Educational Entertainment for Children for Little or No Money

There was normally a shovel in the trunk of my family's car.

If my father happened across a plot of land being cleared the resident brush and trees would be checked for their transplant suitability. All life has value and shouldn't be squandered. I have shared the backseat of a car with many root balls and scratchy, budding saplings and thorny brush.

If we happened across an injured animal - all other plans were put on hold - and assistance was rendered. I have shared the backseat of a car with many injured animals. If nothing could be done, the animals' body was moved reverently from the road and buried near where they were found.

Often we would return to the grave the next year and dig up the remains. The bones would be shoveled into a bag and transported home. I have shared the backseat of a car with many piles of bones. At home the bones would be boiled in my mother's pressure cooker (she was decidedly less than impressed) to remove any remaining meat and kill any germs. My father would then reconstruct the animal's skeleton. He drilled tiny holes at the end of the bones often using jeweler's glasses to see the smallest bones and wired them back together. Some joints he would stiffen. The skeletons would either be supported with stiffeners from the feet or held free moving from above.

There would often be several reconstructions going on at a time. I enjoyed watching him work and was certainly in the way. Once, probably to distract me, he let me create my own imaginary animal from a mixed pile of bones. I took the task very seriously. I was going to create the perfect animal. I wanted my animal to be friendly, able to fly, able to run fast, able to protect itself and comfortable in the water. This is how I remember my creation. For the head I choose a small skull with a long pointed snout and tearing canine teeth. It possibly belonged to a fox. The backbone, ribs and legs belonged to something the size and general shape of a raccoon. I couldn't determine which if any of the bones in the pile where for wings, so I just told my father that I wanted it to have wings and a fan like tail.