As long as I'm waxing on about characters

I might as well continue talking about my youth. Best evah! Our family had all the cool stuff families of that era were supposed to - a swing set, complete with a couple swings and a slide. When I was really young it was beside our house - really in someone else's yard. Yep we were swing set squatters.

Is there anything better than swinging? It's like flying without wings. And - if you get tired of swinging, you can always wind yourself up and then take your feet off the ground to let yourself spin wildly. Whew!

Swinging was even more fun on the industrial sized swings at Washington Elementary School - Robyn and I would compete to see who could go higher and then at the last moment we'd jump from the swings - landing on our feet. If we were lucky. Rob must have been on a growth spurt that time she jumped and split her dress right up the back when she leaped!

Washington Elementary

We also had a wooden sandbox at our house - every year or two a truck would pull up and refill the sand. I'm not sure who was in charge of sifting out the cat poop. I loved crafting roads and houses and the cool sand - the box was in the shade. Sometimes we'd pour water in it to help with engineering.

I've talked before about the fabulous play house my grandfather Morehead had built for us. It was trucked in from Cedar Rapids on a flatbed truck. It was stained the same gray color as our home and had a flat roof just like our house. My grandfather designed our house in Atlantic (may it rest in peace - as the people who live there now have killed it). We had a lot of fun in that little one room place. One of my sisters mentioned that she played doctor with Jeff Grayson there...or did I make that up?

The neighbors around our house were all characters - and we treated all of their yards like they were our own. The Millers lived on the corner. Mrs. Miller did a bit of babysitting for mom I think - I remember her singing to Betsy anyway. My Godparents, the Harley and Mildred Baxter, lived across the street. In my mind's eye when I think of Harley I picture Paul's dad - probably because Harley had a big garden out back and he wore overalls. One time Harley fed me a raw potato with salt on it - heady stuff for a city girl! The Baxter's daughter Barb was the best pal of my Aunt Jean as she grew up in A-Town.

The Reinertsons lived next door to us. Best next door neighbors you could wish for. We were at each others' houses constantly. Cruise control friends - no thought necessary. I'd love to see Laurie again - to talk about the time we spent together. We were outside in nice weather putting on plays in the back yard with our big sisters as directors. We built forts and tree houses in the narrow strip of trees next to our house that we called "the Woods" sometimes using the playhouse as our home.

She and I moved many of our books into the playhouse and started a library. Doug Younger was the only kid who ever checked out a book. RIP Doug - hope there are good books and music in heaven! She and I took all of our crappy old games and put them in our wagon and tried to sell them door-to-door. I still can't figure out why Mrs. Brown didn't want to purchase a slightly used Life game for $5.

We spend a great deal of time spying on old Mrs. Dutton (I picture a white haired lady with a bun - but I don't know if this is a memory or made up) up the street. Her back yard was fenced (yep - we were blocked from entry!) had a large stone in the back. Could it have been...her husband's gravestone? We did the ring and run thing a few times. I bet Pat Hayes (the fam that ran the Forum)  - who lived across the street from there watched us do it. If you were bored - a quick ride around the neighborhood on one's bike could usually scrounge up someone to harass or chat with.

Jud the dog on a visit to Sally's house - born in 1958, he was like a brother

Down the hill from our house was another whole neighborhood - Fairlawns. Thar lay the Mallon boys. For some reason they clashed with our group. We were lucky though - we had protection. We had Jud. The dog I mean - our full sized wiener dog who followed us everywhere like a guardian angel. One time when my parents were distracted, little baby Betso wandered off - across the backyards. I remember Mom sobbing because Betsy was lost. The phone rang and a woman said, "Your dog is here and there's a little girl with him."


All I had to say to Jud was "sic 'em" and he'd bark his ass off at the Mallon boys. They'd retreat - because his bark was - well he never bit anyone that I recall. Fairlawns was chock full of kids to hang with. That's a whole 'nother story!