1943 till 1948

Well, I don't remember much in my first 5 years.  But there are a few things I do remember.  I remember the house we lived in during this time.  We moved to another place in 1948.  It had 3 rooms.  The kitchen was in the middle, and on each end was a room.  Previous to 1943, when my grandfather died, my grandparents had lived in the room to the north.  I do not remember them living with us but I was told this was where my grandparents lived.  After they died, John got their room for his bedroom.  On the south side of the kitchen was the other room.  This was the living room by day.  At night curtains were pulled across the room and 6 of us slept in this room.   In 1948 when we moved, John was 12, Helen 11, Anne 8, Betty 5 and Peter 1.  Ben was born in 1949.

I remember when Peter was born. 
Also, one night our neighbors house burnt down.  
Anita Wiebe Schneider gave me a ring, but it was too big and I cried and begged for it so Mom gave it to me and I dropped it on the floor and it slipped between a crack in the floor and it was gone.
We had a well for water supply on this farm and it had a wall around it (but was like something you see in old pictures) where you lower a pail down with a rope and dip some water and then wind the rope back up on the rod that was across the top of the well and hoist it up like that.
I remember going to Aunt Helen and Uncle Ben's place (Anitas parents) and they had a small pump on a cabinet and could pump water by moving the handle up and down and they had a metal dipper from which we could drink and that water tasted so good.
I also remember the one time Dad took us kids along to Bournmouth, a small village, near out home and bought each of us an ice cream cone and us sitting on the store steps eating it.
I remember I was taken to the Dr. and he tickled my tummy.  I 'm sure there wasn't much more wrong with me except tummy aches from being constipated.  I remember taking some medicine, Alpincreter, not sure if this is German or English but I just talked to Helen and she said it seemed like a remedy medicine for most anything.
Then the most vivid and horrifing was one summer day our chimney caught on fire and John was taking pails of water up the roof to pour down the chimney, Mom was carrying our canned goods and stuff out of the house in case it burnt down, Helen I think ran to the neighbors for help and Anne and myself and Peter were in the garden crying.  Dad, I think, had gone to N. Battleford that day.  That had to have been the summer of 1948 and we moved to the new farm in Oct.  But also that summer I remember Dad, Mom and John digging the cellar at the new farm and a blanket was put on the ground for me to take a nap.  Somebody got stung by a bee and a mud plaster was put on it to make it feel better.

This is about all my brain can recall.   Good night........  If I think of more, I will write about it at a later time.