I’ve always been interested in paths. If you ask my why, I really have no idea. I would analyze the reasons, but I don’t want to get off on the wrong path. And besides, it's always a risky venture whenever I start looking into my head, better to let sleeping dogs lay.

 

When we were kids, we made our own paths. We were deathly afraid of Route 113, on which we lived and still do. In fact, I’m still afraid to get too near it. As a kid, I always wished our farm were on a "side" road where there was much less traffic. When Tim and I were very young and wanted to ride our bicycles, our parents said we could ride on Ceylon and Tennent Roads, which were "side" roads, but not on Rt. 113. However, to get to them we had to go VIA Route 113. We got around this by walking our bikes in the grassy berm north of the road. We called this the "dog path". I don’t know why we called it this. We may have seen dogs walking along this route for the same reason we did in order to avoid walking too close to the road. Since I still have a fear of walking next to it, when I now ride my bicycle, I STILL walk it along the "dog path" to get to Ceylon and Tennent Rds. In fact, these are the only 2 roads I ride on to this day! It’s funny how some childhood phobias stay with you for the rest of your life. (Or is it just me?)

 

Another path we had at our place was to the outhouse, or as our Uncle Ned called it, The "Privy". Tim and I always called it "The Kearny". I don’t know how or why we came up with that name. We always had indoor plumbing, but in spite of that, Uncle Ned always used "The Privy". I suppose it was out of habit and just being used to it all his life. Unfortunately, "The Privy" no longer exists. I do have some memories of it, however. All the inside walls were covered with wallpaper which was the same as that in the kitchen. It was white with small blue patterns that looked a little like shamrock leaves. There was also a big Sears Catalog sitting on top of the "seats" along side with a pile of old newspapers. I could never figure out why Uncle Ned never "kypped" any TP from our bathroom, but then again, he was used to the catalog and old newspapers. In the past, I’ve done some research on "Privies" and found that this was a common use for the catalog as soon as it was replaced with a new one. Luckily, the old ones were very thick having many pages for this alternate use. Unfortunately, no pictures of the "Privy" are known to exist. But then again, why would anyone want to take a picture of a privy anyway? (I would have if I had thought of it). I remember when we burned it up in later years, alas; a chapter of our past history is gone forever. One amusing thing about this was that our Grandmother "Ollie" sent out formal invitations to attend the "privy burning". I remember seeing one and it looked like an engraved invitation to a grand ball. I don't recall if anyone showed up for the big event, but I'm sure they did since it gave everyone another excuse to imbibe of the plentiful "spirits" we always had around the house.

 

Another path we had as kids was known as "The Pony Express Trail". We would ride our horses up and down it. In fact, in the present times I ride, I always ride up and down "The Pony Express Trail" just for old times sake, as I wax nostalgic. When Tim and I were teenagers and preferred fast cars to fast horses, we used the big oak tree along the "The Pony Express Trail" to remove and install engines in our cars after the old engines "blew up" as a result of our drag racing and "peeling out".  In those days we could go to Oney's Junk Yard on Rt. 601 and get a whole engine for $50.00. For the past several years, I’m once again interested in horses and had many in the past and have many today. It’s funny in life how “what goes around comes around”. Also, I’ve certainly lost interest in fast cars since if I went too fast now, my beloved Jeep Wrangler would no doubt overturn on the first curve. However, I wouldn't be worried if I got a ticket for reckless driving, since a jury would "overturn" the charge.

 

Sadly, all the old paths are now gone and covered with over growth. However, there is a new generation of paths on our place. One of which are cow paths. They are very amusing to me the way they always meander. Apparently, cattle don’t always walk in a straight line. On the other hand, all the horse paths my horses make are usually very straight and rarely meander. I guess horses tend to walk in straight lines as opposed to cattle. I even have my own path leading to my horse barn. Say, now that I took a second look at it, it meanders in spots too. I guess like the cattle, I don't always walk in a straight line either!

 

One thing that really amuses me is the small cat path they have made from the house to one of the horse trailers parked in the yard by the house. They like to spend a lot of time under the trailer. This is very interesting because I never knew cats made paths. They are creatures of habit, so I imagine it's not unusual that they would always walk in the same spot as they head for underneath the trailer.

 

I hope you’ve both enjoyed and found interesting reading about the paths I have both seen and made. I’m sure I’ll make new paths in life as time goes on.

 

"Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it…" Jeremiah 6:16 (Old Testament)

 

This story (like all my others) is true. I’m certainly not a "path"ological liar, which would make me a psycho"path" and lead down the "path" to destruction which would be "path"etic. J (I just couldn’t resist being "punny" at the end!) Hey, it's in my Irish genes. One last thing, is the study of paths called Pathology?

 

As I mentioned above, I always write true stories, however, if I ever choose to write fiction I have a "poetic license" to do so.