Karen's Memories of the Huntington House

I decided not to read all of your blog entry, Kacie, until after I wrote this. If we have duplicates, that's why.

Your pictures made me miss our old house. I'm sure the sentimental song helped. Nice!

Here's what I remember most (right this second). I'll do it alphabetically, in honor of Ty's favorite book, "Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life".

A. Ant hill: There was one ant hill which I spend hours trying to destroy. I don't remember who helped me (probably Kris). We would step all over it, build traps (which featured a half-eaten peach, Popsicle sticks & a water-filled Cool Whip bowl). I bet that hill is still there. Go on with your bad selves anties.

B. Bathroom: Going to the bathroom together. If we needed to poo (sorry, for being so foul, I mean poop, of course), we didn't want to be alone. There are only so many times you can read the shampoo & conditioner bottles. That's still true. Luckily for Micah, I have a bunch of magazines here.

C. Coal: Carrying coal down to fill the Stokermatic & cleaning out the "clinkers". I never peed on them like some people. . .

D. Dog: slamming one dog's head in our front door after it chased me into our house. Running over the Avery's dog, Gizmo, with my bike. (I'm sorry you nasty little fellow). Running in circles screaming while the (Ward's?) dog chased me until Dad came running & saved me (Thanks, Dad!), Finding a stray dog in the fields and "buying" it a bag of dog food on credit at the Mill (Sorry, Dad).

E. Earthquake: Being in an earthquake in our house when I was 10. At the time, I wished it would happen again. It was like a giant ride.

F. Fence: Putting a sock on the fence with Amy & Joan each time we started a new school. We couldn't believe that they were still there whenever it had been a while since we had seen them.

G. Graveyard: Remember that year there was some "devil-worshiper" rumor & a bunch of kids didn't go to school, but we did, even though we lived right there.

H. Huts: "The fields" was the perfect place for a hut. I'm pretty sure I built a new one every week.

I. I love Jairus: Writing that on the water towers out in the fields with the tar chunks. It's like those tar chunks were sent to us by an angel (I guess it was the angel of vandalism).

J. Junior High: Walking home from school with Amy, Joan, Charlene, Marcey, Shaffryn, Alayna & being chased by Mr. Arnold b/c he thought we were ditching. The thought of us ditching was just hilarious to us.

K. Kristy & Kimberly Yougart. I was so jealous of their names. They were cuter than Karen & still worked with the K tradition.

L. Lisa & Lori. The names LeAnn always wanted to give us when we were playing house. So wrong! Kristy & Kimberly were WAY better! Duh, LeAnn!

M. Making cookie dough as a snack for Kacie when mom wasn't home.

N. Never imagining that my "creative stupidity" would come back to bite me in the butt so hard.

O. Old Crap: I raced Shawn out in the fields & the stopping point was this old trailer. I won, but hurt myself on an old nail sticking out of the trailer.

P. Pool: Our own private swimming pool the summer it rained so hard & the water stayed in that dip out in the fields.

Q. Quit: I quit babysitting b/c I just couldn't stand Chandler Pearson & Jared Jenson any more.

R. Rocks: Picking rocks out of the garden for hours & hours.

S. Sledding down the "big hill".

T. Trampoline: Taking a nap outside under the little trampoline (propped up on its side) when I was supposed to be mowing the lawn & waking up to it hitting me in the face. Karma.

U. Ugly: Thinking I was really cute & realizing the truth years later.

V. Volunteer: Volunteering to help Shawn Corbridge help his dad load up broken rocks & cement from their driveway, secretly hoping his dad would pay me.

W. Walking to 7-11 to buy candy & Slurpees. (at least then I was walking it off--sleeping it off doesn't seem to work as well).

X. X Marks the spot: Playing with lizards & bugs we would find until they died & then burying them & having a funeral. "Here lies our beloved lizard, Larry, who was our best, but not hearty, tailless reptilian friend."

Y. Why: Why wasn't I a reader?

Z. ZZZZZZZZ Sneaking outside in the middle of the night to sleep in the club house by myself. The genius never ends.