My mom was a big proponent of "playing outside". My sister and I swear that after breakfast, she'd open the door and shoo us out and CLICK, the door was locked. For the rest of the day, we drank from the waterhose if we got thirsty, there'd be some sandwiches set out on the porch at lunchtime, and I guess we came in if we had to pee. Sorry Mom. The truth comes out.
But, I wouldn't change it even if I could. We loved being outside, especially down at the creek. I remember standing poised with a paper cup for countless hours trying to catch the little minnows that swam in the water. The rare moment that we actually caught one, we ran home and showed Mom (through the screendoor) and then... well... we let it go, I guess. Wow. Guess we weren't very productive as kids.
Then, there was always the fun of trying to dam up the creek. Why? I don't know- it just seemed like a good idea. We'd spend all day working on it, toting rocks and sand and mud. When it was done, there was much rejoicing. Success! And then, glorious destruction- we'd gleefully watch the water pour over the dam back onto it's normal path. A whole afternoon spent in such amusement.
Sometimes the creek was scary though. I remember once, looking into a hole on the creek wall, and to my absolute utter shock, seeing eyes staring back at me. I screamed and ran for about half a mile, I'm sure. I suppose it was a snake, and I steered clear of the creek for a few days after that.
Anyway, I wasn't trying to get nostalgic, just thinking out loud about one of the fun aspects of my childhood. Did any of you guys grow up near a creek, with similar stories?
My best friend growing up lived on a farm with a creek at the bottom of a ravine next to his house, and we would play in it and camp by it and generally muck around in it every time I went over there. The woods surrounding it were covered in kudzu and we would swing on that back and forth over the water, and drop into the deeper parts when we couldn't hold on any more. Another snake story: it was hot summer and we were down there with 2 or 3 other guys. One of them started to climb a tree on the shore, the branches of which were overhanging and shading us. He was pretty inept and the tree was shaking back and forth, and all of a sudden this writhing, hissing form plopped down into the creek. It landed in the middle of our group, which exploded like a grenade had gone off, and we all went running for our lives!
Posted by: gosey at October 9, 2003 12:21 PMI grew up next to a creek, and I have the EXACT SAME STORIES!!!!!!! Damming up the creek was so much fun. Sometimes we'd try to be really old fashioned, and dig up dirt from the creek bed, and try to mold it into something. I think you can guess what sort of success we had at that :P
For a little while, the fish in the creek sort of freaked me out, because ours were a little big in the summer. But then I realized my super-big-human-power and started attempting to catch them. But suddenly, my super-human-power seemed rather meager - the fish were way too fast...
I didn't have a creek, but we did have a rain-water ditch that had a lovely sandy bottom. We would climb down into the ditch and go to the pools and throw rocks and sticks and stuff. Once my mom came along and we went swimming. We were all always careful to watch for clouds...I had promised Dad that I would get out if it even looked stormy. We used to go there when it rained and watch the water rushing down the ditch and smashing up against the concrete baffles and the water would go squirting 10 feet into the air! I had no desire to get caught in that kind of water, so I kept my eye on the sky when I played in the ditch.
It was a sad day when they refurbished the dam and cemented over the lovely sandy bottom. Now it is concrete and boring. I suppose they concreted it to keep kids like me out of it (because now it is boring and the neighborhood kids don't go there anymore). It's safer now, that's for sure. But where's the fun?
Posted by: Krista at October 9, 2003 10:17 PMDo you remember the scary car that was buried in the dirt by the creek?
Posted by: ashley at October 10, 2003 09:06 AMOh my gosh, I had forgotten all about it! I remember thinking up some tragic story that a girl had gone over the edge of the creek. And drowned. In two inches of water.
Posted by: Shannon at October 10, 2003 09:51 AMI use to play with my Barbie dolls in the creek/ditch that ran along side our house in Forest. We had snakes in the summer also. I remember Dad killing one with a shovel on the front steps one time.
Ah, the memories, good times.
P.S.
I know I am so selfish to be talking about myself, and on you blog site. Please forgive me for being so self-absorbed. ;)