Buried Treasure

Growing up 17 miles north of Gildford with 2 people who were 42 when I was born and a sister who was 10 years older I learned to entertain myself. I learned especially to use my imagination and played a lot of games by myself. I knew how to entertain myself for sure.

My sis and me and ol’ Joe

One of the things I enjoyed was playing cowboy. Of course I had real horses around, and I had the cowboy hat, and the toy guns and holsters. When I could talk Dad into playing cowboy that was good, but most of the time it was me, myself, and I.

Two cowpokes looking for trouble. Circa 1954-5

One day I decided I would hide my guns or I was mad at them for some reason. I really don’t remember the motivation, but I went into the outdoor toilet/privy/outhouse and dropped my toy guns into the open toilet hole. Wow, if you have ever gazed into the open hole of an outdoor toilet it is an ugly sight for sure. It has mounds of “Stuff” and of course many flies buzzing around, with an aroma in the summer that is indescribable.

A couple of days later I decided I wanted my toy guns back. What to do? I contemplated it a long time, I couldn’t ask for help as that would admit my stupidity. It was a conundrum….

I recently went into  an antique store in Longmont, Colorado and there in the glass case was one of my toy guns, an exact model that I threw down the toilet hole. The price tag said $49.95. So if someone out there is interested in excavating an old toilet hole for valuable toy guns, I can draw you a map and will stand by while you dig and split the profits. You may need to be crazy or fortify yourself with firewater for the task.