In earlier blogs I described the excitement we experienced when we were able to purchase land two miles from the town of Wheaton.
At that time, we had no idea of the varieties of activities that the little piece of land would provide our family.
Farmer Carl came to the rescue again when I mentioned to him, I was thinking about building a play area for our children. Carl knew where we could get used telephone poles and he helped me cut the poles into smaller sections and he also dug trenches to place the poles in the ground.
The play area had two levels. The top level allowed the children to scout for any possible dangers that might be approaching. A stampeding buffalo herd, native prairie fire, or an approaching thunderstorm.
Below the observation deck was an area filled with sand. Many things were produced with the sand and many adventures were experienced.
However, one important thing to consider is controlling the number of cats living in the yard as they would frequently assume the sand was a kitty restroom.
We always insisted on vigorous hand washing after playtime in the sand. 🙁
A suet cage and sunflower holder were open twenty-four hours a day and both were placed in front of the living room windows. One could pull up a chair and watch the feeding wildlife.
Chickadees, nuthatches, finches, juncos, blue jays, hairy and downy woodpeckers all congregated under or on the feeders.
Squirrels and rabbits gathered beneath the feeders and scavenged seeds that fell from the feeders.
When winter arrived and the first snow blanketed the ground the animals’ activities were on display by the tracks they left in the snow.
Our family also left some tracks in the snow as our sleds whizzed down the hill. Then we puffed and puffed as we climbed the hill to prepare for another exciting ride.
As the children grew older more activities became available for them.
One summer day our children and several of their friends gathered at the creek to try their luck at catching fish.
The air was filled with screams and laughter.
A few lures got tangled in tree branches and several fisherpersons actually fell in the creek. There was no danger of drownings as the water was only two feet deep.
Then a scream sounded that did not sound fun.
Looking up I see our daughter, Jill running through the alfalfa field followed by all the other fisherpersons.
“What happened, Jill?” I asked.
Jill turned and pointed to the back of her head.
She had a fishing lure dangling from the back of her head. The hooks had dug into her hair and skin! 🙁
I remember the drive to the hospital like it was yesterday.
Jill sat on my lap as I speeded (and I mean speeded!) to the hospital while that fishing lure bounced in front of my eyes all the way to the hospital.
There were no fish caught that day just a fifty- pound second grader. 🙂
Pheasant and duck hunting were also possible.
When Steve passed his youth gun permit test, he was excited to go hunting.
I had seen dozens of wood ducks flying in and out of a bean field next to our stream.
It had been a wet fall so parts of the stream were out of its banks, and the water flooded an edge of a farmer’s bean field.
Since this was my son’s first-time hunting, I had him stand in front of a huge cottonwood tree. The flooded bean field was right out in front of him, so Steve had a clear view of the ducks as they began landing in the flooded beans.
The wood ducks had other ideas, however.
Instead of landing directly in the flooded beans the ducks settled into the stream, behind us. Their plan was to swim from the stream into the flooded bean field.
There were dozens of birds landing in the stream, so I turned and began to shoot.
Within seconds my three shot twenty gauge was out of shells, so I had to quickly reload.
Meanwhile Steve had not shot so I shouted, “Go ahead and shoot!”
I forgot Steve had a huge cottonwood tree behind him so he couldn’t see any of the ducks I was seeing.
Of course, when I shot the incoming ducks flared and made their escape. So, our rookie hunter didn’t even get a shot.
There will be more times to take shots I assured Steve.
Meanwhile I had shot two wood ducks, so I was stuck with cleaning them.
Bonnie was our youngest and she was five years behind Jill, so she was kind of a tag-along. She couldn’t do all the things the older kids did.
An advertisement caught my eye in our local paper. A farmer wanted to sell his brooder house. Kathie and I discussed purchasing it as a giant playhouse for the kids.
The sale was finalized and in a couple days a brooder house was moved into our yard and was quickly transformed into a playhouse.
Bonnie and Jill spent hours in the playhouse along with their friends from school. Steve on the other hand preferred shooting baskets or playing catch.
When I was in the fourth grade, I began mink trapping. I was fortunate to catch a big mink that I sold to a fur buyer for $26. I used that money to purchase Christmas gifts for the family.
The fall Steve was in the fourth grade he asked me if I could help him set a mink trap. He wanted to replicate his dad’s trapping feat.
So, we took a trap and hiked down to the beaver dam, and I helped him set a trap.
Steve faithfully got up each morning before school and checked his trap. He was learning patience. 🙂
A mink is very difficult to catch, and Steve learned that the hard way.
For 22 days Steve hiked to the beaver dam to check his trap.
On day 23 Steve had gone to check his trap.
Suddenly the front door burst open and Steve charged into the living room and shouted, “I caught a mink, I think I caught a mink!”
At this point I realized I had never explained to Steve what happens next.
He and I walked down to the creek. I was carrying a wooden club.
Steve was standing on the creek bank as I waded out into the water and used the club to end the mink’s life.
As I was ending the mink’s life, I could hear my son say, “Sick!!”
Steve never trapped again.
Living out in the country can be fun and exciting.
The next blog will introduce you to some of the dangers that one can experience in country living.
Until next time.
