Our Little Town

Anderson, Missouri
(1993-2003)
...

I remember thinking we lucked out...just minutes from town and yet so secluded. We could afford being a wild bunch of children in our own world and took pleasure in it. Remember how we'd cut the vine at the base of the trees and spend hours just taking turns swinging? I'm pretty sure that was one of our favorite pass times until the vines went extinct due to our exuberance. Good thing there were other things to do. Like...picking rocks, pulling weeds, searching for baby goats, eating wild blackberries, smelling wild flowers, hanging clothes, raking leaves, mowing the lawn, running in the fields, playing in the floods, washing windows, flying kites, fist fights, playing, singing, dancing, running, walking, talking, thinking, and sleeping....

...here is a closer look of our world: grandma's house; the two ponds; the tree that dad almost cut down but was convinced not to for the sake of the goats (a wonderful sanctuary for during the heat of the day); our house with the big windows; the barn full of chickens, goats, ducks, geese, wood, barrels, boxes, rats and snakes; the railroad crossing where we had a few close calls; and Tatum's--our bus stop.

A few more items to note: the big patch of treeless green (the one with the single tree in the center of it): that is our field of rocks that we picked several times over. If you look close enough, there is a huge tree between the "home of the Denzers" and the barn. It looks bigger than the house...the well would be found under it's reaching limbs. Just a little more to the right of that tree on the other side of the very white strip, there was if not any more an outhouse. And lastly, to the left of the barn a couple yards was dad's shed. Here, I'll zoom in closer...

*Images taken from GoogleEarth, 19 August 2008