2. Sauntering into Retirement - 1969 - 1971

My first career involved horses, everything from raising them, competing with them and teaching others to ride. Ski instructing overlapped as my second career and for more than 20 years I struggled with cold hands and feet while loving the sport itself.    Frits was a builder and together, early in our relationship, we tore apart an old tenement house that we purchased for $5,000 on 3 acres of land with a beautiful brook running right behind the house. How fortunate we felt even knowing how much work was ahead. It was not habitable, although Frits had holed up there the year before using water from the brook and an old toilet in the shed that he could flush with a bucket. Who knew where that went! 

We still had a place to stay for the winter but by the spring of 1971, with money tight, we needed to be living on the land. That winter an old school bus caught our eye and for very little money, we purchased it and drove it to the new ‘house’. 

Parked out front it sat for one of the snowiest winters in years. 

Mid April, we packed up our few belongings, two cats and a large malamute dog and headed to Sterling Valley. The snow was still so deep that we could walk through the rear exit door of the bus without stepping up.  We had already stripped out all the seats so now all that was needed was a little furniture, a place to cook and power.  Power could be run from the house via a cable without problem.  The double bed still in the house, conveniently fit exactly cross ways at the rear end. A threadbare oriental carpet covered most of the metal floor and an old table and a couple of chairs served as kitchen counter, dining, work space etc.  

We had a two burner hot plate, an electric frying pan and a few dishes. We were set! It was still cold enough that a fridge was unnecessary and our bucket of water froze regularly at night. We needed that big furry malamute and two cats in bed with us to stay warm.

Without the convenience of cell phones, a land line was a must, and to our surprise the telephone company agreed to install a wall phone right in the bus. Our friends joked about this for years.

With five months until our wedding, the push was on to make at least part of the house habitable by the time we returned from our travels in mid October. The house foundation consisted of loose rocks haphazardly stacked to support some of the rotting sills. To get at this we would need to excavate a large enough hole so why not build a new section while we were at it.  The addition, only 12x16ft with 2 stories would provide a living area, temporary kitchen and bathroom, and a bedroom above. We would be able to insulate and heat this small area enough so we could move out of the bus and have a solid roof over our heads to survive the winter. And survive we did, just!

By the time we left for our English wedding I was fit and tanned and 15 pounds lighter. All those concrete blocks to carry, wheelbarrows of liquid concrete to push and lumber to hoist necessitated some wedding dress alterations but left me in the best shape of my life, never to return to my pudgy, former state.

We had barely a penny to our names but were happy and healthy, and very certain our marriage could survive whatever was ahead. Our mutual love of animals and Frits fascination with nature would keep us in Vermont and provide us with many common interests, and chores to share over the years.