Pinehurst: Fourth Grade (2)

I was upset about one thing about fourth grade when I moved to Pinehurst. Mrs. Smith put me in the middle reading group! Now I was only in the fourth grade, but I already knew that I really belonged in the "high" reading group. I must have had a bit of pride about my reading ability. . .or the fact it was the fast reading group. It didn't take too long for her to switch me, but I was a bit traumatized at first I guess I didn't want the other kids would think I was just average. It was bad enough being "new."

For the first three years of grade school, I had ridden a bus, but at Pinehurst I walked to school. The walk wasn't that far, but I didn't like it when the wind blew. On windy days the trees would swish and roar. Because the wind blew from the west, it blew in my face on the way home, and I thought it might take my breath away. I didn't remember ever being afraid of the wind when I was younger, but then I always rode the bus. How I wished I could ride the bus on the windy days.

I started having stomach aches again that year. I don't know if they were caused by the move, change in schools, change in friends, the wind in my face on the walk home, or a combination of all of these. My mom got so concerned, she took me to Dr. Scott, and he put me in the hospital. I was really scared to stay in the hospital, but after I got settled in, I was fine. They did a bunch of tests on me, including putting a tube up my nose & down into my stomach to check on the fluids there. (Wasn't too keen on that.) They took chest x-rays, and who knows what else. They even tested me for tuberculosis. (They thought I had a tiny spot of tuberculosis on my lungs, so they gave me another patch test, and it was okay.) They really didn't find anything wrong.

Someone gave me a loom to make hotpads. It is a square metal object with teeth to stretch elastic bands across. I stretched the bands over the teeth across the loom in one direction, then I wove some bands the other direction - in and out of the original bands. When I had the loom filled, I removed the ends that were looped over the teeth by slipping the second through the first, third through the second, all the way around. The last end piece is slipped through the first one, tied in a knot, and becomes the loop used to hang the potholder.

I went through 2 bags of bands during the two days I was in the hospital. One bag had primarily cotton bands of black with blues, pinks, and whites - maybe other pastels or reds. The other bag was full of polyester green bands, with oranges, yellows and who knows what. I made hotpads for everyone who came to visit me, including Dr. Scott.

Fourth grade was the year we took a field trip to the Cataldo Mission for Idaho history. I thought it was a long way from Pinehurst, and in those days, you had to take the old road, as the freeway wasn't built from Pinehurst to the west, yet. We packed sack lunches and all the fourth grade classes went to the Mission in several school busses. It was cool to see the hand prints still in the mud of the walls, and to know that the entire structure was made without nails. (They used hand-made wooden pegs). We ate our lunches on the lawn. We might have toured the White's house next to the Mission, but I can't remember. I know I was in there one time, but it may have been years later with Mary Jo White. At the time we went, there was no visitor center.

The Beatles came on the scene in 1963, and we were all crazy about the Beatles and their music. There were four boys in Mrs. Wright's class who dressed up like the Beatles and "performed" some of their songs. I think it was just in her class, but all the fourth graders thought it was the most cool thing ever. I wish I could remember for sure who they were, but I think E. Hanson may have been one of them.