Deer Lodge

Susan, Dad and I drove through Deer Lodge the other day. Susan drove past the place we used to live. It's alot different now but the memories were still there.
We moved there so Dad could open up an electrical store. We'd never lived off the ranch so it was a new thing for us all. We stayed for a year and a half. The place we live was right by a river. Across the river lived a herd of buffalo. Once in awhile they would come up by our house and we'd have to stay inside till they left.
Next door lived the Jones family. I suppose they were the typical dysfunctional family. Their Dad worked as a guard at the prison. The kids were kind of wild. I played with Jimmy Jones. His big sister was Susan's age, Sharon. One day Sharon had said something to hurt my feelings. I was inside the house ironing pillowcases, hankies or something, crying. Jim came in and asked me what was wrong. I told him what Sharon had said. He said, "You want me to go throw a rock at her?" I remember feeling a little reluctant but then I said, "Yeah." Next thing I knew here came Jim being brought in by Mom, getting the scolding of his life. His aim had been good and now Sharon was bleeding from the head. I told Mom that I'd told him to do it and why he had. She didn't say another word about it and Jim didn't get in any more trouble.
Another thing I remember from Deer Lodge was taking turns at dishes. We would watch TV and then run in at commercials and do the dishes. Why does that stick in my mind?
One day Mom was going on an errand and she dropped Jim off at the corner drug store to get something for her. She got preoccupied and forgot him. Supper time came and when we all sat down to eat she suddenly remembered about Jim. She drove back quickly and there he was just sitting in front of the store waiting. (I can just see Kevin doing that!)
We walked about a quarter of a mile to the bus stop each morning. One morning it was so cold a teenage girl fainted from the cold. I remember the sympathy in our house not being too large since the girl wore a dress, no pants underneath, pretty shoes and no socks.
One of my least favorite memories of Deer Lodge was piano lessons. I wanted to play but I HATED going to lessons. They were in a very large stone building on main street with huge columns in front. When I entered I walked through a large room to a piano in the far corner. I dreaded that walk. We had a piano but it was in a spare room (How did a family with 6 children in a 4 bedroom house have a spare room?) The room was where all the toys were kept and I remember having to walk over the top of them to get to the piano. The pedals were covered with toys. I would open that piano book and it seemed so beyond my ability that I would just get discouraged and plunk a little and quit. I think that explains why I dreaded the lessons. I'm sure I did poorly.
We road the bus every day and the first day of school we road the whole route, never getting off. Jim and I just sat there. The bus driver turned around and looked at us and asked us where we lived. We just shrugged. "We went over a bridge.." was our only clue. We had to drive back to the school in the bus so the driver could go into the school and find out where we lived.
Jim didn't want to go in the first place. Mom chased him to the bus and then he took off back to home leaving her trailing behind. He lost his shoe and I remember her carrying it following him.
The first time I got my report card there I started crying. It wasn't as good as I thought it should be. The teacher realized my struggling and brought me over another report card. The first one was my old Cardwell one. The second one had straight A's. I felt better.
I still remember standing in the playground when I wasn't supposed to jump rope. I was good at it. I would watch the other girls playing and feel so sad. Then someone would ask me to join them and I couldn't resist. I would jump so well and then suffer the consequences later. I can still feel the ache in my joints.
Every Saturday we kids would walk to the theatre on main street. We each had a dime and we could go to the show for that. I think we got candy too but I suppose Susan or Dennis got the carry the candy money.
The Deer Lodge church was where I got baptised. Gayle baptised me and I think maybe Mom and Dad. I remember 2 things about my baptism: Gayle forgot his white pants and the man who confirmed me had very shakey hands. I do remember it being a very solumn and important day for me. I took it very seriously.
Susan and I have often said we probably would have been juvenile delinquents if we had stayed in Deer Lodge. But for that time in our lives it was quite an adventure.
Oh, a couple of other memories. Having pink eye and Mom coming around opening our eyes with a wash cloth each morning. And Randy sitting in the hall pulling the legs off of daddy long legs. Oh, yes, and Dennis had model airplanes that we were strictly forbidden to play with.
We were very thankful to move back to the ranch.