Having fun

It's been 25 years, going on 30 years, since we moved from in Scott City out to where we live today. Living in town was OK, but we enjoy living out here a lot more. Once we had bought the place, we found a small pond back of the house. It had kind of washed out and wasn't very deep. It looked like it was a home for snakes and frogs and tadpoles and mosquitoes and blood suckers and such. When some of our friends found out we had bought the place out here, many said they had swum in this old pond. Sounds like it was a fun place to spend a hot afternoon enjoying life.

Most of my generation had stuff like this growing up. Places where we spent time enjoying life with our friends or family. I know I did. It might have been something where we called in our friends to enjoy the day with us. There were two creeks where we went to pick chokecherries and plums and grapes. Both were a lot of fun. One was more open with a lot of chokecherry trees and prairie dogs. We usually took our .22s and plinked a few prairie dogs. Then on to the creek to pick chokecherries and play in the creek. The creek wasn't very deep so it was fun to play in. At times it seemed like all our friends and family went along and had a blast. Our moms made a picnic lunch that was awesome.

But there were times when Mom and Dad and Mick and I went. It was a family outing. At times we went to pick chokecherries and plums, but there were times when we just went to explore and look and enjoy. Dad would get a wild hair that we should go, so away we went. Never knew where we were going, Most of the time there weren't any roads. Looking back on them I would say they were "memory trips." We were making memories.

We lived in the Sandhills of Nebraska with them being composed of pure white sand. Some of the hills were huge, say 300 to 400 feet tall. They were mostly in a line running from east to west. Do a search on "Sandhills of Nebraska." We lived northeast of Arthur to make it even more specific. The Sandhills were covered by vegetation, which firmed up the loose sand. Where the hills were of sand, if the cattle walked time after time in the same place, they would kill the vegetation and form a sandy trail. If the wind caught the sand it would drift the sand out and form a blowout. We spent many a day riding our horses through blowouts hunting an arrowhead. Some of these blowouts had probably been made by buffalo centuries ago.

At times Dad or Mom or both of them would decide to go hunt arrowheads. Dad seemed to know where the wind had cut the grass and cover off acres of ground and formed a huge bare spot that would cover maybe acres of land. So we'd all pile in the pickup or the car, and we'd head to this bare spot to hunt arrowheads. Back then cars were real cars. They weren't so low they'd rub on a cow chip and were tough enough to drive where there weren't any roads. Posi-traction turned an old car into an off-road vehicle.

There was one bare spot 50 to 60 years ago south of Mom and Dad's that covered say 5 or 6 acres. So we'd drive down there and just walk around and hunt arrowheads. At times we might find an arrowhead or two or maybe even some bones from an old buffalo that bit the dust right there probably centuries ago. One bare spot our country school District 2 went to was west of Diane Nielson's place. There weren't any roads back in there. You just drove and made your own road. It was fun. I wish I could go back in time and spend a day with Mom and Dad hunting arrowheads.

Several days every spring, Dad would load us all up, and we'd drive around the tops of the Sandhills looking for coyote dens. Coyotes would dig holes in the side of a Sandhill and raise their pups in the hole. At times they'd dig out a badger den or hole and make it their own. When we found a coyote den, Dad would double up an 8- to 10-foot piece of barb wire and twist and shove it down the den hole. As he twisted the wire, it would get stuck in the hair of a coyote pup and Dad would drag it out. Back then Dad would dispatch the pup, which if left would become an adult coyote. Coyotes were hard on cats or grouse or prairie chickens and calves.

We spent time fishing as well. Always spent time on the banks of some bullhead lake in the spring. There aren't many fish better than a spring-caught bullhead dipped in flour and fried golden brown in lard or bacon grease. My mouth is watering even thinking about it. We always went ice fishing in the winter for ring-eyed perch or bass or crappie. We caught many a walleye and whitebass. Walleye is at the top of the food chain when comparing good-tasting fish. Fishing was fun, but family made it special.

There was times when the weather was stormy so we'd play pitch or pinochle or rummy or some other card game. Dad played cribbage, but I could never figure it out. New never played Monopoly very much. We did play checkers. We did a few puzzles, but not many. Dad would spend time teaching us how to braid leather or crochet. Mom made us goodies to eat. I can't ever remember going hungry. I can't say we said our prayers every night at bed time, but 99 out of 100 we did.

When Mom and Dad were busy, Mick and I'd saddle up a couple horses and we'd go explore. We always had several horses to ride with some being gentle and some not. I spent many an hour walking around with my BB gun or .22 or .06. Most of the time I was killing cow chips or real tin cans or even shooting, by accident, the phone line going to Mom and Dad's. Our local telephone guy got a chuckle out of that.

Much of what we did as a family was just normal activities, but some I'm thinking were meant to make memories and help a couple boys grow up to be men. I wonder if we are short today on two adult households where Mom and Dad are present? I wonder if we have the activities that parents and kids can participate in together to help them raise their kids? I wonder if kids today have grandparents who aren't worth their salt? Spend time as parents and grandparents making memories. Tomorrow pretty much depends on what we do today.