The other day I was concentrating on the changes happening around here.
Today I will show you that some things are still pretty much the same as when I was little…with a few small changes.
This is the farmstead where I grew up…I came here before I was one year old and I left when I got married when I was 18. The big silo was not there back then…there was a silo next to the barn, and that building behind the barn was not there and the hay/straw bales are much larger…we had the little square bales which was a great improvement from loose hay piled onto wagons or in haystacks.
The Smoky Hills Fire/Lookout Tower is still there…the communications tower was not there in earlier days. I climbed to the top of the tower ONLY once and that was under great duress ( My brother and Danny were behind me.) Inside the tower I had a meltdown and bawled my eyes out and said “I am stuck up here forever because I am too scared to go down!” ( I was going to be in BIG trouble too!) I guess the boys finally figured that they were going to be in big trouble with me so they talked me into going down, one in front of me and one behind me…it was one of the scariest moments of my life. I am afraid of heights. I had attempted the climb before but was always the last person up the ladder and once I got to the tree tops I would chicken out and go back down.
The best part of a trip to the Tower was flying down the hill on your bicycle…it truly was like flying.
I have had adventures that my children and grandchildren will never have. I wonder how many of them will retire just two miles from their childhood home?
Beautiful and peaceful place.
ReplyDeleteI am afraid of heights too! There is no way I would have gotten as high as you did on that Tower! Even driving across a bridge bothers me. Guess it is being able to see over the sides. I can make it if I keep looking straight ahead. Also cannot stand to look at pictures of mountains. Those heights bother me although not real, just photos. So you are not alone in your fear of high places.
ReplyDeleteShirley H.
I don't do heights either. As a kid I was always being poked, prodded, and pulled up things I then could not look off. I love the first photo. The colors and light say Minnesota end of summer to my heart.
ReplyDeleteGlad that some things have not changed much. I cannot imagine climbing that high - yikes! I have all the paperwork, deeds, pay stubs etc. from my dad and grandpa (and I know the story of their grandpas before them....they all stayed within a few miles of one another. These days, my loved ones have moved far away and their jobs are so different from anything my ancestors could have imagined. Interesting to think about.
ReplyDeleteI love going back to places I have been or were I grew up. Unfortunately for me most of those places have gone thru big changes. You are fortunate that your old home hasn't changed much. Your old farm looks so peaceful. Great photo you took.
ReplyDeleteI love this story! I would have loved living on that farmstead. Thoughts of climbing that fire tower gave me chills. There was a fire tower my brother and sister climbed but not me. I'm afraid of heights too. Like you, I would have panicked at the top. Climbing down is the hardest.
ReplyDeleteIf you ask me, I think you did pretty good to climb to the treetops!!! I have never climbed a water tower and by now, there is no danger of me getting the urge. The photo of your childhood farmstead is very picturesque.
ReplyDeleteI'm about a mile from my childhood home.
ReplyDeleteYou're very brave to climb the tower.
I'm so scared of heights it's sickening and I've had more than one melt down. Once had to follow my husband's feet, while hanging onto his jacket while walking on a coastal path I should never have been on.
ReplyDeleteHmm, I doubt I would climb the tower - then or now. I bet the view from the top is breath-taking.
ReplyDeleteToday's children are so driven with ipads and iphones they will never have the adventures we have had....ever.
ReplyDeleteLinda
pretty neat that you can take a look at the home place anytime you want.
ReplyDeleteI'm also scared of heights and remember the same feeling of being stuck up high forever because I was too scared to go back down--but I was all alone and not nearly as high as that water tower! Was about ten and climbed up on the high platform above and behind the high school bleachers where they made the announcements. But they used a ladder to climb up there and I had climbed up the legs from the top bleacher. I had decided to test myself--push through the fear. Which I was forced to do a couple hours later when I had to be home for dinner...shaking and trembling all the way. I remember being so exhausted that I was in bed long before "Here's Johnny". ;)
ReplyDeleteWhen I just saw the pictures of the old block I noticed how different things looked, too. Houses were different colors, the trees are way bigger, and there's a curb! When we moved there it was a naked new suburb--no lawns, no trees--kind of like Dagan and Leah's when they moved to their house recently. Where did the last 60 years go? :)
My brother has completely transformed the farm and even the farmhouse where I grew up, but I love what they have done.
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame our children and theirs will never know the freedom
ReplyDeleteof movement we had as children.
It is good that some of your childhood things are still around.
ReplyDeleteNot many people at all these days have the luxury of staying in their home town for all their days. I know you are afraid of heights, we've had that conversation in the past. You sure described this adventure well, I was right there with you! :-)
ReplyDeleteI can hardly believe you actually climbed that tower. I have no trouble at all believing you were petrified about climbing back down. Oh the dumb things we did when we were young.
ReplyDeleteYou are so fortunate to have your childhood environment almost intact, at least very much the way it was. In some parts of the Canadian prairie, where I grew up, large tracts of farmland were sold to large corporations, and farmsteads and homes were razed to the ground. Very sad to go back years later, and find not even a fence post standing!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely place for a childhood!
ReplyDeleteYou are very fortunate and what a beautiful place to grow up. I am afraid of heights too and I would never have been able to do that...ever! You are very brave!
ReplyDeleteWOW! I don't think I would ever have made it that far up the tower. I can't hardly climb a ladder. You had a wonderful home to grow up in and were very lucky! Kids today don't know what adventure is. They have to hold it in their hands in the way of a video game or controller.
ReplyDeleteWe are not that old but we did live in a different era. Things my own kids never did as they were never on the farm.
ReplyDelete