Play Time

I spent a lot of time under the side porch playing. From the age of three ‘til I was 9 or 10, that was my favorite place to play. The porch was high enough above the ground that I could walk around when I was a little guy and even when I got a little bigger it was not too uncomfortable. It was dry there and that made it a perfect place to make roads and towns and gravel pits and mines. I could leave my toys there and they would be ok. I don’t remember any of the other kids playing with me. They all seemed to have other things to do.
During World War II the area under the porch became Europe or the south Pacific, depending on how I felt or what was in the news that day. I had some toy cannons, tanks, airplanes and toy soldiers and fought a lot of battles against the Germans and the Japs. Although we didn’t have electricity we did have a radio that ran off a dry cell battery. It seems like the battery lasted quite a while but we might go for a week or two with out a radio because dad didn’t geta replacement.
About the only radio stations we could get were KDKA, Pittsburgh and WCKY Cincinnati, One Ohio. I the afternoon, when I came home from School, I would listen to the serials like Jack Armstrong, Terry and the Pirates, The lone Ranger, Tom Mix, and Sky King. In the evening, after the News with Lowell Thomas, we could listen to the Inner Sanctum, The Green Hornet, The Thin Man, or Dick Tracy.
In the winter time, after grandma died and we had the whole house I played in the room next to kitchen. That was my winter play room for several years. I had stacks of blocks and built a lot of houses and towns.