6. Get the turkey leg.

When I was 9 we lived in a sub division in Shelton that had a creek running through it. We would swim in it in the summer. Where it went under the road there were two large culverts. the one on the right had a bee's nest in it and usually more crawdads.  I think that may have been due to less kids playing over there. Money was tight. Paul would drive my mom to the food bank so we could get food for the month and he would sit in the car and wait. So I would come along to help carry boxes out to the car. I remember them giving us the option of a turkey leg or a little ham loaf. We had 4 or 5 of the little hams in the freezer and so mom went with the turkey leg. I joked around that maybe my dog spike could have the bone after we ate it. Spike was a black lab mix that had been an abandoned dog when he was a puppy. It wasn't the more modern style of going to the pound and saving a dog from the needle. He just roamed our neighborhood and you could tell he wasn't being fed. He was a great dog and crazy smart if we left him in the house while we were gone he would open the front door and let himself out. That is with a round knob not the lever handle style. Granted his manners were lacking he always just left the door open. One day spike and I were playing down at the creek when he started chasing crawdads and I noticed there where a ton. I ran home to try and figure a way to trap them. I knew I needed to keep them alive until I got them home so I grabbed a bucket. I also knew I needed bait so I grabbed the turkey leg out of the freezer. I ran the two blocks back down to the creek and went over by the right culvert. I put some water in the bucket and sat down in the water. I sat there holding the turkey leg in the water. Slowly from all around me crawdads started coming out of their hiding places. I would wait until I got a few on the leg then I would pick it up over the bucket and shake them off. After an hour or so I had around 60 and most of a turkey leg that I refroze to use again next time. I enjoyed getting to put dinner on the table. Getting to play in the woods and swim in the creek was a big part of my youth. It was where I went to get away. I often made forts because I wanted somewhere safe to go. I wanted my own space.

When I was 11 Paul was coming to pick me up from school. He told me he wanted to bring Spike to pick me up and he stopped on the side of the road because Spike was acting like he had to pee. Spike took off and would not get back in the car. I am not sure if that is true I just know Spike was the best dog ever. My mom felt bad so she talked to some friends to try and find me a dog. She found a dog that was full blooded and already well trained that some people were trying to get rid of due to a move. She went and picked him up while I was at school. He was a cocker spaniel. He didn't like to play fetch and he looked like a girls dog. I was not a big fan of him but it was better than nothing. I didn't take him out with me at first because I kept having to call him if he ran off and he wasn't trained like Spike was. I took him down to the creek because I wanted to swim and maybe I could work on fetch with him. I named him Gus to have a boys name. I guess at the time that was the manliest name I could think of. Gus jumped in the water and swam like crazy. He loved the water and was really fun to play with. We spent the next 4 days swimming in the creek. He was getting to be a good dog. A few days later I was walking home from the creek with Gus. Paul was driving home. He saw us walking and whistled to say hi... (at lest that's what he said). Gus ran out into the road in front of the car and Paul ran him over in front of me. They got me another dog and they named him Toby. He was a beautiful dog. He was a husky, lab, St. Bernard mix. I asked for them to take him back. I didn't want another dog to die.