The other night I watched a special on Merle Haggard. At the end of the show, he drove by the place where he grew up (which was in an old box car remodeled into a small home).
The next morning, I decided to do the same thing. I rode by where I grew up on Paloma Street. I lived there most of my entire school years from first grade through my senior year of high school before getting my place where I live in Raybon and moving out.
I remember the land is where my grandpa, Donald, died in a house fire in 1969. We were living near where Bayview Nursing Home is now.
Daddy had the house moved to this land. In just a few minutes I thought about working in that front yard when I was young.
Daddy borrowed the neighbors’ Farmall tractor and we pulled a stump out of the ground. I was in the seat and the front wheels started coming off the ground.
Instead of pushing in the clutch, I jumped off before the tractor flipped over and messed up the muffler. It scared me and daddy, but we were ok.
I remember our freezer being on the back porch and it went bad while we were on vacation. It had the 10 1/2-pound bass that we had caught along with lots of other fish, squirrels and a bunch of other critters.
I had big plans to be a taxidermist when I grew up. That ended my career before it got started.
I thought about our pair of squirrel monkeys we had as pets (Peanut and Cheetah) and I thought they both had died. I knew one had.
Just before mama passed away, she told me Peanut had actually escaped when she opened the door to the cage. He ran off into the woods behind the house never to be seen again.
A lot of memories flashed through my mind in just a few minutes as I took a couple of pictures and rode by 1247 Paloma Street.
A lot has changed with the house about to fall down. The roof is caving in and everything has grown up now.
Nothing much remains, but the memories.
• Wayne Morgan is freelance wildlife photographer and author.
