Sweet Sweet Summertime In Lockford

Besides the Texas heat, I have been noticing the signs of summer.  And of course it reminds me of the good ole days!

When I was in the second grade, we lived on 2 different ranches in Lockford, CA right outside of Lodi.  I have spoken of this place before.  I am going to talk about summertime in Lockford.

When you think of summer, one of the first things that comes to mind is swimming!  I remember taking swimming lessons while living in Lockford.  We, my sister Sue and I embarked on a bus daily for at least a week.  Lil' sis was too young to go with.  That was before they gave babies and toddlers swimming lessons.  I know that I already knew how to swim to some degree, but of course with this I got much better!  And we had so much fun, I liked my instructor, but you know what?  Any excuse to play in the water, I would take it! 

Remember the forbidden pond when I was five!  The one with water moccasins!  Wow what risks we took!  Anytime I griped at my kids and told them I was only thinking of their safety, why didn't they mind me?  I must think back in time to the days of boundless curiosity and imagination of my own childhood.  I don't why we did that!  We're just kids!!!!

Moving on, this was a small town with a lot of country surrounding it.  We lived in a house on a ranch by a main road, probably farm to market road.  We lived about a mile from town in this home.  We had friends that lived a bit aways, also in the country on the outskirts of town.  They had a creek behind their home.  Big enough to have a great swimming hole!

Sue and I would actually don our suits grab a towel and walk that road towards the town and then dogleg over to our friends house without actually going into town.  A bunch of us kids met there at the swimming hole creek to swim and play for hours.  Now good grief, yet another example of the difference between then and now.  The parental person was at the nearby house, but not actually life-guarding us at the creek.  It was so much fun!  A bunch of kids swimming, climbing up on the rocks and jumping off.  Laughing, splashing and having a great old time.

Now, we had our time limit and somehow we knew when to start home!  I am sure I am not alone when I say, you better be back home when you are told or wow, you were in big trouble!  And grounded from going back for awhile...  Thus the beginning of my "I would rather be beat than grounded" mentality!  I didn't want to miss one minute of fun with my friends!

Sue and I would take out walking back home.  By this time the road, the asphalt was seriously hot!  Ok, we were country kids!  No shoes?  No, we weren't wearing shoes, we were in our bathing suits and carrying a towel.  So feet very hot, we would 1, 2, 3 run!  And every so often we would say "stop!"  Throwing down our towel onto the pavement, we would stand on the towels to cool off our feet for a few minutes!  Not really cool, but off the asphalt!  Then we would 1, 2, 3 it again and take off running.  Now that was exercise!

This is yet again a town of many stories, the amazing fun we had as children in the land of ranches, making toys out of the landscape and buildings and just plain using our imagination to the fullest.

Stories that may come out of this place of our living, some I may have already mentioned:
Pepper seeds are the hottest!  Listen to your mother!
Getting lost in the cornfield and why does the cattle keep surrounding me!
Mommy my ponytail is too tight!
House burned while we were gone.
I thought the kitties needed that!
Frog and the dove in the middle of the night.
If you haven't yet choose my link to "Moody Stories" to read older posts like this one!

There were many fun times at the swimming holes and pools in my childhood in many different places.  I will have to tell you about them sometime.  I really think sometimes that I wish children of this day could experience those lazy days of summer that I knew as a child.  Worry free abandonment, imagination galore, seemingly endless places we made our playground and hours upon hours of laughing, smiling and guilt free fun.

There is something very memorable about "you hear my whistle and you better drop everything and hi-tail it back home - if I have to come find you.....!"

I got to raise my kids like that for the better part of their childhood and they have the same reminiscent feelings about it as I do.

I love it!

Be Happy People - enjoy your Sweet Sweet Summertime!

(I will complain about air conditioning and electric bills later!)