While living in an apartment with small child, mom and dad were saving money to move out of the city to a more "country" atmosphere. In about 1940 they purchased two acres of property on Riverlane in the suburb of Farmington. On that property dad built a log cabin with his own hands. It was a small home, with one oil fired heater for the whole house. We had chickens, a garden, and a pony. The pony (Jerry Old Boy) was a gift from granpa Sauer. World War II was well underway and fortunitly dad's job made him extempt from the Draft. Mom and dad lived all through the war years in the cabin on Riverlane. They put up with a very tried old 1937 Pontiac, gas rationing, and much more while the war rage on. I recall going to the movies with mom and dad and seeing films of the war. I also recall mom getting me up for school and dressing me near the heater. We would listen to a morning kids program on the radio in which kids were suppose to hold up their hands when fully dressed. I would be very disapointed if mom did not have me dressed in time to hold my hand up so the guy on the radio could "see" it in time. Granpa Sauer bought me a pony named Jerry Old Boy. We had a small barn and chicken coop to keep the pony. At age 4-5 the pony was too frisky for me, especially in the spring, so dad would ride him around the property to calm him down before it was my turn. The home that mom made for us was organized and sparkling clean. Mom would make the War Rations go a long way. I recall a time when mom and I and another parent and kids ventured down to the Rouge river, which not far away. I was trying to crawl out on a log over the river and fell into the fast moving a very deep, cloudy river. Mom dove in after me, pulled me out, performed CPR and saved my life. As the war came to an end mom and dad had a two bedroom additon put on the house and did many other things to improve the property. After the war mom and dad moved back into the city. Apparently we had enough country life. So we bought a very nice two story Cape Cod style home on Mogul Street, in Detroit. Mom was the typical stay-at-home homemaker. We got our first TV, with only one channel, and black and white broadcast that came on only at certain hours. We were one of the first peiple on our block to have TV so mom would let me have kids over to watch certain programs. During the later 1940's we would ofen make the long trip to Grayling to visit dad's family, go fishing, and enjoy the lake. The trip Up North to Grayling took 5 or 6 hours going through many small towns on two lane roads. Bay City was about the halfway mark and my mom and dad would tell me that if I was not a good boy during the trip that there was a building in Bay City (actually a large church) that ehey could drop me off and have me changed into a little girl. During this time mom and dad saved their money, as they always did, brother Roger was born and moving back to the country was being considered.