By Kenny Magee
(Pictured is my cousin Rex riding Patsy)
David, have you noticed that my shirt is a little green? My cousin Rex promised that if I'd bite the woodshed my shirt would definitely turn green. I think it's happening! When I go back and bite it again, wouldn't you like to try it too? You have to be careful where you crunch down so as not to get slivers in your mouth.
Before I take you up to see the froggy pond you should twist your suspenders like mine so you don't get hit by lightning. My cousin Gene does that and he hasn't been hit yet. You can learn lots of facts if you just listen.
As we go up there you will have to get down low like this and sneak along. That's the way to do it. Watch the molehills for animal tracks, and if we see the leavings of a fox or a coon, we'll just pause a bit to see what it's been eating lately.
Now raise your head easy, look careful, and be sure to talk in a whisper.
See over by the far bank! There's an old green and yellow turtle with letters painted on his back. He's been here a long time.
And over along the side by the Parrot's Feather is a muskrat eating some grass. Its jaws sure wiggle fast.
Did you see the water dimple in the center of the pond? The duckweed makes it hard to see, but it was a water dog coming up for air. The only good I can figure out for water dogs is that they are nice and slimy and perfect for chasing girls.
Look! Way at the far end of the pool in the swamp grass. A Mallard! Mom and Dad will sure like to know about that duck.
Let's just hunker back easy and follow the crick down the slope a bit. I've got a lot more to show you.
See that little sandbar in the eddy by the rock, and the little grayish-blue streak along the upper side? That's iron! We're figuring out some ways to collect it. May start an iron selling business. Magnets should be the answer. Do you think some of those old ones from the Model T magneto would do it?
This bridge is one of our best. We've got good support on both ends with dirt and rocks, and those two planks are just right for walking on; or riding a hazelnut switch horse over. With a little more work I think it would hold a car. We've got to remember to take this hammer in before it gets rained on again. You can pick it up later.
There was a lot of water behind this dam, but it's gone now. We'll have to figure out how to make a better spillway that doesn't wash out so easy. I know we can make cement ones by mixing some ashes with mud and letting it dry. We can find plenty of ashes right over there where we burned an old brush pile. Then we'll put in a series of dams with fish ladders and start a huge spawning run of big trout from the fish pond down below.
(Unless Mom's cousin, Gene Wheeler, comes by on the Fourth of July. He and his burros spend all their time up in the mountains looking for gold. He may be rich by now. He likes to set off firecrackers with us and we might just dynamite this dam up as high as the cottonwood!)
Do you see, David, how the crick goes under the roadway coming from the woodshed? It then jumps out of its tile mouth right into the fishpond below. I'll tell you about this pond in a bit.
Let's run into the house and see if there's any of Aunt Mary's huckleberry pie left. There might be some burnt toast too. My cousin Rex says, "If you eat plenty of burnt toast it will make your whiskers grow." Maybe there will be some coffee left. We will have to be sort of sneaky about that. My cousin Gene says, "If you drink too much coffee your knees will turn brown." So far it always washes off on Saturday nights - if I scrub hard.