DO YOU REMEMBER?

Wanda Shackles Johnson

Here are several things that I remember about our childhood.  These are the
things that really stick in my mind.  Do you remember them the same way?

GIRARD

1.  We had a pet chicken named "snowball".  Many years later we found out that
Dad had given this chicken to our minister and his family to have for Sunday
dinner.  Not sure why, but bet Dad could shed some light on the subject.

2.  We got baby chicks for Easter one year and the neighbor boy "Stevie"
drowned them all.  Saying he wanted to see if they could swim.  We were
devastated.

3.  Mom & Dad would bring the BYF (Baptist Youth Fellowship) over to our house
for parties and Mom would make her famous doughnuts.  Yum, Yum.

4.  Someone (we think it was Stevie) took all of Snowballs eggs and egged the
garage. Pue wee!!!  Rotten eggs.

5.  In the winter, Dad would take our blankets off our bed and put them over
the floor furnace in the living room downstairs and r-u-n them upstairs and
throw them around us.  Boy did that feel good!

6.   Karen & I had a bay window (as seen in the pictures on Robert Shackles
Family) and we got small kitchen appliances one year for Christmas.  We had
them set up in the bay window and played for hours.  We also use to tie these
robes around our head and pretend that we had l-o-n-g beautiful hair.

7.   Ronnie & Johnny use to play Bud & Jim for hours.  This continued for
years.  To this day don't know who "Bud & Jim" were. (fictious?)

8.   Who could forget the famous helicopter pants (underwear with little
helicopters on them).  This was the cause of many, many fight.  One pair and
two boys.  Got the picture.

9.   One day we decided to build a fort in the backyard with the help of all
the neighbor kids.  We gathered up all the old lumber we could find in the old
vacant field behind our house (where the railroad tracks were.  I can still
hear that train coming through blowing it's whistle every night.  Must have
been a crossing somewhere close.)  One of the kids,Berry I think his name was
(Karen & I thought he was so dreamy) got hit on top of the head with one of
the large wooden beams we were trying to install.  It cut a hugh gash in the
top of his head.  That ended our construction days, but if I remember right
didn't Dad build us one?

10.  Does everyone remember Kathy Glad?  She lived at the end of our block in
the end house.

11.   We also use to follow the milk truck and get ice from the milkman.  I
hate to say this because it really does make you feel old.  We also had
several kool-aide stands.  Not sure what we did with the money because we
never got to go to the store that I remember.

12.  I can remember the pet rabbit we had.  I don't remember his name. And the
plum tree in the back yard.  And all the beautiful mud pies we all made.  We
kept busy for hours.  Would line them up and then have Mom come look at each
one.  We used lots of fresh flowers for decorations.

13.   Karen & I had to do the evening dishes every night.  She got to wash and
I had to dry.  Boy did I want to get my hands in that bubbly water.  I was so
small I had to stand on a chair.  We must have broken alot of dishes.  I swear
that's why I hate doing dishes so much, hehe,  I've been doing them since I
was born!

14.   Johnny was always falling off the top bunk of the bed.  Our bedroom was
right next to the boys and on a regular occasion we'd hear a big thud.  We
knew Johnny fell off the top bunk again and go back to sleep.  Nice hugh?

15.   Remember when Dad got the Polaroid camera.  Boy were we hot stuff. (High
tech)  We thought we were pretty cool.  Everyone at church stood around in
amazement to watch it work.

16.   Remember all the after church get-togethers with the Lamb's, Gillette's
and Pyle's.  There must have been 20 kids when we all got together.  I
remember the Pyle kids thought we were rich because Mom would make the little
3 layer finger sandwiches and cut the crust off.  Hehe  And don't forget the
turtle races.

17.   All the Saturday nights in Pittsburg and the drive-in.  The Longest
Trailer and the Shaggy Dog are the only two I remember.  How about you?

18.  The swimming pool we had in the side yard where we used an old
refrigerator door as our slide.  Boy was it fast (we thought it was).

19.  Watching cartoons every Saturday morning (Karen and I in the same chair
together)  Also, the Lone Ranger, Sky King, Sea Hunt and of course Captain
Kangaroo.  They also accused me of watching the test pattern waiting for all
the shows to come on.  We also thought we were cool because Dad bought some
colored film to put over the TV and all the kids thought we had color TV.  Boy
were they jealous

20.  And last but not least, Johnny and I have a secret.  We just recently
discussed it.  It was more of a confession, I think.