Woods & Water by Dick Herfindahl

As I sit here writing this week’s column in the warmth of my domain I can hear the wind blowing outside and I am thankful for the little things–like heat! As a kid, I never seemed satisfied to be sitting in the warmth of our small but cozy house, and it seems to me that in looking back, I may have taken bad weather as a challenge, which I readily embraced.

I actually enjoyed doing my paper route in a snowstorm or playing football in the mud, rain and especially in the snow. I guess I may have looked at getting wet and muddy as a sign of toughness or of an accomplishment of sorts. My mother, on the other hand, probably looked at it as a lot of work or worse, when it came time to wash clothes.

When us neighborhood kids put our heads together, we could come up with a plan for just about anything involving staying busy and entertaining ourselves. If the snow was deep enough, which seemed to be most of the winter in those days, we would build snow forts. Now we approached the building of a snow fort like an artist putting paint to canvas. I can recall the one time when we built a two-roomer which was quite a step up from the usual four walls. There was another time when we tried to build a replica of an igloo and that didn’t end well. We had a plan, but unfortunately not the ability to cap it off, meaning we couldn’t figure out a way to put a top on it.

Once we had built a snow fort we moved on to the next level, a snowball fight. The kids that had built the fort got to use the fort while the other kids attacked. One of the first rules of a good snowball fight was “no ice balls” which was never really enforced by the snowball police. I can still hear my mother yelling “you kids could put an eye out” when she would see us in battle.

Getting smacked in the cheek with a snowball could really sting but an ice ball could leave a bruise. After getting hit with an ice ball the first thing you did was hunt for the evidence so you could confront the cheater. I know there were not many repercussions when the villain was caught and shown the evidence. Some kids would try to sneak rocks into a snowball which actually didn’t make much sense except it gave the culprit the feeling that he had gotten away with something.

Yes, winter offered endless opportunities for a kid to be entertained. Roaming the slough was always one of my favorites along with sledding. On more than one Saturday morning we would abandon the TV and venture out across the slough, sleds in tow, to this little hill on the south side of the slough. The hill itself still remains but today it sits right next to some houses. That hill wasn’t very long but it was steep and the rush was in the lack of time it took to hit the bottom. The climb back up was a lot of work for the short ride but it was always fun.

In our never ending quest to be creative, we built a sledding course that actually looked more like it was built for bobsleds than sleds. This course had banked walls in the curves and was on a long, fairly steep hill which added to a pretty high top end speed. It was on my neighbor Roger’s yard and we would work vigorously watering it down so that the track was almost glare ice. My Radio Flyer sled could really get up a head of steam and at times would literally fly down that course. The flying part came in when you lost it on one of the corners and went airborne.

As in many of our ventures the plug was finally pulled by the moms in the neighborhood when one of us wiped out and was hit in the head by the sled behind him. Kenny was the victim and he ended up in the ER getting 11 stitches in his cheek. This is when the moms put an end to our fun and made us destroy our masterpiece. Oh, we were a creative bunch of kids, but it always seemed like the things that were the most fun were also dangerous.

In looking back at some of those times, I think it was what made us who we are or were today. At the time we were just a bunch of kids trying to create a little fun for ourselves and all of it was taking place in the great outdoors. Our family eventually got a TV, but even then, most of my time was spent in the outdoors looking for the next great adventure.

Until next time, spend some time in the outdoors sharing an adventure with a youth. Whether it be your child, grandchild or a friend’s child, it’s what memories are made of.

Please take some time to honor those who have sacrificed so much for the freedoms we enjoy today. Also, take some time to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice, those who served and those troops serving today.