Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Playing in the Snow

We moved to Ft. Madison in January of 1957 about a month after Bill had turned three. This sad little picture of Billy crying and holding out his hands is the result of sandburrs that he somehow got into even under the snow. Our yard - and all the yards - were almost solid sand and almost pure sandburr plants. Poor little guy! When spring came, I learned which ones were the terrible little plants (they had red on their main stem) and I spent lots of time pulling the little suckers. I would go out to hang up clothes, or some other chore, and find myself pulling sandburrs. I did manage to get rid of most of them, by golly.
This was taken several years later and it is Bill, Sherry and Melinda from next door. I don't know what the banner is on the big pole but it had some meaning to their play. In the background is Mark and he has a pole also.

Our yard was a hill that sloped gently down to the creekbed. Perfect for sledding. One year we got the kids little skis that hooked to their boots and they were able to ski down the hill. Then one year we had a ten inch rain in one night, the creek washed part of our backyard away and that ended the sled run. It was called Dry Creek - but certainly not dry that night.
Here are the kids by their school - Jefferson. As I said before, Ft. Madison was a great place to raise a family. Happy days. (Click to enlarge)

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