I just finished looking and reading Pamela's blog, http://thedustwillwait.blogspot.com/ and seeing the old sled in her picture reminded me of a happening a long, long time ago. (I don't know how to make a link to Pam's blog.) ( Pam, I did it, I think)

I was either 4 or 5 years old and had not been living with the people who adopted me very long. In the Teton Basin of Idaho there is plenty of snow to sled on and sledding was a favorite thing to do with the new friends I had made who lived just down the lane. At that time in history it was not uncommon to have snow anywhere from 6 to 10 feet deep. Down the road was an abandoned rock quarry that had been used to make gravel for the roads in the area. The sides were quite deep but there was one spot that provided great sledding.

One afternoon with my friends Dan and Irvin, we decided that all of us should take our sleds and have some fun at the rock quarry, and boy were we having fun. I had a sled similar to the one in Pam's picture however on one side of the steering bar the wood had been broken off leaving a rather pointed end. I took off on my sled for a fun run when all of a sudden it veered off the path and went down one of the steep sides of the quarry. Needless to say the bottom brought me to a very abrupt stop and a very painful one.

I knew my leg hurt quite badly but the pants weren't torn and all seemed well until I notice blood seeping through my pants and making quite a mess. Naturally that scared three little boys but thank goodness Irvin had enough presence of mind to remain calm. I couldn't walk due to pain so he laid me on the sled and drug me home.

My "new" parents first thought I had peed my pants and were furious with me. Then they realized it was blood and due to the pain I was in they couldn't get my overboots off nor my pants to see how bad things really were. Down to the local town to the doctor we went where the medical staff had to cut my boots off as well as my pants.

I had just barely missed the artery in my right leg but had torn a large chunk of meat out of my inner thigh. It took some doing for the doctor to patch me up and to this day I have a large scar on my right inner thigh about 4 inches long and about 1/2 to 3/4 inches wide. ( Sorry but no pictures allowed!)

It never stopped me from sledding when I healed and I managed to do many interesting things to my body in future years.

So there you have it. My story of sledding on a sled with metal runners, wooden slats for the hind end, and the mind impressing wooden steering bar. Thanks Pam for the picture and the memory.

Have a nice day everyone.