Childish Humor

Today’s missive touches on the weird things we do to entertain small kids and some of the odd senses of humor our families exhibited. So it’s going to jump around.

My Dad would fold his hand into a fist but leave the thumb and little fingers sticking out. No, he wasn’t a Texas Longhorns fan making the hook em horns sign and he wasn’t into heavy metal. Not that I knew of anyway.

March 10, 2024

Fishing

The blue sky we’ve started seeing the last few days has brought on memories of approaching spring when we were young.

The wildflowers have started to bloom but I didn’t learn to appreciate them until later in life. Opening day of fishing season was an important event. I know I’ve touched on this subject before but catch limits were very generous by today’s standards.

My favorite outdoor humorist, Pat McManus stated it as “All you can catch plus one fish.” With adult limits of 16 and youth limits of 8 it came close.

March 6, 2024

Babysitters

Today’s tale is adventures in babysitting.

Although it should probably be titled adventures of our babysitters.

The first babysitter I remember was my Aunt Wanda who lived next door when I was very young. I love her dearly and she was a great babysitter. I called her honey because that’s what my Uncle Stan called her. I must admit the fact she gave me mayonnaise sandwiches probably contributed to my dislike of mayonnaise. I particularly liked riding in the car with Honey because she drove like she was training for Nascar when she was younger. It was great!

March 3, 2024

Conrad Meadows

Now for Conrad Meadows.

My family has a history with the South Fork of the Tieton area. After all, Cowiche and Tieton are just over the Ridge and down a few miles.

Grandpa McLean used to take my Dad up the there to visit Dad’s Uncle Jet. They would meet him at a lodge near the end of the South Fork. Remnants of the lodge’s chimney and fireplace still exist.

March 2, 2024

Bumping Camping

Milk Lake

I promised more camping stories from the family adventures so here goes.

Another favorite campsite when I was young was Milk Lake. There used to be a lean-to type building at the lakeside with a fire pit built in. This is where Mom would work her magic over an old Coleman white gas stove. Most stoves and lanterns at the time worked off white gas and had to have the pressure pumped up by hand periodically. I can still almost smell fried potatoes, chops, and milk gravy!

February 29, 2024

Camp Fife

Today’s course in foolishness will focus on camping. We did a lot of camping when I was younger. I had mentioned that two of our favorite areas were Deep creek above Bumping and Conrad meadows.

I also went to Camp Fife as a Boy Scout and that’s where I’ll start. I belonged to the Naches Heights troop and we were somewhat non-conformist.

We weren’t into the troop yell, sing along, and rah rah stuff but did well in the relay competition. We’d pick the best people for each section.

February 26, 2024

Firecrackers

Now for our ventures into explosives.

It started out small with the purchase of firecrackers in San Francisco’s Chinatown.

I already touched on Steve lighting some in a restaurant restroom in Eureka. Mom immediately confiscated them but didn’t get them all.

We had shelves of canned fruits and vegetables in the basement. On the top shelf we found a box of various fireworks that had evidently been bought by Uncle Gale, or Gingo if you prefer while we still lived in Tieton. I don’t know why they had not been discarded. Big mistake!