I grew up with three brothers and I was next to the youngest. I was kinda spoiled but I never realized it. My brothers tend to make sure I had anything I wanted. They still do.
My brothers were my best friends and their friends were my friends. My next oldest brother was 3 years older than me and he had a lot of friends who always hung out at our house. The baby of our family was only 18 months younger than me so we were pretty close. Our oldest brother was 6 years older than me.
We always had lots of fun together. All the cold weather that most of the country is getting has me thinking about my childhood and how we spent our winters.
We spent as much time outside as we could. We'd bundle up in a couple pair of jeans, extra shirt, gloves, hats, boots. It was not uncommon to put bread sacks on over our socks before we put our boots on. This would help keep our socks dryer longer.
We lived next door to the grade school. Here we spent a lot of time. The driveway and parking lot as well as the open space used for sports was the perfect playground.
One of our favorite things was sledding. Now at our own house we had a really nice hill we could use. But if the snow was really good then we'd head over to the school to go sledding.
The hill at the school was pretty steep, not a gradual hill like at home. This led to a large open area that was used for sports when we had gym class. This area led to another smaller hill with trees that led down to the ditch and a small creek known as Buck's Branch. So when the snow was really good you could sled down the hill and the goal was to see how far across the field you could go. If you were lucky you might make it all the way across the field and even down the shorter hill.
My parents both worked and as we got older we were allowed to stay home by ourselves while our parents were at work. We did our chores but still had plenty of time to have fun. One day during winter we had a really good snow. My next older brother, my younger brother and myself were home and several of my brothers friends had come over. This usually included the twins, their younger brother, their uncle, and another friend who was quite heavy. These boys were pretty much always at the house if my brother was there so they were kinda like brothers to me as well.
One winter day my brothers and I and my brothers friends were all at the house. We had had a pretty good snow and decided to go sledding. We took the sleds and headed over to the school hill. The sleds were fun for a while. We'd pile on top of each other on the sled. The more people who piled on the sled the faster it would go and also the farther it would go. Sometimes you'd wreck and end up in the snow. We kept going farther and farther.
Then my brother remembered that we had an old car hood just sitting around at the house. We discussed this and the consensus was that if we all piled in with the heaviest person at the very front of the hood we might make it all the way across the field and even part way down the next hill.
So back home to get the hood. We positioned it just right on the hill - aiming for a particular spot on the next hill if we made it that far. Then we positioned ourselves in the hood. Shoved off and away we went!
OH MY GOSH!! That was so much fun! I don't really remember if we made to the next hill and down but I'm guessing not as it would not have been a good idea to crash that hood into the trees that were there.
After a afternoon of sledding we'd head back to the house to warm up and make a big pot of hot tea.
Those were good days. This picture while not of my brothers and I is how I remember those days.
