blade310
Member
That big old two story house we moved into was in Harrison county Ohio. the closest town was Jewett. Harrison county was a far cry from Summit county. To us it was kinda like steppin' into the wilderness. through the summer in Summit county we spent every day in just a pair of cut off jeans. we had close neighbors. Any road that we happened to travel across was paved The hill beside Billy's house was as close to primitive as we got. We had running water,an inside bathroom with toilet and bathtub. we had never heard of a tick or black snake My dad was working at the Rockwell plant in Barberton he was making decent money but to much was going for his drink. Mom told me that when I was really young he had a job at the Goodyear plant in Akron and was making good money but he lost that job because of his drinking. When he lost his job at Rockwell we moved south. we spent a year Outside of a town called Hopedale Ohio. It was in Harrison county. We lived there for a year. A few things happened there but I won't go into them right now. From there we moved about twenty miles away to the old two story house. we had to wear shoes and long pants here. some times we wore a tee shirt, sometimes not.we were always down by the creek or out in the fields or up in the hills. We were always taking ticks off our selves. I had never seen a snake with any size to it in Summit county so the first time I saw a big old black snake I bout crapped myself. We didn't play much with them. There wasn't much of a way to play with them .The little garder/garden snakes we were used to, you could pick up and put them in your pocket or slip them down your brothers jeans. The black snakes stank and were to big and awkward to fool with. We got used to them.They never bothered anyone and were actually pretty cool. we always saw at least one or two on our daily adventures.
we found one smashed on the road down by the creek one day. It had eggs inside it. I swear these things were just like boiled eggs.Rick and I got into a snake egg fight. I was a star pitcher for a little league team the summer before we left Summit county,so I could wing those eggs pretty good. One of the few times I ever bested my brother Rick. ( Mud I'd lay odds that you could toss one of those eggs with the best of 'em.) The little league team I played for was the 'Norton Angels' . That just popped into my mind.
Rick and I explored everyday.We knew that area in every direction. If you stepped on to the dirt road in front of the house and headed off to your right you went up into an area full of strip pits. The coal was all stripped out and things were growing up and becoming over grown. Trees about as big around as the end of a baseball bat were every where. Man the blackberries up in there. The dirt roads up there went in several different directions. Old strip pits every where. If you saw a little,almost grown over,what looked like might have been a road branching off the dirt road,it was sure to lead back to a strip pit. There was one strip pit up there that Rick and I used to swim in. It was about a mile from the house I guess,maybe alittle more. There was always rock slides and parts of what was left of the hill side sliding into the strip pit. I guess we were lucky we didn't drowned. we often cut our feet climbing out of the water on the sharp rocks.
If you headed up this way from the house,the road made a gradual climb for about a half a mile then leveled out. Another half mile or so and on the left was the remains of a road all grown over,and back in there about five or six hundred yards was our strip pit. The neatest thing about this whole area was that there was no one else around. This was our play ground.About two miles further up the dirt road,there was a riffle range. A strip pit had been filled in and there was a steep cliff on either side and at the far end was a big mound of dirt that went from one side to the other. The road curved up and around to the right of the rifle range. we knew this area like the back of our hands too. If you topped that little hill on the road you could walk off the road to the left into a wooded area and come to the cliff over looking the rifle range. we found dozens of those clay pigeons or what ever they are called that are shot out of a machine and you blast them. alot were broke but alot were whole. One of us would toss one up and the other would try to hit it with a rock or dirt ball.
one day Rick and I decided to go swimming. It was before noon but it was already hot,so we headed up the road. I don't know where my younger brothers Don and Mike were.It had rained all day the day before and some into the night and It was hot and humid. By the time we got up to where the road leveled off we had our tee shirts off and I was ready to take a break. off to the right there was about a thirty foot slope and down at the bottom something caught my eye, and I wanted to check it out. Rick thought I was just stallin'. he wanted to get to the strip pit and cool off. but I convinced him to go down there with me. From the road it had looked like a pool of dark water. Actually it was a pool of mud, real sticky stuff. it was about ten feet wide and about twenty feet long. all the rocks and stones and any gravel had been filtered out of it. some how all of this claylike mud had settled right there with absolutely no contamination in it what so ever. I stepped on the edge of it and tried sliding like I was Ice skating and I slipped and fell.Rick laughed and said I was in trouble for getting my pants muddy. I had landed on my butt, and instead of rolling over to my knees and getting my pants muddier I took them off. I took all my clothes off and stood up and tried to run out into the middle and I fell again Rick was laughing out loud as he took all his close off and joined me. that stuff had to be at least four inches thick. It felt really good squishing it between my toes. First we tried to see how fast we could walk without falling. then we started slapping each other with handfuls of it. we had a blast in that stuff. I guess we were in there about fifteen or twenty minutes when one of us got the bright idea to get out and get a good running start and dive in and slide. We could slide almost all the way across it. Well it was good for about another ten minutes but every time we got out and came sliding back in we were bringing in stones and twigs and what ever else our muddy feet would pick up. Finally it was starting to hurt to slide around in there so it came to an end. we grabbed our cloths and got back up on the road and headed for the strip pit. We had put our shoes on to get back up to the road cause of the jagged rocks. We walked better that half a mile naked except for our shoes and a bunch of mud. One car came by while we were walking but we had just turned on to the little over grown road that lead to the strip pit,so we ducked down and the driver didn't notice us.
