4020 Mt. Brundage

A few thoughts about the first house I remember as a kid...
Watching Steve and Roger walk to school from the backyard swings, which were way in the back of the huge yard, past the pool, through a path. I could just see the school from there across the canyon. I would spend hours on that swingset, wishing that I could go to school, too,(I was 4) and realizing that I wouldn't get out again for 13 years!
We had Birds of Paradise plants and I think Banana leaf (?) plants also. My favorite was the huge pine tree, which I used to climb up, all the way to the point where the tree would sway under my weight! I could see everything from up there, and I don't remember anyone looking for me!
I remember sonic booms happening about 10 times a day, along with those airplanes with the huge plate on top (record player planes, really E-2c Hawkeyes) and Flying Banana helicopters (Huey CH-46?) along with countless jets. There was an airraid siren that would go off at noon everyday, which sounded very far away.
I remember a Christmas where I got two WWI airplanes, on red Fokker, and one Yellow Sopwith Camel, which I loved. I actually found a yellow wingtip in my junk a few years back. I also remember getting a car carrier with one yellow and one red Corvette, probably Tonka. Another Chrismas I remember was when I got a big "Flying Tiger" airplane, complete with 3 red machine guns on the nose, and a bomb that you could drop with the push of a button! Amy got a big metal doll house that year, and I would strafe it, machine guns blasting away, as Amy screamed, and I would drop a bomb on the roof, which would just roll off!
Once in first grade, my lunchbox and jacket got stolen from school, and Steve and I found them 2 weeks later in the creek by the drainpipe, an oily mess, people must have been Constantly changing thier engine oil, and letting it run down the gutters!
I knew the jacket was toast, but for some reason, I had to get my thermos and drink the milk!
Steve kept saying, "You don't want to do that!", along those lines, but I did anyway, and was rewarded with chunks on my face! Thakfully, I don't remember the smell!
Amy and I were invited to a birthday party for a little girl across the street, and Mom got her a huge tea set, about 2 feet square, or so it seemed at the time! Mom wrapped it for us, but the paper wasn't big enough to cover the sides, you could plainly read "Tea set" on both sides of the present! Amy and I complained, but Mom sent us on our way...When we got to the party, the little girl immediatly read the side of the box, and we felt bad for about 1 second until we realised that she was totally thrilled by the present!
My first tricycle came home with Dad one night, it wasn't my birthday, as I remember! It had a huge clear reflector in the front, and I rode it around the block about 100 times before Dad called me in on account of darkness!
The first time I rode a bike, it was rogers' (The red one with the basket) and I could ride it pretty good, but I remember Roger helping me along...I do remember getting my own bike later,I inherited the red bike with the basket, but the first day I had it, I left it at school, and that was that!
Roger later got a Green Rollfast, with a big "R" on the front (irony?) and Steve had a purple Royce-Union, I later broke the frames on both theese bikes at Alcazar, jumping them in the canyon. A bike I couldn't break was Amys' pink "girls bike" and when jumping it, the other kids used to make fun of me, until they realised that they couldn't keep up!
We flew alot of kites, the kids on the block had realistic toy guns,which shot pellets across the street, milk came in glass bottles, there was a bakery truck that came around in the morning with free dohnuts for the kids, and our house number was on the street sign!