Hide Boy

By Michael Young

The autobiography of Michael Young following his life as he grew up in a small southern Colorado town and into his adulthood and retirement. The book is full of fun and adventure as he lived on a small farm and grew up with much adventure. It also tells of his finding God and walking with Him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael Young
• Release date: Jun 11, 2021
• ISBN: 9781087973371

Book preview

HIDE BOY

This is a story of my life as I grew up in a small town in Monte Vista, Colorado, beginning in 1957. Come along and see what it was like to grow up in the turbulent 1960s and 1970s, and follow me as I share my life into adulthood and retirement.

This account is to be shared with my children, grandchildren and beyond about what my life was like. What were my joys; what were my struggles; how did I grow up? What are the things that shaped me into the man I became? What lessons did I learn; what wisdom did I appropriate that could be passed on to future generations of Youngs? This is my account, my autobiography. My apologies to my siblings, who may have differing recollections of our life.

I, Michael Philip Young, was born on May 14, 1957, in Del Norte hospital in Del Norte, CO. The fourth child of Gerald and Marjorie Young. The third son. My birth was uneventful except for one thing: mistakes by my parents in reading and reviewing my birth certificate. My parents began to celebrate my birthday on May 15, and that date was not correct. Also, I came to discover that my middle name was spelled with one l not two on my official birth certificate. I was named for my maternal grandfather Philip Schaefer.

My Mom has one story about when I was very little, maybe 18 months old, and able to stand up in my crib. She related that I would jabber and jabber so much, not able to form words yet, she remarked that I would probably be a preacher.

Well, I never became a preacher, but I did attempt to live my life on mission for Jesus. She was correct, though, I am a talker and anyone who knows me understands that I am an over-sharer of great proportions.

Learning to Walk

First Birthday

I celebrated my birthday on May 15 until I was 33 years of age, and then I had to get an official passport. As I sent in the documentation for this instrument, I realized I had been celebrating my birthday on the wrong day, and that my middle name had one, not two l’s. It had been spelled incorrectly by someone producing my birth certificate, I was named Philip, not Phillip. I had to correct all official documentation that had been established to the correct date and name, and I began to celebrate my birthday on May 14, not May 15. Surprise!

Family

Brothers and Sister

HOME

My family lived in Monte Vista, Colorado on a small 40-acre farm in a home that was built in 1895, which had modern conveniences added later, like a bathroom and the kitchen. There eventually were 7 of us total: Mom and Dad, David, Jerry, Susan, me, and Cindy. The house was just 750 square feet, tiny, with 7 people using one bathroom. My parents slept on what was the porch that had been finished into a bedroom. I shared a very small bedroom with my other two brothers David and Jerry, who were 5 and 7 years older than me. Triple bunk beds and a fairly non-existent closet. My sisters slept in a small bedroom of their own.

This tiny home had no central heat, and of course, no air conditioning. There was a small propane stove in the living room that was supposed to heat the house. That didn’t happen. A wood stove stood in the corner and was stoked daily with wood that was retrieved from the lumber mill nearby, scraps of 2x4s that warmed the house. The smoke it would produce in the house was unbearable at times, but I sure enjoyed the heat that came from that thing, and how it warmed my pajamas before crawling into a very cold bed!

Ready for Church

Early Christmas

Monte Vista was situated in the Southern Colorado mountains in the San Luis Valley. It was a high-mountain park that was 100 miles long and 70 miles wide surrounded by the Sangre De Cristo mountain range, which included several 14,000-foot peaks. The San Juan Mountains to the west and south were rugged but much lower in elevation. The elevation of Monte Vista was 7,666 feet, and the winters were bitter cold. Temperatures dropped down to 30 and 40 degrees below zero due to cold air drainage into the Valley from the surrounding peaks.

My Favorite Picture of Me

With the Cousins

This posed a problem for me and my family, this bitter cold. Living in an old home with little to no insulation and sparse heat provided challenges. My mom and dad could stoke the wood fire before retiring for bed, but of course, the wood would burn down and the house become stone-cold. I would sometimes wake up with what seemed to be frost on my blankets, and the windows coated with ice. It was so cold getting up in the morning and I didn’t want to leave my bed throughout the night, even to go to the bathroom. Brrrr! Mom would get up before everyone else and get the fire going again, and the house began to warm up. It was a challenge for all of us.

The old home was situated on 40 acres of land that included an old barn built at the same time as the house, along with stone cellars. Sandstone quarried from nearby provided the structures of the cellars and garage. The barn was made of wood that was decaying and made the barn unstable. The fields were planted in alfalfa, which was harvested in the summer. There was an area that was called the pasture and it’s where the irrigation drainage ditch emptied freely on the land and provided a bit of a swamp where native grass grew. The small ponds it produced were teeming with tadpoles, and my brothers and sisters and I spent hours trying to catch them.

This 40 acres was a virtual playground for children. The haystacks were a great fort; the cellars provided hiding places, the barn was a scary place where the imaginations of children went wild. The ragweeds that grew were a great place to lie in and hide and look up into the sky and watch the clouds go by on a lazy day. The ant piles provided hours of enjoyment as we marshaled the ants to do our bidding. The irrigation ditch was a place to make boats out of sticks and watch them float away as we ran alongside. The big barrels where the family burned our trash provided the necessary elements to fry grasshoppers and pretend to eat them.

