Summer Fun and Chores(1985-1994)!

Some more history:

The best part about living in the middle of nowhere is that we had no boundaries. We could go play where ever we wanted. Mom and Dad had about two acres. One pretty much of woods, and the other of lawn.
Oh the memories of cutting the grass. This could be a full day event sometimes two. The first years I remember living in our earth contact home, we only had a push mower which explains the two day event sometimes of cutting the grass. And a million and a 1/2 of trees. Whew! So, the drill was, each of the older children would make one circle around the yard, and then the next one was up. After each of them had a turn, it was your turn again. It became a competition to see who could get around the yard the fastest, needless to say each go around was a little smaller than the last.
Then there were the trees. You may not believe this, but Dad didn't have a weed-eater. What he did have were several pairs of lawn clippers. That's right, each child would plop right up next to one of those million trees in the yards and clip around the trunk all the loose grass the lawn mower couldn't reach.
The one thing I didn't understand, is that no matter how many trees we had in our yard, Dad insisted on planting more.
The garden: the enourmous football field size garden. Mom and Dad planted everything: corn, potatoes, carrots, cucumbers, squash, tomoatoes, brocolli, lettuce, carrots, peppers, grean beans, and even dill. Dad made the best dilled pickles ever. Needless to say I never appreciated fresh produce then, but what I wouldn't do for a garden like that now. We had no idea how lucky we were to have all of that great food.
Our playground: Dad taught himself a lot. As a teacher, he had summers off, and worked construction. He built a swingset, jungle gym, and a 20 foot high stand for our tree house, that our uncle built.
Dishwashing: We had a list- each of us did a different task every night. Monday through Sunday, they were clean kitchen, wash dishes, dry dishes, and then put dishes away. Everyone's favorite was putting them away, and hated the task of washing dishes. Ever night a different task, and every so often you would get a night off. We had it memorized. So memorized that we would taunt each other saying, "you have to wash tonight." Your only response was "shut-up" cuz you knew it too.
Swimming: We had no boundaries. We would get our jobs done in the morning, and each afternoon head to the creek. About a mile trek to get to our favorite swimming spot, which we named the Gar-hole. What is funny, is I can't see myself swimming in a creek in a million years now, even though we did it day after day, summer after summer.