By the time we got to the water that mud had dried out and it felt like my skin was crackin' off. As I tried to brush some off, it pulled on the hair on my arms. Neither one of us liked swimming in our shoes cause you just couldn't glide around and swim right with them on. We wore them in then took them off and washed them out real good,then tossed them on the bank/rocks. As mud slides go,this one was down right enjoyable. Thanks for readin'
we found one smashed on the road down by the creek one day. It had eggs inside it. I swear these things were just like boiled eggs.Rick and I got into a snake egg fight. I was a star pitcher for a little league team the summer before we left Summit county,so I could wing those eggs pretty good. One of the few times I ever bested my brother Rick. ( Mud I'd lay odds that you could toss one of those eggs with the best of 'em.) The little league team I played for was the 'Norton Angels' . That just popped into my mind.
Rick and I explored everyday.We knew that area in every direction. If you stepped on to the dirt road in front of the house and headed off to your right you went up into an area full of strip pits. The coal was all stripped out and things were growing up and becoming over grown. Trees about as big around as the end of a baseball bat were every where. Man the blackberries up in there. The dirt roads up there went in several different directions. Old strip pits every where. If you saw a little,almost grown over,what looked like might have been a road branching off the dirt road,it was sure to lead back to a strip pit. There was one strip pit up there that Rick and I used to swim in. It was about a mile from the house I guess,maybe alittle more. There was always rock slides and parts of what was left of the hill side sliding into the strip pit. I guess we were lucky we didn't drowned. we often cut our feet climbing out of the water on the sharp rocks.
If you headed up this way from the house,the road made a gradual climb for about a half a mile then leveled out. Another half mile or so and on the left was the remains of a road all grown over,and back in there about five or six hundred yards was our strip pit. The neatest thing about this whole area was that there was no one else around. This was our play ground.About two miles further up the dirt road,there was a riffle range. A strip pit had been filled in and there was a steep cliff on either side and at the far end was a big mound of dirt that went from one side to the other. The road curved up and around to the right of the rifle range. we knew this area like the back of our hands too. If you topped that little hill on the road you could walk off the road to the left into a wooded area and come to the cliff over looking the rifle range. we found dozens of those clay pigeons or what ever they are called that are shot out of a machine and you blast them. alot were broke but alot were whole. One of us would toss one up and the other would try to hit it with a rock or dirt ball.
one day Rick and I decided to go swimming. It was before noon but it was already hot,so we headed up the road. I don't know where my younger brothers Don and Mike were.It had rained all day the day before and some into the night and It was hot and humid. By the time we got up to where the road leveled off we had our tee shirts off and I was ready to take a break. off to the right there was about a thirty foot slope and down at the bottom something caught my eye, and I wanted to check it out. Rick thought I was just stallin'. he wanted to get to the strip pit and cool off. but I convinced him to go down there with me. From the road it had looked like a pool of dark water. Actually it was a pool of mud, real sticky stuff. it was about ten feet wide and about twenty feet long. all the rocks and stones and any gravel had been filtered out of it. some how all of this claylike mud had settled right there with absolutely no contamination in it what so ever. I stepped on the edge of it and tried sliding like I was Ice skating and I slipped and fell.Rick laughed and said I was in trouble for getting my pants muddy. I had landed on my butt, and instead of rolling over to my knees and getting my pants muddier I took them off. I took all my clothes off and stood up and tried to run out into the middle and I fell again Rick was laughing out loud as he took all his close off and joined me. that stuff had to be at least four inches thick. It felt really good squishing it between my toes. First we tried to see how fast we could walk without falling. then we started slapping each other with handfuls of it. we had a blast in that stuff. I guess we were in there about fifteen or twenty minutes when one of us got the bright idea to get out and get a good running start and dive in and slide. We could slide almost all the way across it. Well it was good for about another ten minutes but every time we got out and came sliding back in we were bringing in stones and twigs and what ever else our muddy feet would pick up. Finally it was starting to hurt to slide around in there so it came to an end. we grabbed our cloths and got back up on the road and headed for the strip pit. We had put our shoes on to get back up to the road cause of the jagged rocks. We walked better that half a mile naked except for our shoes and a bunch of mud. One car came by while we were walking but we had just turned on to the little over grown road that lead to the strip pit,so we ducked down and the driver didn't notice us.
By the time we got to the water that mud had dried out and it felt like my skin was crackin' off. As I tried to brush some off, it pulled on the hair on my arms. Neither one of us liked swimming in our shoes cause you just couldn't glide around and swim right with them on. We wore them in then took them off and washed them out real good,then tossed them on the bank/rocks. As mud slides go,this one was down right enjoyable. Thanks for readin'
