Weekends

  Weekends. (chores) Aside from collecting money for the paper…..my weekends were full. First there were the chores around the yard. We had a huge yard……..and it had to be maintained. There were 6 kids, 3 lawnmowers about 3 or 4 snow shovels (which we also used for scooping apples). We complained about chores, but we really didn’t mind it. The grass had to be cut, the apples had to be picked up first though, we had to rake, and trim…lift, wheelbarrow, and garden, it never ended. There was always a smoldering fire in the back yard, burning leaves and so on, I love that smell still today, there always seemed to be an Argo game on the radio, which I loved, we horsed around, beat each other up, worked, fought, laughed and always felt good. Funny thing….as we got older we figured out that if we did chores on Sunday we could get out of going to church (like Dad) – he figured that out a long time ago…..so on Sunday if I knew that church was in my future plans, I would volunteer for chores. (we all did) (Mom didn’t like that plan).
-        Weekends (no chores) – There was a lot to do on the weekends. What to do first? That was the thing. We had options. Backyard lacrosse game, touch/tackle football at the park. We needed anywhere from 2 to infinity players to have a decent game, because no matter how many guys, we could think of a game, or competition. It was all about the competition. We had no time limit….we played until we were done. Very Simple. It was the same as road hockey, lacrosse, ice hockey etc…..no matter the game, no matter the numbers, we would make it work.
-        As for food on the weekends, we really never had a solid plan, but we ate very well. It was just a factor of whose house was closest when we were hungry, and that’s where we went. Sometimes we could score two lunches……stop at one place around 11:30 and get lunch from his Mom, and up to somebody else’s around 1:00 pm, and it his Mom said “are you guys hungry? Who were we to say no, it would be impolite. Those two meals would push us deep into the day…..other than the odd visit to Charlie’s Variety, we were good until supper.
Next - My backyard.