2-29- 2012, the farm lane. 

     

    i wish i had a quater for every time i was up and down this lane in my life. this is the lane to where we live and i have a pretty complete coverage of the whole area  from beginning to end in a series of pics i have taken over years and you can see it at different times of the year. i always described myself as being 1/2 mile east of easy street. easy street was accessible but not without its fair share of work. when ever we would venture out we could see the neighbor kids , and it always seemed like they were having fun.

     but it was a different fun than us, we did have fun and fight as we were brothers and sisters from a large family . mom and dad  figured we always needed some thing to do , and in ways i guess we did as animals and me seemed to get along from the start. but we didn't do much socializing out side of school. we would run up and down lane but mainly for the bus.  i was up every morning around 5:30 then head out to find  the cows and drive them back to barn , cows are kind of a herd animals and although we wanted only 2 we had to bring the whole herd . there was days they just didnt want to come but we would manage to separate out the milk cows , peggy and daisy, and would hand milk them out being careful to avoid the crappy tail that would swat you if you man handled the girls faucets a little to hard . we would milk into a pail and would give the cows feed to eat while milking. as soon as milking was done would run to the house as by now we were running late and needed to kick it in gear to catch the school bus. and it is along the stretch above at almost the very same location i had an accident i am trying to tell you about.

     well our barn clothes and our school clothes were pretty much the same . so dancing the cow pasture polka was important step to getting ready for school . would maybe have time to comb hair,wash up and grab a bite, bum some lunch money off mom and out the door we would go . normally i would run to the y as me and my brother jim would rush to get around the corner and then we could coast as we could see the bus from the split in the lane which was about halfway.well this one morning, i was alone and being later than usual,  i rounded the corner and there was the bus waiting on me. the bus driver was good and would give us a minute or two if we were late and then go on .  we missed the bus not often , but maybe once a month just to keep mom in practice of taking us. but i needed to catch it this time as i had home work to do at school before class,  so i kicked it in gear. having already ran a quarter mile i felt pretty good and was not feeling any loss of strength as i quickened my pace and decided to make a show for the bus. i was stretching it out and was striding feeling the fresh wind flow through my hair and could now see the kids faces in the window as i reveled in my own power . 

   again from somewhere something told me i could go even faster and still be able to slow up for the bus as it was getting closer all the time and then it happened i stumbled and twisted an ankle on a large rock in the lane sending me head first into the ground as my arm went underneath my body saving my body some damage from what seemed like boulders. my body ground to a halt just feet from the door of the bus . i looked up through the dust , and could see the look of pain and contained laughter of the students staring down at me. i pulled myself to my feet and looked at the bus driver who was now getting more impatient than ever. and says to me. well are you getting on or not. i shrugged , dusted myself off and limped on to  the bus to the astonishment of all. i found me a seat in the back as they would have to turn around to glare at me  in wonderment just to see how i was doing , and i really didn't feel like sharing at the moment. 

       i started assessing my injuries.  first and fore most was i had practically ripped my thumb nail off my hand and had some pretty good road burns complete w/ gravel and blood,  as the pain ebbed and flowed , causing me to grimace as i wiped the blood on my pants . anyhow the bus looped up the road and all the time the bus driver was watching in his mirror to see  if i was alright. seeing i wasn't he yelled back at me asking if i wanted to go home and i indicated i needed to. so he swings by the end of the lane and dumps me out in the heat and forces me to take the long walk of shame back to the house alone and hurt,dragging my books and tail,  a half mile to the house uphill did i say alone? 

      well they removed the thumbnail and x-rayed me . no broken bones and 4 stitches . but i fared much better than the guy who came in beside me as soon as i got there saw him once and next thing they were bringing in crash carts and pulling curtains . all the while i was hearing the noises of lives trying to save one of their own to no avail as they called out the time of death. for a 17 year old want to be athlete with bungling feet . my troubles were small . and such are farm lanes , places for memories,sometimes hard ones .