What's in your backyard?

When I was about 4 or 5 years old, my family moved into the house on the hill, as we still call it. I'm not sure how many acres were actually ours, but there was what seemed like a lot of woods to play in behind the house.

We would go tramping off down the trail pretending to be King Arthur. We had these big green metal fence posts that served as Exalibur for Keno, and I had some lesser sword, made of a stick I'm sure.

I vividly remember pretending to be Annie and singing Tomorrow at the top of my lungs with only the trees as my audience.

There was also what was probably an old garbage pit that served as a re-creation for basic training camp from Private Benjamin.

We also had a huge garden, about a quarter acre. I was responsible for weeding one row a day in the summertime, as were Keno and Maile. On days when we hadn't gotten anything done, Maile and I would cover ourselves in dirt just as my dad was getting home to "prove" that we had been working all day. Did we fool you dad?

There was a tall lamp post in the back yard (why was it in the back yard?) with a water spicket next to it (I know it's spelled spigot, but I don't care)and we built a FORT around it with leftover plywood. I remember playing in it one night and hearing the coyotes howl, so I went in. Wouldn't you?

The next house we lived in had fruit trees in the yard and a garden, of course. My mom made crab apple jelly from the crab apple tree and I think there was a plum tree as well, but I didn't like plums back then. Maile and our friends Tina and Jeannie would make up dances to popular songs at the time such as "We built this city on Rock and Roll" by Starship, who used to be Jefferson Starship, who used to be Jefferson Airplane. (They were popular in the drug laden 60's and 70's, ever heard the song White Rabbit?, then you know what I mean) I still remember some of the moves. I'm sure we were a sight to behold.

We just took whatever we had and made it into something entertaining. My kids have grown up differently. Their yards have been smaller and not wooded, but they have created their own adventures and stories.

This is our back yard here in Maple Valley. The trampoline gets a lot of use and I'm sure they will have their own stories to tell someday. But I imagine the TRAIN will stay permanently attached to our memories of this house. Personally, I will remember plugging my ears and singing to myself (something along the lines of la la la laaaaa really loud) in order to drown out the horrible noise. But I think we're all used to it now. And I can honestly say that we live on the right side of the tracks.

The view from my bedroom window. Jealous?