My take on Backkyard Discoveries

This is my first response to the memories that were posted by my kids and grand kids in the blog Lynea set up for me "Marv's Memories" at Christmas 2008. I am a novice blogger and not quite sure if this is a honest way of communicating. Perhaps I will gain confidence and maybe even learn something in the process.

I will first respond to Bryce's blog "Backyard Discoveries".
The year we moved to Logan, Bryce entered Junior High. Lynea and Terry were still in grade school. We didn't have a easy time finding a home or selling the one in Pocatello. When the house in Pocatello sold we made a wild offer on this house thinking it was unlikely it would be accepted. When it was accepted we were shocked and started to look at just what we had bought. It was a jungle, the yard was over grown and unkempt. The house needed a lot of fixing up, painting and everything else. Our intentions were good but I had back surgery that first summer and then it was just one crisis after another for several years.

We brought down the canal water, using the discovery method along with some trial and error. I think we just flooded the basement twice before learning what had to be done to water the lawn and garden yet not the house. The water was just a cold as Bryce describes and with the thorn bushes in back it was not smart to run through the water on the lawn in bare feet. As bushes were removed and things trimmed back ,the next project was that beautifull white fence that surrounded the yard. That fence has been a work in progress for the last 38 years. It must be painted at least every other year and often each year. It was made out of ruff cut boards that can suck up more paint than you can ever smear on and then it blisters and peals off the moment you are through painting. I always thought the fence would rot out and fall down in a few years, but that hasn't happened. I am sill scraping, fighting to get behind bushes and painting and repainting. Once it's newly painted it looks great for a month, then you start at it again. Nothing has helped much. Spray painting is a disaster. Power sanders are almost as much work as doing it by hand.

The lesson Bryce wants you all to know is how tough he and Terry had it. Work, work, work. Standing in freezing water and pulling out thorns from feet and hands. And he did not exaggerate. It was a life almost too good for kids. Some of the best times were when, this life of depravity and toil, was shared with cousins and friends. I think that made it all worth it. The trips up the canyon on the Hondas, the pickup camper and the nights we went up for a camp fire and to sleep in the camper. Skiing, boating etc. all had to be sandwiches in between the riggers of keeping up the house and yard..
You know it hasn't changed. The toil, anguish and other pressures to keep up the yard has made me old and decrepit. But you know I think all in all it was worth it because the good memories and fantastic time together were made more vivid.