A day at my old homestead

I spend a lot of time at my old homestead in Springville but it is in pieces here and there. Today I am spending the whole day because the caregivers are gone to a family reunion. They've been gone since Thursday but there has been a whole network of people here: first Amber, a paid caregiver, then Jan, my sweet sissy, then Melanie, another paid caregiver, then Loni, my cute niece who brought her darling kids Devin and Tessa. Tessa is 3 years old and she said she didn't want to leave, she wanted to live here forever. I told her it was such a fun house to grow up in and she could come back whenever she wants. I took Loni's place and have spent the day cleaning, fixing, watering, cooking and shopping for my mom. But making that statement to Tessa brought back some of my favorite memories of this house:

1) making cucumber boats to sail down the ditch out front (the ditch is gone).
2) swinging in the porch swing with any family member, friend or boyfriend (Kelly bugged the front porch so he could listen in ...)
3) irrigation day! The front and back lawns would be flooded and we'd get to play in our own 5" pool of cool water on hot summer days.
4) climbing the big catalpa tree out front. I can still do it. We played for hours in that tree, making certain branches rooms and talking about everything under the sun.
5) playing "red light, green light" and "Mother, may I?" on the front sidewalk. I loved scissor hops and giant steps the best.
6) playing in our own play house. My dad built a playhouse on stilts, well, three stilts and one tree. Kelly and I painted it white. It had three windows and stairs that climbed two sides. We had a little cupboard in there. It was one of our favorite hide-aways.
7) planting flowers with my mom. She planted geraniums (I think they stink), marigolds, petunias and others all around the edges of the yard. I always got to help, even when she broke her leg golfing (fore! oops) and had to roll around on a car dolly. (I plant all the flowers now.)
8) playing basketball by the shop. We played HORSE for hours at a time. I was even good.
9) the Cowpalace - this is the big building at the back of the property. When it was first built it was my dad's shop and an office downstairs and one huge playroom upstairs. That room had a ping-pong table, my brother's band equipment and my dad's gun reloading stuff. We named it the Cowpalace after some big entertainment place in California, I don't know why. Now it is his original shop and three apartments with a different staircase from the circular one that was there first. We had sleep-overs in that big room. I remember eating Chick-O-Sticks one night.
10) Christmas morning. OK, so we always had to wait for my dad to use the bathroom (I think he read whole Louis L'Amour novels in there) but then we would all tear down the stairs in order of age to see what Santa had brought. The first few years we tore through everything but then my dad brought order to Christmas morning by having us all open presents in turn. It lasted forever but the wait was a killer. My mom always made pancakes, in fact she made pancakes all the time. My friends remember coming over for pancakes a lot, all year long.
11) April Fool's Day - I was so gullible. Maybe it's why I like to pull pranks now. My mom would stand at the back door and say, "Kid's look at that helicopter landing in the yard!" or "There's a giraffe in the backyard!" I'd crane my head and look and look and say, "Where?" My dad would make pancakes and put a layer of wax paper in the middle. Got us every time until we wised up.
12) Valentine's day. My grandma Wheeler would come and leave candy at the front door, knock and run. We'd open it and then find her behind the bush out front. Nowadays I am the Valentine Fairy Monster and I do the same thing.

I had a really terrific childhood. This house is magical. I have 99.9% wonderful memories. The 1% is mostly from me doing naughty things which got laughed at so they really weren't all that bad. I'm thankful for good, loving parents and siblings who have always been friends. Pretty charmed life, really.