My Life in a Jar #5

Describe your yard as a child. Did you help with yard work? What are your memories? Draw a diagram if you can.
My parents bought this house when Karen and I were born. I lived in there until Gary and I were married and I moved away. Our house was small but it never seemed that way to me growing up. The yard was big and we spent a lot of time playing outside. On the south side of the house was a huge garden spot. It was our responsibility to help plant the garden each spring. I remember Dad taking a lot of time to make sure the rows were straight and the irrigation ditches were deep enough for the water to run the entire length of the rows to give the plants a good soaking. We would take turns helping Dad with irrigating the garden. This meant we had to help him turn the water into our yard, watch the ditches to make sure the water flowed and wasn't blocked by dirt falling into them. Once the garden was irrigated he would turn the water on the back yard and flood it. We would then play in the water for hours. On the right side of the house where Grandma's roses are and where the garage is, they had raspberry plants. When they were ripe we had to get up early (5:00) to go out and pick them. We'd be armed with a long sleeve shirt and a bucket tied around our waist. This was a chore none of us liked. The plants had thorns and we'd get stuck several times each time we'd pick. One time Karen and I decided that if we shook the buckets and mashed the berries we wouldn't have to pick them any more. That was our plan anyway. Plans have a way of backfiring and that's exactly what happened. Mom and Dad decided instead of getting mad at us they'd teach us a life long lesson. They gave us the opportunity to pick all the berries that summer. That way we would know how to do it correctly. We learned that it's better to do things right the first time and not have to do it over and over until we get it right. We also learned that it's better to do what is asked of us and not try to get out of doing things by doing a bad job. Otherwise we'd have a lot more work to do. As a parent I'm thankful for the lessons they taught us. The freshly picked raspberries were always a welcome treat on a hot summer evening. We loved them fresh with a little milk and sugar on them. ( I'm sure I never ate much of the milk)
It was also our responsibility to help mow and water the lawns. I actually enjoyed mowing the lawns. I loved the smell and the look of freshly cut grass. It seemed like it was a never ending job with the yard the size of ours.
When fall came there were always lots of leaves that had to be raked and burnt. (we could burn them in a barrel) I love the smell of leaves burning it takes me back to my childhood and the preparation of getting ready for winter. We spent many hours raking the leaves and jumping in them. It was a time we worked but we also played while doing it. We would rack the leaves into small lines and make a pretend house. The leaves being the walls of the different rooms. Then we would play house for hours before the time came to put them in the burn barrel and wait for a few more days until there were enough leaves to rake again.
Winter brought a different set of chores and fun. The main outdoor chore we had in the winter was shoveling the sidewalks and the driveway after a snow storm. Most of the time Dad would have the driveway shoveled before we even got up. He'd have to shovel it to get out before going to work. The sidewalk was up to us kids and usually ended up with a snow ball fight or just playing in the snow at the same time. I don't remember it being a chore or something we didn't want to do. When the snow would melt, there would be a pond out front by the road, that would freeze as the temperature dropped. We would go there and ice skate. Everyone in our neighborhood was jealous because we had our own ice skating rink.
Since our yard was one of the biggest in the neighborhood that's where we would play. We played kick the can, football, softball and any other game we'd all decide on. Karen, Craig and I knew how to climb the trees in the front yard. Most of the neighborhood kids didn't know how or at least wouldn't try. It proved to be a good hiding place while playing kick the can or hide and seek. I loved growing up where I did, in a small town where life was fun and the simple pleasures were right there on our own yard.
I'm thankful that my own children had the opportunity to spend time there playing while visiting Grandma and Grandpa. I'll miss not going there again, knowing that it's not home anymore. I just hope it can bring another family as many great memories as it brought me.