Growing up in the boonies of Northern Wisconsin gave us plenty of time to be creative. I mean, even though I had 9 other siblings, we did not have other friends around much. So, we felt the need to figure out things that would help us get thrills and chills. One such activity that the older of us siblings used to like to do was to make our own stilts. I don't know why we thought we could do this, but we played around cutting down young poplar saplings, then stripping off the bark, nailing a couple of 2" X 4" wedges to them and figuring out how to walk on them.
Of course, like anything, we were not very good at it immediately, but it did not take long to figure the things out and walk around on the short ones. We would use the picnic table as our platform to start off from. The foot rests were usually at that height. We would cut the spars long enough to fit into our arms to support them as we walked. I always wondered how stilt walkers in circuses and parades were able to walk around without that type of support for their stilts. Later on, I saw their type of stilts - ones that went up the calf and were supported by a strap around the top of the calf. Once I tried them they were actually quite easy to manipulate.
Well, never satisfied with just the usual routine things, we always had to take things to the limit. We wanted EXTREME thrills! So, we sort of broke up into teams to see who could make the tallest stilts to walk on. I think Kevin and Kory got the most bold on this effort. They made a pair of stilts that were at least eight feet tall for the foot rests! These things were monstrous and heavy, so only the older siblings were able to even attempt them. The good thing was that they were so large at the bottom that they helped the person steady his/herself.
For these tall stilts, we had to use the garage roof to start off from. Kevin and Kory got to using them pretty well. I don't much recall if I ever mastered them. I do recall walking on taller stilts, but don't recall if they were these giant ones. We spent countless hours playing with our stilts. The thrills we got from going taller and taller were eventually satisfying for us.
On one particular nice summer evening, we had been out walking around on our stilts. It was getting towards dusk. The cool evening air began rolling in, and the sky was quite clear. The moon was nearly full, and we could see quite plainly without the aid of any artificial light - albeit not as plainly as during the daylight. The back yard extended east from the house towards an expansive field. we mowed the yard a ways into the field, then the tall grass jutted out. We always had all sorts of critters roaming about the place since we were out in the woods. We even saw a bear from time to time. Of course, stray cats would often wander near the place. We usually had a cat or two of our own roaming the place. We never really believed in having to tie our animals up. Since there was so much room to roam, they knew where home was.
On this particular evening, Kory had been walking around on some stilts when out towards the field, just beyond the sand pit we used for a sandbox, Kevin spotted a cat. It just sat there looking at us. He walked up to the animal wanting to pet it. When he got close, the c
at rolled a bit and suddenly Kevin saw the white stripe going down its back. He knew in an instant he was completely mistaken about what the animal was. He flew from there like a rocket ship! I think it startled the skunk as much as it startled Kevin! We had the most uproarious laugh from that experience. I think Kevin learned to always check and see what he was approaching from that time on. We never let him forget how he almost became a skunk perfume bag that night - how he so wanted to be kind to his polecat pet!
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