Our cellar was a dirt cellar. It had cinder block steps and a dirt floor. The walls were of concrete. If you have ever been to the Embry farm, you would spot the cellar right away. The structure is located on the east side of the house. It has a tall part which is made of stucco, and this is where the door is located. On the ground is a large area that is concrete, which looks like the top of a roof buried in the dirt. The steps down into the cellar are cinder blocks, and the floor and walls are concrete.
Inside the cellar there were many shelves on one wall. This was the area where we stored all the canned vegetables. We had shelves filled with green beans, pinto beans, pickles, relish, corn, blackeyed peas, jellies, beets, tomatoes, tomato juice, grape juice, peaches, cherries, and other types of fruits and vegetables. The types of vegetables and fruits varied from year to year. Corn and blackeyed peas were vegetables that were frozen instead of canned after we got a large freezer.
Some shelves served as storage space for things that we did not have room for in the house. I remember my mom had a stenographer's typewriter in the cellar. I was always fascinated by that machine. We stored the Christmas tree in the cellar and old baby toys and things my mom did not want to give away. We had a toy rocking horse in the cellar for years. We always kept candles and matches there as well. The cellar had electricity, but there was always a chance the electricity would go out during a storm, so we were prepared for that situation. The matches were wrapped in foil to keep the dry.
I both liked and hated going to the cellar. I did not like the damp musty odor, or the hot, humid feeling of the air. There were always wasps nests built in the top part. As soon as the outside door was opened, the wasps would swarm out. I remember my mom getting stung once in a while. My mom would often tell me to go to the cellar and get a jar of vegetables or fruit. I dreaded this if it were during the summer months. I hated those wasps.
I can remember going to the cellar maybe on two different occasions during a storm. This was usually after dark when one could not see the storms coming in. We would head to the cellar when the weather stations would warn of an impending storm with possible tornadoes. One time my dad went down with us, and the other time he would not go. He could not get down the steps very well, so he said he would just take his chances. We usually had a transistor radio with us during these storms so that we could listen for updates on storms.
Some of the things we did as kids was to play in the cellar. Even though I was not a big fan of it, I would go down with my brothers. We would light the candles and make black marks on the walls with the smoke from the candles. Some of these play times turned into torturous experiences for me.
On one occasion, my brothers got me to go down in the cellar, and then they raced up the steps and shut and locked the door. They turned off the electricity in the brooder house which was a building next to the cellar. I was in complete darkness. I was so scared I could not even go back down the steps and find a candle to light. I pounded on the door and yelled, but they would not let me out. After a while they unlocked the door, but never told me. I probably could have gotten out much sooner if I had only checked the door again.
Once in a while, our cousins would be at our house and we would go down and play. It was a lot more fun when they were there and not nearly as scary. They could make playing in the cellar a ghostly experience if they wished, but it was fun being scared when it was just a game.
As far as the outer structure, we loved running up the slanted part of the tallest part of the cellar. I do not know what we found so fascinating or fun about doing that, but it was a challenge. Once we got down the technique, it was easy to run up that slant and get to the top. Once there, it was just fun to sit. I suppose it was the fact that we thought we were high off the ground that made it fun.
A more recent story about the cellar is when Brian took Daniel and Mikali down to see what was in the cellar. Mikali and Daniel were fairly young and so were already scared. Somehow Daniel got bumped and tumbled down the steps. Fortunately, Daniel was fine. They did not want to go down into the cellar with "Uncle Brian" again. Daniel's story was always, "Uncle Brian pushed me down the steps."
