The Sentinel, Childhood Memories 210415

      I would say my childhood memories were idyllic in many ways.

      There was a school right across the street and it had a huge playground area. That included a jungle gym made from steel piping that we could climb on, swing on the bars or just sit and talk. There was a merry-go-round, a slide, a basketball court, a softball area and a soccer area. Now despite the fact that I was never very good at those things and always the last one picked on schoolyard sports teams, I did always get to play and have a great time.

      Late evenings we would play a game called kick the can. The idea was everyone went into hiding but one person. That person had to turn away and count to 100 and then go looking for one of the players, locate someone, call out where they were and then get back to kick the can before any other player could sneak in behind and kick the can before you could. If that happened you had to start all over again. It was really a simple game and a lot of fun. In the winter time when the snow covered the ground the back side of the schoolyard was about 25 or so feet above the street below, making it an excellent ambush point for throwing snowballs at cars passing by. Sometimes a man in a car would stop and cuss at us and even better, give chase to us.

      Our home was just over a block away from a big old Victorian home that people called the Lewis and Clark house. I never knew if those two explorers ever lived there, but it was nice to think that those two great men lived there at one time. Beyond the home was the edge of what was called North Woods. It was a wonderful place for kids to play, run around through the woods, build forts, tree houses, tire swings or whatever a kid wanted to do. The one side of the woods had a steep cliff that dropped down to a creek that flowed through all summer long. It was shallow and perfect for wading in the creek. The cliff was called soapstone hill. It was more like clay to me and it was always moist and impossible to climb. It would be easy for you to guess how we boys knew that.