On the Corner of 5th and Grant

The Kraen house was the Kraen house for 51 years. It actually stayed the Kraen house when my sister Judy Kraen inherited it after Mom died in May of 2008. For a settling year, it stayed empty - as a silent monument to Mom? Because Judy didn't want to sell it to just anyone? Because it was waiting for the right family? We can probably nod "yes" to all of those questions. But, as of May 13th, one year to the day that Mom left us, her house officially belongs to her granddaughter, Emily, and will be a "new" 92-year old home for she and her two boys. I think Mom would approve.

Emily has already taken out a wall that Mom and Dad put up in the late 1950's to make a more definitive living room. Mom hated the open floor plan of the original house, and wanted a living room separate from the dining room. A handy friend spent a day putting up a paneled wall that stayed up for over 40 years. Emily wanted it back the way it was in the beginning, so the wall came down and carpeting came out. When the refurbishing of the house is complete, there will be polished hard (and soft) wood floors everywhere upstairs but the kitchen and bath and an open living room/dining room area.

Another change that Mom made was to enclose the front porch for warmth during the raging Wyoming winters. Emily wants to have the old porch removed (the floor is catty-wampus) and have it rebuilt the way it was when I was still at home. Sitting on the porch in the summer was one of my favorite things to do. Watching the cars go by, catching an odd cool breeze, keeping track of the neighborhood squirrels, getting a whiff of the blooming lilac bush... just a few of the entertaining diversions available while porch sitting.

As my daughter prepares to contact workmen to replace the furnace and roof, remove old siding, sand floors, replace windows in the living and dining rooms, and rebuild the porch, I get to reminisce about my childhood on the corner of 5th and Grant, and rejoice in the fact that my grandsons get to do most of their growing up in the same house that I did. You can't tell me that their Great-Grandma Kraen didn't have a little hand in bringing that about.