We did not have a creek on our farm, but Uncle Isaac and Aunt Myrtle Arnold, mom's sister did. They called it a crick while we pronounced it creek. The Arnold’s lived to our southwest about 3 miles. That was the place where Lila and I always got our worst sunburns of the summer. We played in the creek while mama and Aunt Myrtle visited in the house just a few yards away. Sometimes, we got sunburned then a repeat sunburn just a couple of weeks apart! We thought if we played in the shade we would not burn, but we were wrong. The reflection of the sun upon the water did the painful deed. After we received a bad burn, mama would always say "I told you so!”. We tried hard not to complain too much. I remember the agony of the first night sleeping with those burns. My sunburns always blistered and my freckles just turned another shade of brown. I despised those ugly brown spots anyway! Mama soaked a white flour sack dishtowel in a strong vinegar and water solution in our wash pan. Then, she placed it on the worst of our burns, which was usually on our backs. The vinegar made it sting in places, but she advised us that after the vinegar took the "fire" out, we would not hurt so badly. When the soaked cloth felt warm to our skin, we put it back into the cool vinegar solution again and repeated the procedure. Even today, when I smell vinegar, it brings back the memories of those bad sunburns of so long ago. I always had the idea that we could make a little pond by damming up the creek. One day when we visited our cousins, we implemented the idea. I was the construction boss, and Lila and our twin cousins, Jean and Joan, were my construction workers. I did my share of digging too, but I was the boss! By the time we got our dam made, we only played a while as it was time to go home. The next time we visited, our little pond was washed away. I had dreamed of our new little pond being crystal clear like the stream that ran across the Arnold farm, but what we stirred up making the dam, was a big puddle of murky red water. We did make the best of it and played in the muddy water anyway. We made a lot of wonderful memories in that little sandy bottomed creek.

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Created December 26, 2020

Updated: 14 June, 2021

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