HESCH HISTORY

Ok, north Sauk Rapids in 1965 or so.  (And yes, I do have too much time on my hands tonight...lol)

When we built the house at 1004, we were the ONLY house in front of a few trees and a huge wheat/corn field.  The nearest neighbors were Shaws on the farm across the road, and Bigleys, a young family at the top of the hill.

                                                                                                         

'Our' house is STILL that robins egg blue, only very very faded, but the sapling in the front yard is 45 years old now, and so are the pine trees we jumped over when dad planted 'em.  They're about 50 feet tall. 

What we called "the woods" was a natural drainage ditch from the field behind the house. Larsons had used it's edges to pile rocks from the field. 

The "end of the woods" was a massive willow tree that we made into a really COOL fort.  (No wonder I have a willow in my yard now). 
 
Maybe a block beyond the end-of-the-woods was a lone oak tree with a substantial limb that curved out to the south.  In the summer, it's where I took a bag of crab apples and my current book.  I'd climb onto that limb, rest my back against the trunk and be alone there. I could see all around me, and figured I was invisible among the leaves.  It held exactly one kid, and it was heaven.

These days, I have a client who lives in the housing development in that field, so I'm up there alot.  My reading tree....is still there, and it's on the lawn of the school that was built in that field:

THAT makes me happy.