SUMMERS OF AGO/ PLAYING ON FARM-LOTS TO DO!

      While driving through the small town of Collins while returning my grand-kids to their home in Ankeny from Marshalltown, my youngest grandson said he couldn't imagine living in a really small town or out in the country as it would be so boring with nothing to do!

      I reminded him that I grew up on a farm and there was lots to do with work and play and lots of times the two were intertwined. First of all, our farm was 160 acres and that was a good start! Each farm building was there to be explored. Especially the barn. The hay mow was always exciting to jump down from and climbing up on the barn peak and just enjoying the view atop my world. 

      We had a cave on the west side of our house. A home had been there at one time, the house was moved and the basement was capped with concrete. An angled cellar door led down into the "cave" and it was great for hours and hours of playtime. The headquarters. The hide-out!

      Our two groves north of our house were great for playing cowboys or maybe a little Tarzan in the trees. We also had a deep creek in the northwest corner of our farm with a very deep ravine. Great for exploring! We always had a dog or a pony. Plus, all the livestock we had and chickens. I even had three ducks as pets for a while-Huey, Dewey and Louie! It was also my job when we wanted chicken on the menu to put the chicken's head between two wood stakes and take an ax.....Well, you get the picture. That wasn't playing,but I thought it might liven up the story!

       My Laverty cousins only lived a mile away plus, two or three friends lived within that range. We also had their farms and barns to play in and around. Our family farms had ponds to swim in and the family had a old Army surplus jeep that we drove around in just like having a ATV of today.

     In our machine shed, where the dirt was soft from driving the machinery in and out, I would build roads in that dirt with my Tonka trucks and earth-movers. I had an electric train set up in the basement and we had this huge attic and with spare bedrooms upstairs to spread out in especially on a rainy day or winter. 

     We could play croquet on our front lawn and also explore Indian Burial Grounds about a half-mile east of us on the Paul farm. I could explore culverts that ran under roads around us as hide-outs. Fishing  Rock Creek which started just north of our farm.

      In the winter when we were snowed in for a time, we would play games especially Chinese Checkers by the hour. And, yes we had radio and TV. The winter provided lots of snow with huge drifts for building "igloos" and great sledding.

     Then, when visiting cousins in Marshalltown, that opened up many more opportunities of new kids and urban territory to explore.

      Living on a farm in the 1950's was not boring-not by a long shot. Playing and working went hand in hand as I stated earlier.There was always something going on. All that and no computers, smart phones or whatever! In our own way we were pretty hip to what life was all about.