THE LIFE STORY OF CAROL JANE PRICE AGLE - PART 5

ARIZONA

Our first home in Arizona was out in the country. It was a beautiful old home on a large piece of property so Dad could be a "gentleman farmer."

We had some chickens, and a cow, a little Jersey who gave extremely rich milk. The property had 2 date palm trees, 2 fig trees, some grapefruit, lemon and orange trees and my favorite, 2 HUGE pecan trees that were wonderful for climbing.

There was only one family nearby and they had a little girl, a few years younger than me but that was better than nothing - - until- - her mother found out I was a MORMON!!! That ended that. So no friends to play with but a wonderful yard to play in. 

Church was also a little difficult because we were UTAH MORMONS!

Of course being in the country there were no sidewalks, but we did have a long cement driveway and I was so thrilled when my Daddy brought home some roller skates for me. I practically wore that drive out going up and down, up and down!

Not me but pretty close!

Dad also built me a pair of stilts and I became very good at walking on them. In fact one day Mother asked me to go get the mail. It was in the summer and HOT and I didn’t want to put on shoes so I got on my stilts,  walked down the driveway, across the steaming hot asphalt to the mailbox across the street. Just as I got there, I felt a slight tickle on my lower leg. I looked down and saw a black widow! I dropped those stilts so fast and I don’t think my feet even touched the asphalt running back home. I don’t know what happened to the spider!

About this time, Mary Ann decided she didn’t want to be called MARY ANN any more but only ANN. Well most anything Mary Ann did, I had to do also, so instead of CAROL JANE I became just JANE!

At the back of our house a lean-to had been built and our washing machine was there. Many nights I would go outside, climb up on the washer and then on the lean-to roof and then on to the roof top of the house. I would lie down and look at the stars. Being out in the country there were no street lights and so it was very dark. The stars in the desert are magical. So bright and really . . if my arms had been just a little longer, I could have reached them. 

Another fond memory I had was walking about a half mile to the bus stop and riding to the end of the line where they had a farm that raised ducks. I bought two ducklings and rode the next bus home. Those ducks followed me everywhere (they thought I was their mother!). Our property was watered by irrigation. Bermuda grass does well with occasional deep watering and when it was our turn for the water, it flooded the lawns that were designed to hold about 6-8 inches of water. It was my ducky’s favorite day. I would go running through the water with those two ducks following me everywhere. So fun!

A very vivid experience in my early days in second grade has certainly stayed with me. The teacher said something like let’s name some stores in Phoenix. Hands shot up and as she called on the children they named, Penneys, Woolworths, Korricks, Goldwaters, finally she called on me and I was so excited because no one had named ZC M I. 

Me: Z C M I!!!

Teacher: WHAT?

Me: Z C M I.

Teacher: WHAT IS THAT?????

Me: ummm a store?

Teacher: WE DONT HAVE A STORE IN PHOENIX NAMED THAT. IT MUST BE A  UTAH MORMON STORE!

It was downhill for me the rest of that year. That was one mean teacher!