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Track 2—From When We Were Young (2011) Livin’ On Love Al Dunkleman, Heartfelt Americana Music/ASCAP
Walkin’ down River Road, holdin’ hands so tight A little one on the way, lovin’ in the evenin’ light In the beginning, newlywed and young Livin’ on love
The old farm house was worn, we fixed her up with pride Carpet scraps on the floor, home sweet home inside We didn’t have much money, we did the best we could Livin’ on love
The cold winter wind blew hard, the furnace groaned all night At times we could see our breath, so we held each other tight Times were hard back then, we made it some how Livin’ on love
The cook stove fire burned bright, biscuits golden brown We lived the simple life, twenty-miles from town We relied on each other, and the good Lord up above We were livin’ on love
Walkin’ down River Road, holdin’ hands so tight A little one on the way, lovin’ in the evenin’ light In the beginning, newlywed and young Livin’ on love, livin’ on love, livin’ on love
When my wife and I were first married in the fall of 1979, we lived in an old farmhouse that was nestled along River Road in Todd, North Carolina—about forty-yards from the New River. The two bedroom house had no closets and was void of any light switches. The lighting technology consisted of bare bulbs that dangled from the ceiling with pull strings that were situated in the middle of each room. In our bedroom, with a little ingenuity, I was able to install an eye screw where the ceiling and wall came together and extended a draw string that stretched down the wall in order to turn off the light from the bed.
Since the bedroom floor consisted of worn linoleum, my wife and I decided to look into warming the floor up with some carpeting. Since we couldn’t afford to commercially carpet the room, we drove into Boone one Saturday afternoon searching for stores that had small samples that we could purchase to “quilt” the floor. Before we left for town, we calculated that we would need a total of thirty-six, 18 by 24 inch sample pieces to cover the floor.
One store we visited had quite a few samples for sale but they were a dollar a piece. There was no way that we could spend $36, so we explained to the clerk what we were going to do, and, feeling sorry for us, let us have them all for fifty-cents apiece. With samples of rich browns, blues, oranges and greens, when we got home we laid out the scraps, tacked them down, and created our own “carpet of many colors.”
With winter approaching and limited financial resources we budged $100 for heating oil and had a fuel truck come out from town to partially fill the rusted red tank on the north side of the house. We vowed that this $100 worth of oil would last us the entire Watauga County winter. In order to conserve this precious oil, we would only turn the furnace on in the morning while we readied for work. After that we’d set the thermostat at 50. During the coldest and windiest winter nights, I remember the furnace kicking on numerous times.
Besides not having up to date wiring, the farmhouse did not have an electric stove. In the kitchen was a wood cook stove. About 5:00 a.m. each morning one of us would bravely climb out of bed and get the fire going using dried pine cones, kindling and newspaper, and then slowly adding pieces of seasoned oak, cherry and apple stove wood that we had cut and split.
We would heat water for coffee and oatmeal which created wonderful radiant heat to supplement the oil furnace. When home after work, we would diligently keep a fire burning in the cook stove as long as we could. It just seemed that food tasted a whole lot better on that wood stove. My wife learned quickly and became very skilled at cooking different foods with the different temperature ranges that the stove top and oven provided.
Since our nearest neighbors lived about a mile away on either side of us, in order to stay connected to the world we acquired an old black and white television. An antiquated antenna was situated half way up the hill behind the house and gave us access to two channels. In order to change the channel, one of us would have to climb up the hill and slowly turn the antennae until one of us would shout from the window that the picture was clear.
We didn’t have much money, we did the best we could Livin’ on love |