deeitsme's Journal

I heard Grandpa's alarm ring in the next room.  I was already awake and just kept anticipating that it would ring soon.  For today is Saturday, which means we will be heading down to the farm.  I just couldn't wait for the weekends to arrive.  Every weekend was an adventure to the farm.

By nine o'clock grandma had us fed and we were out the door.  Watching grandpa firing up the old truck was just amazing.  First he had to pull the choke then start cranking it over.  She never failed to start and ran like a swiss watch.  To me she seemed ancient and had a smell that I can still recall today.  She smell of straw and bailing twine, with a mixture of those down on the farm smells.  So down the road she went just a purring along.  The drive seemed like it took forever, for it always does when your a kid.  Before we got to the farm we always had to stop at the bank.

This was an adventure that I really looked forward too, because that meant I was going to get a shinning new silver dollar.  My collection was growing as fast as my farm treasures were growing.  I waited in anticipation for grandpa to stop talking to the ladies, then he would turn around and hand me the silver dollar.  Everytime was just as exciting as the first.  Then it was back on the road with just 6 more miles to go and we were there.

The old truck lumbered into the barn lot glad she reached her destinaton.  My door flew open and my feet hit the ground before Pap could even get stopped I think.  My little legs running for the gate that lead to the pasture.  I could just hear my grandpa yell, "hey stay close and stay out of trouble".  I was off and running through the pasture and heading for the cedars first.  I always had to check them out and to see if my special place was still there.  It was a fort so to speak.  Cedars were so cluster and tight that in the middle of them was a perfect place to have a fort.  The cedars had shed their lower branchs years ago but still there was a wonderful canopy.  You could go there on the hotest of days and it would be so cool in there that it was like walking into an air conditioned room. 

Yep, all looked good in my fort and looked like everything was still there and in the same place as I had left it last weekend.  After resting for just a brief minute it was off to the spring for a cold drink before I headed over the fence to the creek.  My creek, equipped with my sand dunes.  What a paridise it was!  I can't tell you how many shirts I have ripped over the time climbing inbetween those barb wire fences, but did I care, no! 

Ah, the creek, how to describe it other then it was the best place in the world.  It was down in a valley filled with fossil rock everywhere.  High cliffs that had huge trees that seemed suspended in the air, with only just a few roots holding them in place.  The creek was full of all kinds of critters.  Mussels, crawdads, snails, fish of all sorts, and turtles.  It also seemed to be the place where you could find all kinds of bones.  The drift wood layed everywhere in layers and layers.  One spot even had a "rock yard".  This was a place where all the rocks of many colors washed up in the spring rains.  For me this was paridise for I had a passion for collecting rocks among other things.  My pockets were always stuffed with bones, rocks, or shells.

I would spend hours here digging in the sand for turtle eggs.  Combing the beach for sea shells of all sizes and colors.  Seemed like I could never get enough of the dead mussel shells that the raccoons left behind from their nightly feast.  The rock pile would sometimes turn up crystal rocks, which I just had to have them.  Poor mom and grandma having to find places to tuck all my little treasures.

I would also spend hours searching among the fossil rocks looking for my dinosaur.  Still to this day I say the creek and spring rains will uncover him or her and I will be waiting.  It always amazed me to see all the creatures locked in stone.  I would imagine what it must have been like all those millions of years ago.  To imagine all the trees and animals that walked the very area I was standing in.  It truly was my favorite place. 

What more could you ask for?  Swimming, fishing, playing in the sand, searching for critters, and collecting everything under the sun.  I still return to this spot as often as I can.  There is still the deep pull in my heart and soul when I visit there.  I find myself giggling because when I return from the creek my pockets are always full of the creeks treasures.