My mother-in-law was a nervous woman.\u00a0 It was no wonder.\u00a0 She gave birth to six children in an eleven year period.\u00a0 Her second son, Gene, and my husband, Ken, who was born four years later, did their share of mischief to cause her anxiety.\u00a0 To say they were creative in finding things to do is an understatement.\u00a0 They definitely possessed active imaginations.<\/p>\n
One of Ken\u2019s earliest memories is of flying through the air and then waking to see his mother\u2019s face looking down at him.\u00a0 Gene recalls that she was screaming at him, \u201cYou have killed my baby.\u201d\u00a0 The children had been to the circus and the boys were attempting to do a stunt they had seen.\u00a0 The acrobatics looked easy.\u00a0 They got a 2×12 board, centered it on a sawhorse and placed it near the chicken house. \u00a0The plan was for Ken to stand on one end of the board and for Gene to jump off the chicken house onto the other end. \u00a0Ken was then supposed to do a midair somersault and land on his feet.\u00a0 All went as planned until Ken started upward. The last thing that he remembers as he flew up was his knees hitting his chin with great force. \u00a0Everything went black at that point.\u00a0 He did not land on his feet.\u00a0 He said that he literally saw stars as he lost consciousness.<\/p>\n
Gene had done\u00a0something even more dangerous before Ken was old enough to be his sidekick. Their Dad had an old car sitting on blocks in the barn.\u00a0 There was a belt connected to the back axle and it was used to run a power saw.\u00a0 Somehow Gene got a hose and siphoned gas out of the car.\u00a0 No one ever knew why he decided to attempt this other than that it might be fun.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t do it right and swallowed some gas.\u00a0 He lost consciousness. Fortunately, his little sister was with him and ran for their mother.\u00a0 Their mom somehow got him to vomit it up.\u00a0 I can only imagine the anxiety that this caused her.<\/p>\n
The family lived in Ada, Oklahoma, when the children were young.\u00a0 Their Dad worked for the Frisco Railroad as a fireman.\u00a0 The tracks were a short distance behind their house.\u00a0 The switching yard was close by. \u00a0They freight trains moved slowly as they left the switch yard.\u00a0 The boys would grab a bar on the side of a freight car and climb the ladder to the top.\u00a0 There was a walkway down the center of the cars at the top.\u00a0 They would walk along the top jumping from one car to the next.\u00a0 There was a cement plant about five or six miles outside of town.\u00a0 \u00a0When the train reached the plant, they would jump off and roll as they hit the ground.\u00a0 They would play around the cement plant until the next freight train came by going toward town.\u00a0 They would pick a car and hop it back home.\u00a0 The train would be going faster in that direction so they had to be quicker getting on and getting off behind their house. They didn\u2019t try passenger trains as they went too fast and had no rails on the sides to grab.\u00a0 This was a great pastime until they happened to hop a train their Dad was working on.\u00a0 He saw them get on as the train went toward town, but he could do nothing until he got off work.\u00a0 They both distinctly remember literally being yanked out of bed when he got home at 11 PM. \u00a0His form of behavior modification was to apply a belt to their backsides.\u00a0 They ceased hopping freight trains after that.<\/p>\n
There was a livery stable in Ada.\u00a0 The horses and mules were kept in a pen.\u00a0 The boys would sit quietly on the fence, pick an animal close to the fence, jump onto its\u2019 back, and hang on.\u00a0 The animal would start pitching and this would cause the other animals in the enclosure to start moving around.\u00a0 They would hang on as long as they could, hit the ground, dust themselves off, and get back on top of the fence and do it again.\u00a0 They were oblivious to the danger of being trampled by the excited animals.\u00a0 Their guardian angels were probably overworked.<\/p>\n
There was a rope swing on a large tree beside a creek not too far from their house. The creek bottom and the banks were very rocky.\u00a0 They were not to go swimming without an adult.\u00a0 This rule did not matter to them.\u00a0 For years they would swing out over the rocks and drop into the creek.\u00a0 They never got hurt or got caught disobeying<\/p>\n
Not everything they did was dangerous.\u00a0 Some things were just mischievous.\u00a0 There was a neighbor who felt it was her duty to call their mother and report any misdeed she observed.\u00a0 She kept the phone line busy a great deal of the time. The boys did not appreciate her help.\u00a0 The family had a milk cow.\u00a0 They carefully put two fresh cow patties into a paper sack.\u00a0 They quietly put this present on the lady\u2019s porch, struck a match to the paper bag, knocked loudly, and raced to a ditch across the road.\u00a0 She could not see them in the ditch.\u00a0 By the time she had stomped out the fire, they were long gone.<\/p>\n
There were fun times as well.\u00a0 The circus came to town once a year.\u00a0 They boys would help drive stakes for the tent ropes and do other chores as the circus set up.\u00a0 They were given free tickets for their work. \u00a0The circus unloaded on a siding near their house.\u00a0 The elephants were used to pull the wagons carrying the other animals and equipment.\u00a0 Ken was sitting on top of the section house one day watching them unload.\u00a0 The section houses were small sheds used to store hand cars and rail repair tools. They were about \u201celephant high.\u201d\u00a0 One of the handlers asked Ken if he would like to ride the elephant. Of course he would like that. \u00a0The handler brought the elephant alongside the section house and Ken jumped over behind the handler.\u00a0 Riding an elephant was very exciting for a little boy.<\/p>\n
Learning to smoke was another adventure.\u00a0 Ken had a dime and Gene and their oldest brother had a nickel.\u00a0 They bought two cigars for fifteen cents.\u00a0 To be fair since he had furnished the most money, his brothers gave Ken one cigar and they split the other one. \u00a0They also told him how he should smoke it.\u00a0 He was told to bite off the end, chew the tobacco and swallow it.\u00a0 He got deathly sick and decided he wouldn\u2019t smoke any more cigars.<\/p>\n
Their grandfather smoked a pipe.\u00a0 He never cleaned it.\u00a0 Ken sneaked it out of the pipe stand one day when his grandfather was at work.\u00a0 He took it near the barn, leaned back under the shade of some trees and prepared to have a leisurely smoke.\u00a0 He tamped down the tobacco, lit the pipe and took a big draw.\u00a0 He said the trees began to spin so he decided to give up pipe smoking too.<\/p>\n
There is an old expression that God looks after fools and little children.\u00a0 An appropriate addition might be that he also looks after their mothers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My mother-in-law was a nervous woman. It was no wonder. She gave birth to six children in an eleven year period. Her second son, Gene, and my husband, Ken, who was born four years later, did their share of mischief to cause her anxiety. To say they were creative in finding things to do is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-pioneer-man"],"yoast_head":"\n