Jay's Newspaper Column - Sledding is the topic

Note...titles are as I saved them in my file and not as printed!

Slicker Than Greased Owl Shit
By Jay Anglin - January 2010

The kids got out of school an hour and fifteen minutes early Thursday so I decided I’d take them sledding. Whenever we go I fondly recall how much fun I used to have sledding. It seemed that my friends and I were always draggin’ a sled or an inner tube around regardless of where we were going. If there was a hill nearby it was mandatory to take a run or two.

I was lucky when I was a kid because just behind my house across the creek was arguably the best sledding hill within the Wabash city limits. Known in common circles as “Bakehorn’s”, it was the place to be whenever there was snow on the ground. You could always count on other groups of kids being at the hill too. You may see friends or foes but the sledding was always fun. It was a great place to socialize and hang out even if you didn’t sled. I had lots of “firsts” take place at that hill, some of which I can’t mention here.

I don’t know if it was sheer luck or if it was planned this way but there was a hose spigot about 15 feet from the top of the hill coming right out of the side of the house. Older kids would take buckets and fill them and dump them down the main run. The downhill speeds a good sledder could obtain on that boilerplate hard ice bordered on ridiculous, but if you weren’t up to the task a more gradual slope off to one side was designated as a “bunny hill” of sorts. And of course, on the opposite side of the hill there was a “suicide run”. I particularly enjoyed that side.

About 30 yards from the bottom of the hill was Charlie Creek. The ultimate accomplishment was to run the hill and continue on until you hit the creek. Of course, it was much preferred that the creek was frozen so you wouldn’t get wet but it never stopped us from going over the bank anyway. If the creek was frozen you could sometimes make it across and start going up the far bank. This was my specialty because I was a skinny kid and I had a fast sled. Getting air off the near bank and almost clearing the creek was the stuff of legend. I managed to do it a few times and how more ribs, legs, arms and noses weren’t broken is beyond me.

As a protective parent I’m always warning the kids about a shrub or a post or a big hole they need to watch out for, but the entire time I’m thinking how different things were back in the 70’s. My parents as well as all of the other kids parents would basically say, “Be careful” as we pulled the sleds out from under the bushes and left the house at 9am or so on a Saturday. Occasionally a bloody nose or cold feet would send somebody home early but usually we didn’t get back until sometime around dinner. This is the way it was.

Many of the kids had “buckle boots” which is nothing more than over-sized rubber boot that fits over your shoes. You’d put them on over your regular shoes but they had virtually no traction. It took some kids ten minutes to get up the hill and of course your feet would get cold pretty quick. My parents gave my brother and I decent winter boots but I was always jealous that I didn’t have those buckle boots like lots of the other kids. I didn’t realize it at the time, but the other kids parents either couldn’t afford real winter boots or didn’t care, so their kids got the rubber buckle boots instead.

As I recall, Mrs Bakehorn would have hot chocolate for us sometimes and on the weekends when it was busiest there would be a fire at the top of the hill to warm up. Occasionally our parents would even go on the weekends. In fact, sometimes they’d get us a babysitter and have adult sledding parties at night. The Bakehorn house had a nice set of flood lights off the back that lit the hill up.

I’m not sure if Bakehorn’s Hill is still active but if it is I’d be surprised. With today’s litigious society, such use of one’s property would be a risky venture. You’d probably have to carry an insurance policy like a ski resort. Plus, it seems like the majority of people in Northern Indiana don’t like the snow anymore. I think back at how much fun we had in those days and wonder why more folks don’t enjoy winter now. It’s here to stay so you may as well get out and have some fun. Sitting around and complaining isn’t going to make it go away any faster.