High School

In high school I was just there. I wasn’t popular and I wasn’t outcast. I just was. Unlike Buffy and the gang, or any teenager in a Stephen King novel, high school wasn’t hell for me. I had my friends that I hung out with, a few dates, and attended a few dances. My high school life was fairly boring.

I never played sports except in P.E. class; I spent my extracurricular activities doing reporting and page layout for the school newspaper, the Equus. I had a lot of fun doing it. I remember my teacher Mr. Riley, a good guy even if his breath stank of coffee and cigarettes. Those classes were where I was first introduced to Apple computers (System 7!) and I have used and loved them ever since.

It was only about two weeks after I graduated that my mom and I moved to Alabama. I lost touch with a majority of friends. But through Facebook, that social wonder, I have found a few old classmates. One classmate moved to the Ukraine and another has moved to Japan. I can’t believe that out of a graduating class of 230 that at least three of us would move overseas. What are the odds?

I have good memories of high school. How about you, readers? Wish to share?

The Smells Of My Childhood

I grew up in Wyoming. My dad always had various jobs, he never held one for very long, but almost all of them dealt with the outdoors. While I may be a geek and SF fan and an indoors person, the smells I associate most with growing up is hay, horse manure, and sage brush.

As I stated in a previous post, my family as always had animals of some sort. Often they involved horses. I remember helping my dad toss bales of hay off the back of a truck to feed the cows and horses at Standing Star Ranch. I use to climb stacks of hay. I always hated how it got absolutely everywhere: in your hair, down your shirt, stuck in your boots and socks. Only a change of clothes and a shower got rid of it.

Along with all the animals comes all the stuff animals leave behind. I remember being in the Fourth of July parade in my hometown. The group I was with walked down Main Street, waving to the crowd and feeling pretty special. We were in the parade! The group before us were riding horses. And when they had to go, they had to go. Not the best position to be in for a parade.

Wyoming isn’t exactly known for its rolling green hills. Mountains? Yes. Snow-covered ski slopes? Those too. Grass? Not really. But it does have a lot of sagebrush. Beautiful in its own way, sagebrush has a distance smell. It’s one I’ve always enjoyed. I like the smell of sage-scented candles. It’s nostalgic for me. But I know it isn’t for everyone. To me, I get images of wide plains, blue skies, wild animals, and a sense of peace whenever I smell sagebrush. I may be an indoor person, but I understand the lure of the outdoors.

Are there any smells that take you back to your childhood? As always, thanks for reading.

Memories Of Home

When you think of the home you grew up in, what is one memory that really stands out? I grew up in Wyoming and we moved. A lot. I bet I moved about six times in a fifteen year period. Most of it was within the same 50-mile area, around the town of Cody. No, I wasn’t named after the town. It’s just a coincidence. My parents really like the name.

Anyway, I lived in a lot of different houses, and sometimes, mobile homes. Some were large, some were small. I remember one of our houses had a small church attached to it and we had Sunday Service at our house every week. A very nice lady would bring me the latest issue of the Thundercats magazine when it came out.

I have warm memories of every house I grew up in, but if there was one constant (besides my parents) it was pets. As long as I can remember I have always had animals, usually cats and dogs. We rarely had more than three; most often it was two. When we lived on larger acreage, we also had rabbits, pigs, geese, and horses. I specifically remember coming home from school when I was in the first grade, changing clothes, and going out into the pen to chase the pigs. It was so much fun.

When we lived on the North Fork, we had horses. Dad’s was named Sparky and mine was Trigger. We had them for quite a while. When they weren’t at home, they were being used as guide horses when my dad took tourists out for overnight camping as part of his job at various campgrounds. After dad left, it was too much for just mom and I to take care of them so we had to sell them.

We never bought our cats and dogs from pet stores or shelters. Almost all of ours were strays or ones friends gave us. We occasionally kept the kittens and puppies our animals gave birth to, but we never tried to have more than three pets at a time.

When I moved to Japan, it was the first time I could remember not having a pet. It has been difficult the past six years and I am so happy to have Coco now. She is a purebred Norwegian forest cat. She’s the first purebred cat I remember having.

How about you, readers? What do remember most about your home? Comment below and thanks for reading.