Washington Terrace Homes

Utah

Ogden

Washington Terrace

My most immediate memory from Washington Terrace was playing with balloon driven toy cars my brothers and I had received for Easter. (April of ~1952-3) Hugh, jay and I would blow up the balloons (that would act as an energy source for the cars) and send them across the living room hardwood floor. We had different colored cars; and the living room was our morning (before Mom & Dad got up) play room. It was not very big, so we would release from the hallway and send the cars across to the front door. I couldn't have been very old, maybe two or so. 

Jay and I were required to take a nap each day. I disliked taking naps because it took so long for me to go to sleep; and it seemed like a waste of time. I would frequently spend significant time lying in my bed attempting to go to sleep simply because my mother required me to. I was undoubtedly a toddler during this time and the afternoon sunlight would stream through our East facing windows. It was not uncommon for me to put one or more crayons on the window sill above my bed (at naptime) so that the sun could melt the crayons. A curiosity to me! When Mom found out, I got in a bit of trouble and was told not to do that.

 I remember being put to bed in Mom and Dad's bed by a babysitter one evening. Both Jay and I had been put to bed in the mid evening as apparently my parents were gone. I remember both Jay and I awakening from what I remember as a bad dream. It consisted of me and Jay falling into a large pit, bed an all – spinning toward its inevitable bottom. At the bottom of the pit was a large bundle of “sticker weeds” which alarmed both me and Jay. Like I say I couldn't have been very old!

I remember being in the kitchen where apparently my mother was popping some corn in a corn popper we had. Upon tipping over the corn popper, popcorn kernels spread all over the kitchen floor. Being barefoot, I had some of the oil spill on my left ankle which caused me a significant amount of pain. As a youngster, I hopped up and down in place to avoid the hot oil. I remember my mother frantically telling me to leave the kitchen. Over the next day or so I developed a scar near the inside of my left ankle that has remained to this day. 

I remember playing in the backyard and seeing a small opening (“cubby hole”) beneath my window extending beneath our home. I stayed away from it because I was fairly certain there were spiders there and I could not know whether or not they were dangerous. I remember my father rushing in one day; having obtained a Black Widow spider web that he was going to use to provide crosshairs in his transit. Dad must have been learning how to be a surveyor even then. 

I remembered the houses being attached back-to-back. Our backyard was enclosed with a picket fence that only extended from our half of the dwelling. The shared ‘back wall’ of the two dwellings provided a means whereby one family could hear another, so we were instructed to be relatively quiet!

Dad's Jeep Willys Wagon - Woody

Grandpa Ford took it upon himself to build a small table and chairs that he surprised us boys with one day. We placed them in the backyard and played using them almost daily. They were a great addition to our play yard.

I remember my father taking me and Jay (and likely Hugh) to a nearby (down the street) hillside which was part of a golf course. In the winter there had been sufficient snowfall that we were taken there and used cardboard as sleds to slide on down the hill. We had a good time and I remember enjoying the time with Dad. 

I remember rather vividly that my father had an old Jeep Willys ‘woody wagon’ that he drove to and from work. I don't remember the particulars of the event but I remember that Dad had a mishap driving the vehicle over one of the hills there as he travelled to work one morning. I also remember driving home in our Buick sedan one night. As we approached the house, we saw a small bunny run alongside the house in our headlights. I remember both Mom and Dad expressing excitement as that they told us children (in the back seat) it may have been the Easter Bunny! 

We lived on a street where most of the houses on either side of the road looked like ours; and I remember one day (we twins were outside going across the street with Mom) talking briefly to a neighbor woman who was up high, languishing in her window. She spoke admiringly of me and Jay as we stood there. She must have seen that we were dressed alike; and spoke admiringly of us. I remember seeing her at another time and thought she was a fat lady!  

I remember sitting on the front porch; which was only one slab high, and waiting for Hugh to arrive home from kindergarten. As I waited, I would find small pumpkin-like “cheezettes” (as I called them) in the weeds that surrounded our porch. I would harvest these “cheezettes” from the weeds and eat them. They had no particular taste; but, being edible, it gave me something to do. I remember Hugh coming up the walk from his kindergarten; and being glad to have him home because the day would no longer be dull!

Of particular interest is an event that took place (I don't entirely remember the complete event). My father told me later that I was attacked by a German Shepherd type dog that lived near our home. I was in our backyard and apparently the dog had entered - trapping me. Dad said that the dog had pinned me against the picket fence with its paws on either side of my head and was barking just inches from my face. I don't remember the actual attack. However, I remember retreating shortly thereafter from the dog into our sedan. The dog (a German Shepherd) lived at the end of our street (at the top of the hill where we went ‘cardboard sledding’) and I was very afraid of it. While the others continued outside the car, I remained inside it. I remember that I would not go outside if I thought the dog was loose in the neighbor’s yard. I have remained afraid of dogs (all dogs) all my life since then!