Growing Up #2: The creeks

In Growing Up #1, you can see that we had two creeks on the property.  One along the top border and one that came in from the bottom, circled around a pond and then when through the middle of the property where it went through a culvert so the cows could get to both sides of the property easily.  As kids, we loved to spend a summer day playing in and around the creeks.  One game was to build a small 'boat' from a stick of wood we filched from my Dad's workshop.  We would give it a pointed front and sometimes put something on the board.  They had to be small (6-8" long by 2 - 3" wide) to navigate the creek hazards and not get caught.  Then we place the boat in the water where one of the creeks came into our property and follow it to where the creek left the property.  We had several competitions along the way such as:

• Whose boat was the first to the where the creek left the property
• Whose boat needed the least amount of help
• Whose boat exited the culvert first (kind of like Pooh Sticks)

Along the way we would find interesting bugs, frogs, small fish, and if we were lucky a newt or salamander.  Other times we would just go to the culvert in the middle of the property and play pooh sticks while the cows grazed nearby in the grass or sometimes wandered over to see what we were doing.  Just being out in the warm sunny afternoon with the smell of fresh grass, flowers and the sound of the insects and cows was so peaceful.