Scott McLean
  • About
  • Articles

Articles

A place to share stories

February 1, 2024

Hotwheels

Okay folks, you get two in quick succession today.

Mom was the one who would swat us and seldom did Dad do the deed. Dad had a weapon we refer to as the McLean glare. He could stop you in your tracks and make you cringe with just a look. It must be hereditary.

Lilli remarked that she could swat one of the boys on the rear and they might say “That didn’t hurt!” On the other hand she said I could make them cry with just the glare.

read more
February 1, 2024

Oglethorpe

Nerve spasms so here’s another jewel.

I should mention that nobody reading any of this should get the idea that it’d be good to try and emulate any of the stupid and dangerous things my brother and I got up to. Not only are they dangerous and likely illegal by today’s standard, but I’m fairly certain we only got away with them because they had not invented the consequences for that level of stupidity yet.

read more
January 31, 2024

Chicken

This stage of my life will take a while and quite a few stories to get through.

This was the age that Steve and I had a lot of our adventures during. In other words, a study in rampant stupidity.

I have stated before how Cowiche Creek was one of our main playgrounds. We sometimes played chicken with our bikes on Pioneer Street. Mom witnessed this one day and told us we would be grounded from the creek if she caught us doing it again.

read more
January 30, 2024

Skunk

My son reminded me of another tale or maybe tail?

One of our favorite games was to race our bikes. At the time our bikes were our do all atv and race car. Those of you familiar with the Cowiche area might know Mahoney road. It is a gravel road that drops from Naches Heights road to Pioneer road on the flats. It is chiefly downhill with one sharp curve after another. We would race on this. Due to me weighing more, gravity worked in my favor and gave me an advantage. Steve often did better on the flats but I owned Mahoney.

read more
January 29, 2024

Cooking

Today’s dissertation is on country guys cooking.

In general the old belief was that the man would be out working and the wife would have lunch and dinner done for him.

Reality was the wife usually worked all day herself then came home and made dinner. That’s the way it was in our house.

Both of our sons and I are pretty decent cooks.

Dad’s culinary skills topped out at being able to put spam and mayonnaise between two slices of bread. If he really concentrated he could maybe roast a hotdog on a stick.

read more
January 28, 2024

Road Trip

Nerves acting up so here we go again.

My sister Sandy was out of the house and married before I was 11.

Her husband was in the Air Force and they lived in the Mountain View suburb of San Francisco.

We drove down to visit them with triple digit temperatures until we dipped over the coastal range in Northern California. All the windows went up then.

That area in 1969 was full of things an 11 year old from Cowiche had never imagined. We saw all of the tourist sights like the Golden Gate Bridge and Fisherman’s Wharf.

read more
January 28, 2024

A Drowned Weasel

When I was about 9 or 10 and Steve was 6 or 7 we had some new neighbors move in.

They came from Texas and were a new experience for us. I have relatives and friends in Texas and they are nothing like this family was.

They were going on vacation for two weeks and said they’d pay us to take care of their place. This included feeding and watering a bunch of animals, watering their lawn, and mowing twice. When they got back they gave us each 50 cents. We didn’t say anything but evidently they saw the looks on our face.

read more
January 27, 2024

Cowiche creek

My brother and I spent a lot of time around the nearest water.

Cowiche creek was only a guarter mile away so we waded, swam, and fished a long length of it. We also used the canal on Cowiche Mountain. There was a long stretch with no siphon so we would swim or float it.

Our floating was done on truck inner tubes which also were our sleds in winter. One of the departments Dad ran with H and H was shipping which allowed him to get some used tubes.

read more
  • ««
  • «
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • »
  • »»
© Scott McLean 2025