Sometimes the fallen leaves would clog up the storm drains along the street in our hometown of Akron, PA. When there was a heavy rain, we kids would walk in the gutters to see how deep the water was, trying not to have the water go over our 4-buckle boots. It usually did.
Along about November, I loved to visit my cousin Glenn who lived near Ephrata, PA. We would play in the woods near his house, gathering up huge piles of leaves. One time we made a fort out of fence rails, including a roof. The next time I visited we went in our fort and found some snakes who also liked our fort. Needless to say, we abandoned the fort.
I remember a Sunday afternoon when the Peter Rutt family visited us in Akron. Pete and Dad took us children for a long hike in the woods along the trolley track just north of town. We must have hiked for a number of miles that afternoon. It was the only time that I can recall we ever did anything like that with Dad. I always treasured that day.
It was on October 15, 1954 that Hazel, a deadly hurricane moved up through the Carolinas and passed directly over Lancaster County, PA. Although it was no longer deadly, it had some rather powerful winds. I was at work in Ephrata. Suddenly the wind stopped. The eye was passing over us. I quickly jumped in my 1948 Ford and made a beeline home to Akron. It took me about 10 minutes to get home. Just as I got inside the door, the other side of the hurricane hit. I was lucky to have made it home during the lull in the storm. The next day I drove to Landisville to pick up my fiance to go to a wedding of a friend. When I arrived at her house, there were limbs down all over her yard.
Mary and I did a lot of camping when our kids were still at home. There was a weekend when we went to Camp Swatara in the Blue Mountains and camped with the Roy Garland family. We had a great time that weekend. We spent a lot of time sitting around the campfire because it was getting rather chilly.
I was an avid gardener for many years. After the apples were brought in and the last of the fall vegetables were harvested, I would put the garden to bed. I used the mower to cut down all the remaining vegetation. Then I would haul in several pickup truck loads of horse manure and distribute it on the garden. All winter it would lie there under the snow and rot. In the spring after the ground dried off, I would plow it all under. Not only did I get a good crop of vegetables the next year, but horse manure is full of weed seeds. So, I had to deal with the weeds.
Now that I am retired and live at Brethren Village here in Lancaster County, I no longer play in the leaves, or rake leaves. I do not go camping and I do not make a garden. I enjoy taking pictures of the fall foliage and watching the maintenance people clean up the flower beds and the leaves. When you are old, that's what you do when autumn arrives.
Gosh, I dread winter. I am already looking forward to spring.
