Kids Cooking

A show on TV today put me in mind of kids cooking.

I’m afraid none of the culinary genius those kids showed was present in us at a young age. Steve would take pork and beans, cottage cheese, or both and put them between two bread slices with copious amounts of potato chips. He thought this was a great sandwich. His kitchen tip was that regular chips were better than dip chips. Also, corn chips were a non starter.

April 21, 2024

May Weather

May is just around the corner and this story is going to be a mixture of emotions pretty much like May weather.

May was always a magical month that sometimes smacked you down and let you know who was running things!

When we were younger it sometimes seemed like the start of summer but still retained a springtime bite. By this time of the year the jeep tops were off and the motorcycles out. If you used either type of vehicle, you knew every cold spot in the valley. With no witnesses in the Jeeping community near, you might put on the bikini top and half doors.

April 21, 2024

Phrases

Having a few spasms tonight and decided to add to your misery.

This is going to be more like a list then a story. Most of us have heard a lot of descriptive one liners uttered by our elders. Now that some of us have become elders, it’s time to pass some of these down.

I will change some of the words in case I offend someone. The first was one of my Dad’s favorite sayings that came from WW2 so I will not censor it in his honor.

April 14, 2024

Anger

Today’s subject is anger and conflict.

When I was in school I was generally somewhat shy and non-confrontational. I started changing my attitude towards conflict my senior year. The first few years after high school and into my early twenties was an ornery stage.

I did not avoid scraps and got in a few. In my defense, I did not bully others but went after the bullies. I had no hesitancy to fight and got into scraps with groups of 2 or more on several occasions. I got a reputation of someone not to mess with.

April 14, 2024

Names

I was ruminating today on local names for things and places and how some carry on.

72nd avenue is a busy road with numerous businesses now. To my Dad it was always called by it’s original name, Chacola. Not sure if that was spelled right.

Reynolds Creek is still called the middle fork of the Cowiche by most locals.

Different areas up here received nicknames due to the ethnic makeup of families living there. Hence Finn hill and Swede hill.

April 6, 2024

Downhill Racing

I started thinking of more warm weather memories today.

Hopefully not just wishful thinking!

Steve and I did a lot of improvising and experimenting with new ways to try to have excitement without shortening our lifespan. Some adults already thought we were destined for a tragic end.

I have mentioned the hill in the lower pasture and the rocks that had to be dodged. We would take the old red wagon and steer it with the pull handle while coasting down the hill. Most kids have ridden one of the old Radio Flyers and can attest to the hard ride and tendency to crash when the handle whipped to one side or another. The usual ride down the hill often resulted in a crash while dodging one rock or another. A more spectacular pile up happened if you actually hit one of the rocks!

April 6, 2024

Spring Snow

The snow this morning put me in mind of spring snow storms when we were younger.

In the last story I mentioned one during my teen years. This one was at an age of about 12. We had gotten about 9 inches of snow one day early in spring break.

Steve and I took a couple of the old plastic sleds into the lower pasture. It had a relatively steep hill ending in a flatter area. We built a jump or two and it was always an adventure to dodge the rocks.

April 1, 2024

Spring

I was enjoying the blue sky on our trip to the Y and back today. It reminded me of the things we wanted to do but were prevented by winter.

Spring brought out the bikes and motorcycles. The top also came off the jeep.

These things happened prematurely at times. Being young, a warm day in February would trigger these actions.

I headed out one morning on my street bike and ended up riding home in a snowstorm with my feet out like outrigger skis. Froze various extremities off on the way home in the jeep as well.