Friday, March 31, 2017



My Journey Through Childhood


The Early Days

To understand where I am and where I might be going in my life, you must
first understand where I came from. From my earliest memory, I have been
on the move. I have always been running, jumping, hopping, talking and
moving. My summer days were never spent in the house because if I ever
said I was bored my mom would have put me to work.

I felt like I lived in the middle of nowhere. We had no neighbor kids to play
with, no local park, community swimming pool or game room. Instead, we
had 6 siblings, my grandparent’s ranch, the now vacant old golf course with
hundreds of wooded acres, the creek to swim in and our game room was
nature’s gigantic offering of trees, deep grass and old animal trails that were
certainly once used by Indians, pilgrims, cowboys and old mountain men.

We would go fishing at least once a week. Our walk took us down Soldier
Creek. We climbed over rocks, swung on grapevines, hunted for gold and
fought many battles against great warriors. An old stick made a great gun,
sword and walking cane. In late summer we ate blackberries along the creek
banks and there were ALWAYS cherry tomatoes, peas, radishes, corn  and so much more hiding in grandpa’s garden.

As summer rolled into fall, there were berry picking trips for canning day,
woodcutting at the ranch with the Jardines, cows to milk, eggs to collect and
animals to butcher for the freezer. Grandpa saw to it we had lamb, beef and
homemade butter while mom and dad saw to the eggs, rabbit meat, pork
and whatever animal was hunted for that year,

Winters were spent listening to mom read late at night by the fire. We
traveled across the country with Pa and Ma Ingalls; we were educated by
Little Tree, lived on islands in the mountains and under the sea. All this just in the stories mom read to us those long cold nights. At night we listened to the mountain lions and coyotes outside our door and knew we were safe as Dad was always close by.

When the rain stopped and spring came, life started again with baby lambs,
calves and pony rides. The best games were the ones we made up all by our
little ol’ selves. I remember one day we were playing cowboy and my lasso was an old yellow rope and my wild mustang was the family pony. I remember the first time I finally roped that thing around the neck. He was on a full run and just as I yelled “I got one,” the rope hit the end and off I sailed in the air. I can still see the look on my brother George’s face. It was a look of “why did the idiot not let go?” I realized my error and finally let go only after being drug through the whole yard and half way through my grandparent’s field.

When the blue birds stopped flying in my noggin, I could hear George saying
“Why didn’t you let go?” To which I replied “I did! Just not as soon as I should
have.” I think I was 10 years old and may be that was my first concussion
but I will never know because we then had to catch the pony to remove the
lasso.

There were movie nights at the Up Town Theater in downtown Sonora. We
got our burgers at the Jimtown Frosty and Fosters Freeze. I remember getting pizza at the Pick and then Jan Darone would enter my life and pizza was at Mountain Steamer Pizza which was also the place of my first job.

My parents enrolled us in 4-H in 1974 and today, some 42 years later, I am
still enrolled. I raised pigs with people like the Wittmans, Kirkwoods and
Moyles. The best times were at the Mother Lode Fair showing our rabbits,
pigs and an occasional lamb. I never won many awards but we had so much
fun. I still remember the year we hauled the pigs to the fair in the back of a
station wagon. Yup, that is a story for a different Blog.

I still remember the year the rodeo came to the fair. I was having a giggling
contest with Mary Macon (Lopez) late one night and we saw a gigantic bull
running through the barns. There were cowboys chasing it, trying to rope it
and I thought heck I have done that before. That is when I realized the bull
had a lasso around its neck. I walked over and picked up the lasso this time I
was smart enough to NOT hold onto the rope. I handed it to one of the
cowboys that was chasing the bull and I said “Good Luck! If he runs let go.”

Looking back I must say it was peaches. I had the best of everything. Life
was great. I also realize we had it hard but who didn’t? It was the 1970’s in
Tuolumne County and unemployment was high and the world was an
interesting place. But I have a secret. God had blessed me with the best life
EVER! I was being raised in what I would later realize was the best
community in the world, I was going to school with people that would
become my lifelong friends. Friends that  continue to love and support me as I travel on "My Journey".

14 comments:

  1. Cute picture! I love this <3 First thing I read this morning, put a smile on my face... :)

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  2. Love hearing your story Ronnie!

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  3. Love your blog! Well written and fun!

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  4. I remember so much of that, even the bull running through the barns. Those were some good times, not to mention some of the best times! 😉

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  5. Following along through my Feedly app. Such great memories. Precious.

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  6. You are a great writer! I remember those 4-H and fair days. Back then, I didn't know how great I had it. Much love to you, my friend!!

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  7. Smiling from ear to ear. Thanks for sharing. 😊👏🏻

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  8. I remember the bull at the fair and showing pigs! Now my daughter is,raising and showing her own pigs!

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  9. looking forward to following your blog. Good times at the Mother Lode Fair !!!

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  10. I had the best time in 4H and at the fair. Thanks for sharing your wonderful menories.

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  11. Such precious and wonderful memories. Thanks for making me laugh and reflect on my own memories so similar to yours. ❤️

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  12. Great story, looking forward to more 💙 Sonora was the best place to grow up!

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  13. We had such family memories.. The worm Farm!! Lol

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