I did a lot of research on this story and found a number of images that helped me picture the people and events more clearly. I always pictured Lytell's store as looking like one that was out in the country near my grandfather's house. My dad worked there during high school and years later a picture turned up somewhere of my dad and the store owner/manager.

Since I never knew that Trixie drank strawberry soda until reading some of the post-#16 KKs, my thoughts are that the strawberry soda was a 70s addition. But I was able to find a brand (Fitz) that was manufacturing strawberry soda in the 1940s. At that time it was rare for soft drinks to be distributed outside of a defined region because of transportation costs, but I decided that since Lytell served a wealthy clientele, he might do a few special orders!

Manufacturing of consumer goods was deflected to production and supply of military equipment and the Allied war effort during WWII, so people couldn't replace cars, appliances, etc., as frequently as they might have otherwise. Grandpa Belden drives an older truck and his stove dates from a time when his wife was alive and actively running her own home. However, by 1947 new models of almost everything were to be found everywhere. This was the time when tractors finally started to overtake the horse- or mule-drawn plow. I feel like Jonesy had one of the new tractors (not pictured), but used it himself while making Jim plow with the horse.

Katie Frayne married Jonesy, so I always figured she must have had her reasons. Surely he had a nicer home than I'd always pictured... The Sears kit homes popular in the 1910s-40s seemed like a good possibility and I found one that looked like my idea of a farmhouse. I almost picked an older model but when I realized it had no indoor bathroom I decided Katie wouldn't have married him with that house.

I was glad to find an example of the small hand-operated water pump that could be installed in the kitchen. Although the one pictured doesn't look exactly like my grandfather's, it is similar. Granddaddy didn't have an indoor bathroom but he did have the sink pump, which we children weren't allowed to touch!

I didn't mention the Hoosier cabinet (pictured), but since Grandpa Belden kept such an old-fashioned (to Trixie) kitchen, I was excited to find this picture. My grandma (other side of the family) had a cabinet like it except that Grandma's cabinet was stained with a honey-oak finish instead of being painted. Grandma kept her dishpan on the counter. I wanted to find a bucket and washbasin for Jonesy's washstand, but alas, I couldn't find a picture. That's where we washed our hands at my grandma's house.

I hope you've enjoyed reading Neighbors as much as I've enjoyed writing it!