more memories

Tonight I am continuing my childhood memories. I think I was a happy kid. I was always doing something. Playing some sort of make believe game. I always wanted to help my Dad. When I was 5 years old I would always ask my Dad if I could help him milk the cows. He would let me try but it was hard for small hands. When one finishes milking a cow we do what is called stripping. That is where you use two hand and squeeze the last of the milk from the cow. I started to do that and then low and behold my job was to milk a cow every night. So I milked the cow every night. I did not have to milk her in the morning. I think that is one reason I have had strong hands. I also had to bring in col for the stove each day and also chips of wood to start the fire every morning. When I was six I got a BB gun for Christmas and it was my most treasured possession. I took it wherever I went. I was allowed to shoot sparrows and no other living animals,except bugs , grasshoppers and other vermin. I was so proud the first time I killed a sparrow. I became a very good shot with my Daisy Red Ryder BB Gun. I got into big trouble one day when my brother Louis went to the Out house. There was a knothole in the door and I took aim at the knothole and shot away. There was a loud scream and Louis came running through the door. I had shot him dead center one inch below his belly button. I think he still has a scar. Needless to say I did not get to use my gun for over a month. What are the chances of hitting the knothole from 30 feet. I can remember when I went to Kindergarten. I was five and it lasted six weeks. I rode the school bus to Sutherland grade school which was about ten miles way. I caught the bus about a fourth of a mile away. It seemed kind of crazy to go that far just to take a nap and eat graham crackers. Like Ive mentioned before I liked to play cowboys. I remember when book matches first appeared on the scene. I got a book of matches and decided to build a fort. There was a new straw stack in the field by the house and I dug out a big hole in the middle of the straw for the fort. I then thought a fire wood be good. I burned down the straw stack, the field of wheat stubble and the fence along the road. Things got pretty hot after that escapade. I was only four at that time. Its funny how much a four year old picks up. I decided to be a bull rider when I was five. I climbed up onto the roof of the barn and when the cow walked by I leaped onto he back. What a ride I went up and up and came down very hard. It wasn't nice in what I landed in. My backside hurt for a long time. The ground is very hard. I gave up on bull riding. I like to watch it but it hurts to much for the amount of fun involved.I din not go anywhere when I was small except to Delta. Once every couple of weeks we would go to town. Each one of us would get a nickle to spend at the drug store. That was five suckers or ten strips of licorice or five packages of kits and other penny candy. Life isn't that simple anymore. Well I guess I will close for now I have remembered my first six years.