organized chaos

Geez a Pete, has it been a week already?  I must be stuck in a time vortex, because every week seems to go faster and faster.

Anyway, here ya go, East Texas fans.  As usual, here are the links to the rest:

#0, #1, #2, #3

All Kids Should Only Have Three TV Channels

The lake stood, understandably, out in the middle of nowhere, miles from the nearest town. Reception for the television barely existed. If we watched anything, it was fuzzy. Oddly enough, I did have my favorite shows that I watched faithfully and could recite time and channels for even the shows I didn’t watch. My mind just worked like that. In fact, most of my imaginary friends which I did talk to until a very unusual age came from shows like “Happy Days”, “Growing Pains”, “Starman”, and many other swell eighties shows.

However, I am convinced that had we more channels and choices, we wouldn’t have come up with some of the exciting pastimes that we made up. The first that comes to mind was a little something we called “Butt-Butt.” To play this we took our dog, Bo, a large beagle mix, out to the merry-go-round, and when we really got that thing spinning, we’d grab hold of the bars and hang our behinds off the edge as we spun. The dog couldn’t resist the temptation, and would chase us around the apparatus, trying to bite our butts. Yes, the adults knew we played this. Everyone enjoyed either playing Butt-Butt or cheering on the participants.

Another fun thing was Let’s Rescue Mitch From the Top of the Tree. My little brother had a thing for danger and frequently had accidents such as biting thermometers in half, countless goose eggs on his head complete with concussions, and climbing trees way too high. One time, he couldn’t have been more than five or six when I came into the front yard and there he swung from the top of a mature tree. He didn’t seem scared until I got my mom out there, and let me tell you, she scared him right out of that tree.

Babysitting snakes was something I doubt we would’ve had time for if we’d had multiple TV choices. One afternoon some friends and I were playing on the other side of the creek, and Donnie happened to be there. We soon realized we weren’t alone. A large dangerous water snake of some kind lay quietly by the bottom of a nearby tree. The

snake had to have been five or six feet long and so thick I’m sure my kid sized hand would not have fit around him. Apparently Donnie thought better of trying the Rubber Finger on the reptile, because he turned to us and said,

“You stay here and watch him while I go get my gun.” And he took off.

We stood there, on the brink of peeing our pants and watched. I wonder what we would’ve done had the snake moved back toward the creek or worse, moved toward us. Donnie did get back in time and then we ran off as he shot the snake’s head off.

Many things went on at what we called The Pavilion. A couple years into our living at the lake, the company decided to build a large structure so guests could have a gathering place for parties, picnics, drunken square dances and the like. The shelter sported a large, smooth concrete slab and at one end a raised concrete stage complete with colored spot lights and electrical outlets. Perfect for a rising Roller Skating star. I moved the picnic tables to the edge, plugged my tape player into the stage outlet, and popped in my tape of recorded songs from the radio station. I spent most of the off season honing my skating skills. I had no audience and that’s the way I liked it. While Whitney Houston crooned, “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” I whirled around, skated backward, tried my luck at turning in the air and landing the other way. Of course my legs were bruised with my progress as a skating queen. And sometimes when I really felt like the next big thing, I slipped into my orange and yellow satin shorts and tank top, then

completed the outfit with red wool tights. If you can picture a long skinny stick with blonde frizzy hair dressed in shiny clothes and white roller skates, then you’ve pictured me at age ten.

So who needs a high cable bill? Just pack up the kiddos and head down to East Texas. With a little imagination, a whole new world of family friendly activities will be open to you.