When I think of growing up in Eureka I can't help but think of the animals. Not the dogs and cats that wandered the town but other creatures, although the four legged beasts seemed to be in abundance. What I remember the best were the chickens. I kind of miss those chickens.

    

   Every morning on the way to school I'd go through alleys and you didn't have to go far before finding yourself in front of a chicken coop. I'd reach down and grab a handful of grass and pitch it over the wire fence. Soon, you would have the entire flock of chickens running your way. After awhile they got to know you and sort of expected you to feed them.

    

   A big thrill was finding a frog and throwing it to the critters. That would cause a big fight among the brood. Every one of those chickens thought it owned the frog. I thought it resembled a football game with the frog being the football. An even bigger thrill came when you launched a garter snake into the assembled fowl. If you have never seen a dozen chickens playing tug of war with a snake, well, I think you've missed something.

    

   Chickens presented another lesson in life. Every year our neighbors, the Koerners, butchered chickens. On a summer morning several crates of chickens would appear in their backyard. Mr. Koerner would take his hatchet, grab a chicken by the feet, place it over a tree stump and with one quick swoop remove the head of the unsuspecting animal. The headless bird would jump around for a minute much to the amazement of the neighborhood kids. Of course we would then determine which of the now headless birds was the best jumper.

    

   I suppose some people would think this whole episode was cruel. It wasn't done for amusement, it was just the way it was done. Soon, Mrs. Koerner would gather the deceased fowl and begin the process of cleaning. We watched but didn't offer to help. The birds were eviscerated and feathers plucked. We would go into the basement where Mrs. Koerner would hold the almost clean birds over a kerosene stove to burn off the pin feathers. She would thoroughly wash the chickens and wrap them before putting them in the freezer.

    

   In one day the neighborhood kids got a lesson about food courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. Koerner. It wasn't the only lesson we got.

    

   > Mr. Koerner didn't want anybody going into his storage shed. It was a little brick building in the back of their house. There was a time when that shed was some type of smokehouse. It always smelled like sausage when you walked into that building so we thought it smelled good and was a nice place to visit. Mr. Koerner knew we liked to visit it too but didn't much care for us being in there because it housed his tools and garden stuff.

    

   So, Mr. Koerner informed us that the place was home to a "boogie man." We didn't know what a "boogie man" was but the name gave us the creeps. So we decided to stay away but once in awhile took a quick peek through the window to try and catch a glimpse of the creature. We never did see the boogie man and I suppose that was fine with Mr. Koerner.

    

   The other thing I remember about the Koerners was their garden. Immaculate. It was the same with the Mr. and Mrs. Werner who lived across the street. These people took great care with what they planted. That presented a problem with kids playing baseball.

    

   If one of the kids would hit a ball into one of those gardens you had to know three things before beginning any retieval. First, determine the approximate location of the ball. Second, put on a great acting job that you weren't about to step foot in the forbidden zone. Third, quickness was a major factor in not being detected. I wonder how many garden plants fell victim to a kid's sneaker. Still, we seemed to get caught half the time and were reminded to stay out of the gardens.

    

   It must not have been all bad as every Halloween we got our share of treats. That's another story for another time.

Written by VJ Smith (EHS Class of 73)