Scott from Oregon posted some Google satellite photos of where he used to live and suggested we do the same and tell our stories. I did some searching, and I am very surprised by the clarity of the photos. Also, these photos were taken in the fall. I can tell by the brownness of the area. I grew up living on a golf course. The house we lived in is no longer there. It was rather old–over 100 years at the time we lived there. Victorian. It was once General Kearny’s home.

I had no idea that the lake was so large. I remember it being smaller. The tiny water line to the lake is a canal that empties into that lake. There were times when the canal was closed off so the lake would drain. It had the stickiest mud. Lots of clams and golf balls. We would collect the balls, wash them and sell them. My sister and I made quite a bit of money that way. I liked the clams. I had several over the years that I put into containers of water and took home. I once had a rather large clam–about 6 or 8 inches across that I kept as a pet. Yes, a pet clam. I refuse to eat clams to this day. You can’t eat what you name. Although I don’t remember any clam names.
I remember once when the canal was low and there were lots of fish swimming upstream. One of our dogs stood in the middle of the canal catching fish and bringing them up to shore. The canal was rather deep with steep sides. She must have caught 20 fish. She wouldn’t have stopped if we hadn’t dragged her away.

This second photo is a close up. The main building near the pool is where the house once stood. Yes, the pool is in the shape of a coffin. I remember my mother telling me that as a kid, but you can’t tell the pool’s shape when you’re in it. I spent every day of every summer from the age of 5 to 12 taking swimming lessons in that pool. My dad was the golf course groundskeeper. Yes, like Bill Murray in Caddyshack. A bit nutty like that too–particularly about ground squirrels. Ground squirrels cause serious problems on golf courses. Mostly I think by pissing off golfers when they lose their ball down the hole. We had a black lab who loved to catch squirrels. Dad would flush massive amounts of water down one hole and the dog stood at the other hole waiting for the squirrel to run out. The dog grabbed the squirrel and crunched him until his eyes popped out. I distinctly remember the crunch that squirrel bones make. I also remember the “ewww, gross!” chorus when the eyes popped out.

The pond just behind the white building was rather smelly. It had golf balls too, but it also had crawdads. Thousands of crawdads. You might know them as crayfish or mudbugs. Little lobsters really. With sharp pinchers. They were mean too. The fairway behind the pond was one I used to run on the most. The whole length. I think my parents wondered how I had so much energy to run and run. I don’t know either. I really don’t care to run now.
I did play golf on this course. I was on the golf team as a freshman. I played this course beginning at age 2. At 2, I had plastic clubs. We played on Mondays when the club was closed. You sometimes had to dodge the sprinklers. Later I had a couple of real clubs that were sized down for me. Then by the time I was 14, I had my own set of clubs. I still have them. Really hard to play with though. The club heads are smaller than men’s clubs today. The sweet spot is only dime-sized rather than quarter-sized.

Boy, the memories these pictures invoke. Wow!