Ready for Church

An Outing with Family

THE EARLY YEARS

As I was growing up on this small farm, I had access to three horses. One was a huge Palamino horse named Suzy that was so overweight that a little boy’s legs had a hard time splaying across her back. And so difficult to catch! She didn’t want to be ridden one bit, but you had to corner her and quickly insert the bridle. Once she was caught, she was ok, but she sure resisted. The other two horses were quarter horses, and only brother David rode them. Children were not allowed. Hours were spent riding Suzy up and down the fields, coaxing her to run at times, which was no small feat. She would tramp through the grasses and the water of the pasture, and the children would be cowboys and Indians rescuing the fair maiden from distress, shooting the bad guys that came along. Such marvelous adventures and fun!

Riding Horses

I remember one particular Christmas where we received a snow sled with wooden runners. I think I was age 7 or 8. This sled was a beautiful work of art, and so much fun as we slid down the snow-covered ramp that was used to load farm animals into trucks. But for us, that got boring quickly, so I had a bright idea. Why not hitch the sled to Suzy the horse, and she could pull us in the snow-laden fields? One person riding on Suzy, one on the sled. So with great effort, we caught Suzy and saddled her. We found a long rope and tied the sled to the saddlehorn of the saddle. Then we coaxed Suzy to the field that had the greatest length for the longest ride. I asked my sister Cindy to pull me first on the sled. With much difficulty, she coaxed Suzy into a run as she rode her, and the sled glided through the snow.

But there was one problem. The rope wasn’t long enough, and Suzy kicked up snow, mud, and manure as her sharp hooves dug into the long field. I could hardly see as I was propelled forward, and I was covered in all she kicked up. Great fun, but such a mess! We took turns, and as was often Suzy’s proclivity, she wanted to get back into the safety of the barn away from the crazy children. So as we were standing and discussing how to make our rides more pleasant, she took off on her own. She drug the new wood-runner sled too close to the barn at a full gallop and tore off one of the runners. Broken! Heartache. But it was fun while it lasted!

Our supposed fun sometimes often ended in pain or agony, especially as we would jump off the very top of the haystack with our improvised parachute made of an old sheet. As we floated to the ground, we realized that this was not a good idea as we got sprained ankles and arms.

Of course, there were always chores to attend to. We raised pigs and sheep and cows and chickens that would provide meat for our family. I began raising rabbits for 4-H, a club that helped develop animal husbandry skills. Every morning in subzero weather, I had to go out and feed and water the rabbits. It was miserably cold, but it had to be done. Feed the pigs, give hay to the cows, etc. Break the ice in the watering troughs or carry hot water from the house to unfreeze the ice so animals could drink. I loved the animals and I didn’t mind chores, even though I had to do them before school. I loved being outside and connected with nature.

BIRTHDAYS

I have two birthdays that I remember vividly. The first was my 5th birthday. That particular birthday was special at the Young household, and I don’t know why. I just remember I had so many boys show up for my birthday at our house. I knew them from my kindergarten class and Sunday school. We played in the yard, and it seems we each got a stick horse to ride, but my memory of that is fuzzy. What I most remember was getting so many presents, the most presents and toys I had ever received. It was so much fun! I also remember that my Aunt Lucille (Mom’s older sister) stopped by too, and I got two books from her. I actually didn’t want books, and especially the ones she gave me. I wanted Dr. Seuss’s books, and she didn’t come through. I did not express gratitude to my Aunt for her thoughtful gift, and my Mom chastised me after she left. I knew my attitude was wrong, and I felt bad.

Fifth Birthday

I have one other vivid memory from when I was 5 years old. It was my parents recognizing that I needed glasses. I had a big ball jar one day and was trying to catch daddy long-leg spiders, a favorite pastime of mine. I remember having a jar full of those spiders, and I was on the porch of our house, and I began to see them crawl out of the jar and all over my hands and arms. I don’t believe that was what was actually happening, but it seems my eyes were deceiving me. Of course, I yelled bloody murder, and my Mom came to see what the problem was. I was scared, but she couldn’t figure out why.

I believe this is the incident that gave them a reason to go get my eyes checked. I needed glasses. So I began trying to get used to those instruments of torture on my face. I remember I bugged my kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Davis, to death asking to clean my new glasses several times a day. She became impatient with me, yet I finally got used to them. I always wore glasses and still do today as an old man. I couldn’t get used to sticking a contact in my eye, and I had a bad case of astigmatism.

The other birthday that I remember so well was an ice skating party that my parents put together late in the spring way before my birthday arrived in May. We would ice skate on ponds and rivers and Home Lake. We would have to clear off the snow and reveal the smooth ice below. One particular Saturday night, my parents invited my friends to an ice skating party on Home Lake. They built several fires on the ice so we could keep warm and see where we were going. There was a large area of ice cleaned off to form a rink, but we also cleared snow with the snow shovel and produced trails outside of the rink area. To skate on these trails was very spooky because you really couldn’t see where you were going very well. The ice below was always creaking and snapping as it grew and heaved as it floated on the covered lake. They fixed hot dogs for all of us, and we ate s’mores. So much fun! I remember coming home from that party fulfilled, so tired and so grateful to my parents. Each of us children didn’t seem to get a lot of individual attention because there was always so much to do just to survive as a family, but our parents did try to make us feel special at times. This was one of those times for me.

TROUBLE

There was one instance when I was probably 8