Memories...

Oh the joys of growing up with three older brothers! I remember John and I going around the lake barefoot when I was five years old (mom didn't know). He would make me stay on the muddy shore and catch tiny frogs, while he waded out in the water with shorts and no shirt catching minnows. When we got back to the house, after going completely around the lake, I would help him skin the fish, kill the frogs and then feed his turtles in the baby pool - one of them being a snapping turtle.

I remember running down towards the lake chasing the geese with Josh; building snowmen in the middle of the "frozen" lake with James; going on canoe rides and fishing with Dad; swimming in the cove and more... I remember when James made a big bike ramp and, after much practicing (and without mom's knowing), he persuaded John, Josh, Beth and I to lay down at the end of the ramp, so it was like an extension. Of course, the older ones filed in next to the large black ramp and Beth and I were strung out on the end! He did, thankfully, clear it!

I remember playing with John's pet snake; catching crawdads and water spiders with the neighbor boy in the creek; running barefoot across my favorite bridge - a big tree that fell over the ditch; all five of us kids grabbing John's mattress (as soon as mom got on the phone) and dragging it down the hall to the carpeted staircase, where we laid it down and all hopped on! (you just had to be careful not to hit your head on the stairwell). And when we didn't feel like dragging out the mattresses, a sleeping bag worked just as well!


I remember the police man, who lived in our neighborhood, used to have a big open house on the 4th and set fireworks off over the lake - we could just sit on our deck and watch them all night. That evening, Josh and I decided to sneak over there and grab some food! I think we went unnoticed for the most part, so we ducked under the tables, grabbed handfuls of food and ran home (it was only four houses from ours). We were so naughty...

I remember moving up to the farm and eating breakfast out in the Quonset hut, because there wasn't electricity in the house yet; using a towering stack of drywall as a couch, before we had any furniture moved in; seeing foot prints on the ceiling in the bathroom, because someone walked on the drywall before hand; untangling black snakes out of cherry tree nets; getting my first horse; spilling sap all over my legs and down my boots as I tried to navigate my way on the hillsides and freezing my wet feet in the process; the whole family venturing out into the woods with an axe to go find the perfect Christmas tree; playing with Deacon (our big, black, Rottweiler) at night with Dad and the boys and watching him tackle and chew on T-bone... aka: Josh. I remember squirrel hunting with Josh, playing monsters with John and hanging out with James.

The Edgar kid's secret place (which was revealed to good friends only) was "The Slide." It was basically a humongous, steep hill tucked back in the woods, near a creek bed. It used to be covered in moss, until we made it our "slide." It was a tough climb to the top and even if you were almost there, you often slipped and did somersaults back down again. I could climb it pretty well, thus making my nickname "mountain goat."

And last, but not least, I remember the fort that we kids made one summer in the corn field. You had to walk in about 20 rows before you came to the entrance. The entrance was a short hallway that opened up into a large living room with separate bedrooms. We had a lot of fun in the corn that summer, however when fall rolled around, the farmer inevitably saw "the fort." He and Dad weren't too happy! And these... are some of my favorite memories.....