Third Grade

  Between the 2nd & 3rd grades, Mom had joined Aunt Nig as a cook at the TB Sanatorium, and we were given free housing. It was and old Quonset hut in the base compound as a large family we had the entire hut, many were divided into duplexes.  Since it was a former Military installation, all were in neat little rows on each side of a large open area that served for guest parking if some one came to visit. 
lines of telephone poles laying on their sides  marked the parking. We kids liked to play there and walk along the poles, pushing each other off, and such. It was our playground. One day as we were playing we looked down and there was my first Rattlesnake. I jumped back and to the other side of the pole and ran to get the shovel to kill it. I chopped its head off and was very proud of it although it was very young, maybe 14 inches long.  with the base being in the middle of natural desert, Rattle snakes were a way of life, and we saw and killed many more.  Outside of the fence was pure desert, with sagebrush and other plants. many made thickets where we could play hide and seek, or where some one had dug pits to get sand for a project we had gullies and sand hills. Our imagination was the limit. We could go up past the hospital to the old hangers and runways and explore. the hangers were our jungle gyms. climbing up into the rafter or what were left of them we never considered it was dangerous.  We would race our bikes around the concrete slabs of the tarmac and runways.  We could not go near the hospital itself because of the patients but we had our own little world to do as we pleased.
   Another benefit of living there was Sunday Drag racing, The "Imperial Valley Timing Association" had turned a runway into the drag strip, and we simply walked out into the desert and around the ticket booth and back into the racing area, there were no grandstands, cars lined up along each side of the runway and tailgated it. umbrellas, lawn chairs and ice chests everywhere. Saw a lot of good racing there. Wish there were something like it here and now.
     Saw one of the biggest rattlesnakes I have ever seen there it was killed and hung on a sign at the fire department, it was near if not over 6 foot hanging by its head left a great impression on me.
    I had returned to good ol' PU for my third grade, and had to ride the school bus everyday.  I remember my Grandpa Rutledge was in California for a visit and had carved me a toy rifle out of a board, I was so proud of the rifle and took it to school to share with everyone on the bus going to school a bigger boy took it and broke it in half, I was devastated, I got of the bus crying and my teacher took it and said I can fix it for you, but I never saw that gun again. After School my sisters found out about it and the kid lived at the housing complex, and Well they took care of him for me LOL.  Always there to defend their baby brother.