters that reoccur. Two prominent characters are my Adorable Cousin, and my Cousin Coco.
Coco lived with us at Grandpa and Grandma's farm, and if I'd had my way (and I think if she'd had her way, but who listens to ten year old kids?) she would have lived with us always.
She was two inches shorter than I, and she was our 'ninety pound weakling'. She was also an instigator. We did everything together.
Cousin Coco was always, 'first best in everything and all that jazz'. But she had a dark side. In cutting back on our electric no matter where you were it was possible to be doing something and the next thing you knew you were doing it in the dark.
In our house there was a doorway from the dining room into the kitchen. You could stand in that doorway and to your right hand there was another doorway into what we called the pantry.
That room held the manual hand pump for water from our cistern into the washbasin and sink, and it also exited to the outside. If you stood at the sink, behind you was a large wall with food storage shelves, a flour bin and a bit of other storage items.
That's why it was called the 'pantry'. If you were in the pantry looking for something, and a person was in the dining room/kitchen doorway they would not see the pantry person. And suddenly just like that the pantry person would find them self in the dark.
It all came back to our kill-o-watt Coco conserving electricity...
