Age 8:baseball, ice fishing, shooting, and bobsled

I remember ice fishing with my father and brother.  We’d drive out of town to Lake Winnipeg an hour north.  Dad had a pick and Ron used a spike. Together they’d cut a hole through the ice which was usually a foot or two thick. I’d bring the rods and tackle from the truck while they did this. Others would be out on the ice sitting around holes fishing rods in hand.  Not many. A half dozen or so die hard holes.

For Dad I think it was more the expedition and adventure in the middle of winter. Something to do on a Saturday to break up the monotony of prairie life. We never caught a single fish ice fishing. We saw the fish deep down the hole.  They never bit. It was awfully cold. In later years Dad would make a folding hut he’d hook together on the ice. We’d have a little oil heater then and sit in the warm out of the wind.  We never caught a fish then either. Not with the better accommodations but the cocoa in the thermos tasted better and we stayed out on the ice longer. More of an outing.  

What we did most in winter was toboggan.  As a family we’d go down to the banks of the Red River and slide down to the ice.  It was a big slope for a little kid. Later my brother Ron would take us.  Kirk and Garth would come along then.  We’d have this great exhilerating slide that lasted a few seconds then we’d trudge for half an hour back up to the road and slide down again.  The slope was hardly more than a ditch but to us it was a great tobogganing hill.  It was a block away from home along Riverside Road.  

Dad made me a bob sled one year.  He made it out of wood in the basement.  It was the best present a kid could get even though it was way too fast and way to dangerous for me. Ron had to try it out first.  He literally whizzed down the slope.  You had to lie on your chest with your face inches off the ground holding onto the wood handles either side, legs trailing out behind, boots serving as rudders.  I think Dad tried it once and decided it was way too crazy though Ron liked it.   It.was a while before I could get up the courage to try it. All the other kids teased me because it was something no one had ever seen in Winnipeg. I imagine Dad found the design in the wood working book and decided to make it. He enjoyed carpentry when he wasn’t working on his truck or car.  

Once I got the hang of screwing up my courage to get on that bobsled I really did streak by everyone else on the hill. The only thing that could keep up was the silver saucer some kid had.  We’d race each other him turning circles like mad and me with my face smashing  through snow clumps.   Sometimes that kid would win. As often he would twist out of control and fly into the trees along the slope.  The tobaggans and other sleighs didn’t stand a chance against us. 

My brother would  come along and have a go on the bobsled again and again. Mom only rode on the long toboggan.  She’d sometimes be in the middle with me in the front and Ron behind her. Sonny the dog would run down the hill beside us with Dad staying at the top watching. We’d finally come to a stop and all of would fall over sideways. The dog tried then to lick everyone’s face equally.  We’d trudge back up the hill pulling the toboggan behind us. 

When my Aunt would come out for Christmas we’d all go tobogganing. She and Mom were so funny together laughing and shouting. The dog would be barking, jumping up and down, us kids milling about to be part of the adult fun. My aunt and mom would tease Dad relentlessly and he’d take it in good humor. On those occasions we’d usually go out to the longer hill that went down to the river by the university. It was a 2 minute run and my Mom and Aunt would take the toboggan and both fall over when it hit the frozen river edge.  They could hardly walk back up the hill laughing so hard. Mom had a camel coloured cloth coat and Aunt Sally had this black wool coat more appropriate for the city.. She’d always look ‘eastern’ , fashionable  ‘sophisticaed’ while Mom was more practical in her dress for anything but church.  

Then she’d eventually wear the fur coat my father bought her. That was an important gift for him to her and a sign of their increasing affluence during my later teen years. She was very proud of that Mink.  They were more serious and reserved when they got older. I still remember us all tobogganing and it was just jolly good fun, little kids, big kids and the dog.

In the summer we’d play baseball.  I cherished my baseball glove and bat.  Ball caps were important too. But that was all the equipment we had and one of the reasons baseball was so popular. All a parent needed to get a kid was a glove and he could be a part of the league or all the pick up games that ran all summer in the school yard.  Because of the equipment costs Hockey was a bit more exclusive. It’s no wonder the Canadian invented game of Basketball became so popular around the world.  Like soccer all that was needed was a ball. Every kid wore runners so there wasn’t any need for special shoes in my day.  Runners hadn’t evolved into luxury fashion back then.  Cloth, laces and rubber soul.  Just as there was a back stop net as a fixed structure in playgrounds and school yard there was always a hoop hanging over some patch of flattened ground or cement.  

There was also sometimes the net up which would be used for badminton or volleyball. There wasn’t much tennis in my day and certainly no cricket. Lacrosse appeared in my high school years.   We did play horseshoes when there was a pit and metal horse shoes.  These were more often in campgrounds.  In a few  playgrounds there was merry go round with horses to ride on. In Fort Garry we had the merry go round without the horses. Kids just spun around till they puked or fell off.    There was even a ball on a pole some places which we could punch in attempt to hit the other kid in the face with with it. I think this came later. We did have croquet sets at home and set these up on the lawn when we had visitors, mostly my Aunt.  A couple of neighbours had croquet sets. The Laidlaw girls were big on croquet.  They made lemonade and played croquet with pretty dresses and hats.   My brother liked to play croquet with the older girls. Kirk and I back then preferred to make spears down by the river which we used to try to kill birds with. We never hit a bird but we threw our spears a lot.  

As a family Dad would take us out to play miniature golf.  That was one of his favourites. Though my friend Garth wanted to be a golf pro and my brother and his wife would play golf all their adult years I never played golf till I was in my 20’s. The same was true for curling. My brother and his wife were curling for years, Ron began to curl in his early teens.  I think I tried it once back then and concluded sweeping ice  was for losers.

I much preferred when my Dad took my brother and I to the gun range and we shot our 22 rifles. I started shooting 22 rifles when I was 8 and got my Bronze award for lying down marksmanship back then. My brother went on to get his Silver and Gold, one for kneeling and shooting bull’s eyes and the other for free standing and shooting bull’s eyes. We’d shoot of a box of shells as an evening outing whenever Dad had the time to take us out  to the range. I was 8 to 12 then.   Rifles were just on the racks in the store back then but the ammunition was kept behind the counters. 

For board games we had Monopoly and Scrabble. We also learned to play card games, the favourite being cribbage.  When my aunt came we played Canasta and I loved the piles of round plastic chips we’d tried to accumulate.