The Ditch

The ditch that ran through our back yard was the ultimate play place during the summer. My grandfather had the foresight to pipe water directly from Christmas Hollow (a fresh water spring that feeds into the river) to the pens located behind our house. An artesian well was located at the beginning of the ditch. The water was routed through the pens, our back yard, back through the pens, through a field, through Grandmom's yard, through another field and finally back into the river. Daddy, being the rock mason that he was, "rocked" the sides of the part of the ditch that ran through our yard to help contain it within its boundary. The ditch was about three feet wide and only a couple of feet deep so we were able to play around the ditch without adult supervision. (I know that is unheard of in today's times. CPS would probably file a neglect case against parents.)


Mama never said, "Don't get wet" because it was not up for discussion. Rest assured, we wore old clothes and shoes when we played in and around the ditch. The most common game we would play would be to drop an object at the beginning of the water flow and see how far it would float before sinking or getting stuck. Nothing ever got any further than ten feet or so because of the rocks. Marshall was particular about which of his trucks we could play with in the water. Match Box cars were absolutely, positively forbidden to be anywhere near the water. That left us with mostly plastic trucks to entertain ourselves with.


Another favorite past time to play around the ditch was "Cowboys and Indians". Yep, we would drag out all of the little plastic cowboy and indian figures and set up camp. (akin to "army men") Our cowboys and indians got along really well until one of the indians drank too much fire water and then the battle was on. On rare occasions, the "sea monster" would get a hold of our plastic men. The sea monsters being crawdads that resided under the silt at the bottom of the ditch. (Another reason we wore shoes while wading in the water.)


I introduced Kris to the ditch when she was about nine months old. I was careful not to let her toes dig too dip in the silt for fear that a sea monster would get a hold of her. It was extremely gratifying to splash around with my baby in the same way I splashed around with my siblings so many years ago. The ditch is still there and still follows the same route as it has for over 50 years. I hope it will entertain several more generations of our family......