The Gas Tank

My brother and I were driving the cadillac down to milk the cow. I know this sounds far fetched but we really did drive the cadillac down to milk the cow. It had snowed the night before and as we were going down the mountain, the car slid off the road and ran over a large rock. By the time we arrived at the bottom of the hill the car had run out of gas, so we walked over to the gas station and bought a gallon of gas and poured it in. The car ran for about 20 yards then died. Out of gas again. We both checked under the car and saw a gaping hole in the gas tank. Our dad was not happy about having to take the tank off his cadillac and take it to a welder to be repaired. Nice bit of driving Mark! Oops a little too fast, since when does my brother drive something too fast?

Skateboarding

Have you ever defied your mom and gone and done something that she specifically told you not to do? For instance, run off and go skate boarding. This may not seem that bad, but when you couple that with wearing a brand new pair of clothes that you were only supposed to try on, not wear out to play the day before school starts. As you can imagine purchasing clothing for 8 children to go to school can be very expensive. So...taking off to go skateboarding with brand new clothes and flying down the mountain and hitting a small pebble and flying through the air and landing on the pavement flat on your back and destroying both the shirt and the pants as well as your back...as my mother put it..."Not too bright!" Now think about the unintended consequences...I had grown 4-5 inches during the summer break and so when I was told to go put on the clothes that I wore the year before to school, it didn't look that great to be wearing floods and a shirt that barely covered my belly button. Boy did I impress the ladies on the first day of school. Lesson learned.

The Screwdriver

Do you happen to have an annoying sibling that found it his or her life's mission to make sure you were completely miserable? My older brother was an expert at making sure I was miserable, and truthfully I was dumb enough to open my big fat mouth and say something I shouldn't on a regular basis. One particular afternoon, we were playing under the carport in our front yard. My brother and I got into a tiff. I grabbed a screwdriver and threw it at him. He deftly dodged the screwdriver just in time as my youngest brother came riding around the corner on his big wheel. The screwdriver struck him sharp end first just above the eye. fortunately for me, there was no lasting damage at least that we could tell...sorry bro.

The Knife Fight

My wife and I had just been recently married when we went to Montana to visit my parents. As we were talking in the living room, my wife could hear my two sisters fighting while they were doing the dishes in the other room. She got up and went into the kitchen and saw to her horror that sister #10 had a long sharp serrated knife and was attempting to stab sister #9. Welcome to the family!

Child #9 & #10

Tomorrow I will tell about the knife fight. stay tuned.

Whose name did mom yell the most?

Most would think that hearing your named yelled over and over again would be upsetting, but not when you are one of ten children. What is the thing a person loves to hear the most? Why of course it is their name...even if it is being yelled by a mother who has reached the end of her rope. Why would she yell a name? Well when your brother scratches his name into the side of her brand new piano... she has every right to yell his name and then walk out the door. Only to be found 4 hours later 16 miles from the house and still walking.

One of Ten

When you are just one of ten, the chances of getting attention are well...one in ten. No wonder children who come from large families need extra attention when they are adults...I thought I was just ADHD. I wish I had been good at math when I was younger, I wouldv'e acted out more to get more attention to up my odds.