June 23, 2010

Did you ever go skinny-dipping?

Yes, but only once that I can recall. We had been hauling hay from the field to the stack-yard out beyond the barnyard. It was a very hot muggy day. We had worked most of the day and had hay leaves that had stuck to practically every part of our body especially the uncovered parts like our necks and wrists. However many of the leaves had also worked themselves between our clothing and skin and become pasted to our skin with the sweat. I think dad must have been thinking of mom when he suggested we go up to the canal behind the old slaughter-house and get into the canal to clean up before we went to the house. So we went up to the canal and took off all of our clothes and jumped into the 2 feet of water running in the canal. I remember it was a really sandy part of the canal and we would lay down in the water to wash ourselves off and it seemed a bit funny because we came up covered with almost as much sand as we had lost in hay leaves. However the warm water was really refreshing and it felt great just to cool down a little in it. The water was always warm toward the end on the day and cold in the mornings since it came from the river several miles away and would warm up from the sun during the day and cool off during the night but there was always a delay by the time it got to us. The best time for swimming was just after sundown since the warmest water was flowing past the house at that time if the day. It was a pretty fun experience and it was far enough from the house that there wasn’t a real threat of our sisters coming past to see us.