The Shacks and Ditches - Part One
When I was a kid my mom and her sister bought houses in the same neighborhood in St. Peters, MO. My aunt called one day and asked if I wanted to play in the ditches with her kids. I said yes and before I knew it I was up at her house in her backyard where the rainwater had carved 8-10 foot ditches in the fresh soil behind the build.
Some were impossibly tall and others were fun to climb down and explore. It was a amazing time during that stage of life where things are so big and life is so full of possibility. We climbed for hours on end and came inside dirtier each time we went out.
It was about a few months after playing in the ditches that one of my cousins found a tree fort in the woods. It was simple and awesome all at the same time. It was about 10 foot in the front and 15 foot in the back off the ground. It took about 10 minutes to hike to from my house from my moms and was midway in the woods behind my aunts and our house.
To see the tree house gave us possibility and we started work on our first tree house. The problem was we chose a tree about 10 feet from theirs. I remember being up in our tree and looking down on the treehouse we found in the woods. That as we would come to find out was a mistake.
I remember back then it was a beautiful perfect summer day and I could still hear the sounds of the rival teenagers tearing down our club house. We had spent about 2-3 weekends all day making our fort and to hear from my porch was terrible. I was scrawny and there was nothing I could do. I sat on my deck and called Ronnie and told him what was happending and he didnt seemed too fazed by it all.
We went the next day and our fort was in shredded pieces. They used an old shovel to dismantle our fort piece, by piece. Pieces were broken in half and shredded by the shovel acting as an axe.
What happened next really sucks and I had nothing to do with it, but someone then torn down their fort with the very same shovel. Either way in another year it would not matter as the land would be bulldozed for apartment complexes and a neighborhood.
Some were impossibly tall and others were fun to climb down and explore. It was a amazing time during that stage of life where things are so big and life is so full of possibility. We climbed for hours on end and came inside dirtier each time we went out.
It was about a few months after playing in the ditches that one of my cousins found a tree fort in the woods. It was simple and awesome all at the same time. It was about 10 foot in the front and 15 foot in the back off the ground. It took about 10 minutes to hike to from my house from my moms and was midway in the woods behind my aunts and our house.
To see the tree house gave us possibility and we started work on our first tree house. The problem was we chose a tree about 10 feet from theirs. I remember being up in our tree and looking down on the treehouse we found in the woods. That as we would come to find out was a mistake.
I remember back then it was a beautiful perfect summer day and I could still hear the sounds of the rival teenagers tearing down our club house. We had spent about 2-3 weekends all day making our fort and to hear from my porch was terrible. I was scrawny and there was nothing I could do. I sat on my deck and called Ronnie and told him what was happending and he didnt seemed too fazed by it all.
We went the next day and our fort was in shredded pieces. They used an old shovel to dismantle our fort piece, by piece. Pieces were broken in half and shredded by the shovel acting as an axe.
What happened next really sucks and I had nothing to do with it, but someone then torn down their fort with the very same shovel. Either way in another year it would not matter as the land would be bulldozed for apartment complexes and a neighborhood.
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