The Woods and other stuff

I went for a solo bike ride tonight. Pablo decided to stay home. He had flipped the channel to "deer porn" right before I headed out, and he couldn't tear himself away. Deer Porn - it's my phrase for those hunting shows where they whisper - so they won't frighten the game they're hunting. In this case it was really elk. He's going elk hunting in a month.

He was paying rapt attention to the show as I went out the door. I hate deer porn. He used to watch it when we lived separately (during my commuting years), but now he has to slip it in when I'm not around - poor guy - all sneaky like. If I catch him watching it - I slump into the bedroom and watch TV in there until he turns it off. I don't like to see animals die. Yet we've remained married for 31 years. Some things you just have to put up with.

So I rode my bike on a nice summer evening, down the bike trail along EP True (did you know the E stands for Elmer?) eventually crossing underneath near Jordan Creek School which is near the actual Jordan Creek. Running along the creek are some woods that remind me of our Woods - the Woods of my childhood. We called them the Woods - they were really just a narrow stretch of trees, bushes and brush in the middle of our block. I'm not sure who owned the space. Down the middle of the Woods, we kids had created a hard trodden path from our frequent walks through there. It was our path to school. Lots of kids cut through that block. Besides my sissies, the Tylers, Westbrooks, Lanes (Candy, Sandy and Cindy), Skoogs, Reinertsons and lots of others.

Besides a shortcut, the Woods was a heck of a playground! There were bushes available for forts and tall trees for treehouses. It helped that we had vivid imaginations. Along the side that rimmed our yard, there was a row of tall bushes that contained small berries - great for pretend pioneer food. My mom told us "Do Not Eat the Berries They Are Poison" so we never did. That's why I'm alive today! haha.

The Freeses lived across the back yards from us. Ed and wife Bev with their kids Barb, who was Susi's age and Kent, who was Cindy's age. Their yard lined the Woods too - but their end wasn't as thick as they had no bushes - so you could see right into the Woods from their yard. Their dog Pug would bark at you if he saw you cutting through!

For a while we had our sandbox right on the corner of the Woods and our yard, under the shade of a tree. It was the old fashioned kind - made out of wood. There was no lid so neighborhood cats left presents in it every once in a while. I loved making trails and roads in that cool sand. I bet I tracked a lot of it into our house. Bless my mother and her patience.

As I rode my bike I thought once again about how lucky I was to be a kid when and where I was.

Update:
Amy reports that she enjoyed hanging out with the Wilson family, she bought filters for her car and when she got to KC, she and her brother installed them! A bonding experience...and thrifty - awww.