[RKDinOKC]

Hope eryone is habin a goot weekend.

Started mowing our lawn when I was 8 years old. Could barely push the mower thru the thick bermuda in the back yard.

Our house was the first one facing the street on our side of the block but wasn't a corner lot so there was alley between us and the corner house that faced the cross street. There was alley between our house and the houses on the end of the block. We also had alley behind our house that went all the way down the block connecting to the other cross street. The alley's did not have any roads, they were just grass where the utilities ran. All of the back yards of all the houses on our block except ours were fenced with chain link except for the alley. The lots behind our house and the next three were vacant.

By the time I turned 8 my Dad had bought two of the lots behind our house. Of the 4 lots 3 had been plowed into garden from where the front of a house would be all the way to the alley. Dad also planted fruit trees starting in our back yard and filling the lot behind our house. We had apples, plums, cherries, apricots, peaches, pears, and apricot plums. At least 2 of each fruit.

Dad also bought a lawn tractor that I got to use to mow the 4 lots AND ALL of the alleys. He put a license plate on the back with my name on it. The garden area took up the space of a complete house lot so was mowing 3 vacant lots and ALL of the Alley on the block. Dad wouldn't let me mow our front or back yard with the tractor, had to use the push mower. All total took a little over 2 hours.

Of course I also got to do all the pruning on the fruit trees and and the tilling, planting, and weeding of the garden too.

When 11 got 1/3 of the garden for me to use and planted dwarf okra. It was 6 rows 100ft long. Picked and sold the okra. My Dad proudly sold some where he worked and neighbors bought quite a bit. Anything left the local Safeway grocery store bought. Made enough money that first summer to buy myself a really nice 10 speed racing bike. I still hate okra.