Minnedosa Childhood

 Here's my bedroom, the window on the left. I endured an endless amount of teasing from a handful of kids for living above a Chicken Delight. The awnings above the lucky dollar foods (used to be Burgess) could be accessed from the next apartments. We often had epic water battles on this street, using the awnings as a sniper perch, with a full 5 gallon pail being our weapon of choice.

 

I used to hang out on these steps with the local ruffians. We'd chill out and listen to music on my ghetto blaster. 8 D cells it took.

 

Here's the laundromat we used to hang in after hours. It was open 24/7 with washing machines all over and a few arcade games inside. The laundry soap vending machine could be defeated with a strong magnet tied to a string as it was made of a non-ferrous metal. We played arcades for free with this trick. I wonder if they ever caught on?

 

This dollar store was a pool hall and arcade when I first moved to the town. I spent a lot of time there in the first few months.

 

The scene of my first and only major bicycle accident. I tried to take the turn onto this street too sharply with a paperbag on the wrong side of my person. As a result I wiped out and slid from the stop sign to the curb. Every part of my body not covered in denim had a thick scab for the next month.

 

My first capitalist venture was undertaken at this corner store. I rented out my Sega Genesis on consigment. Net profit: $55

 

I walked down this back alley to the gate in the fence in the distance to cross over the bridge to the brokenhead river to get to school every morning. The "cool kids" used to hang out on this bridge, shaking it back and forth violently trying to break it from it's moorings.

 

The pumphouse bike jump. Go too fast and you'll hit the bricks. There was a step on the back of this building that we used to hide our adult magazines under. Behind the pumphouse was a large wreckage of some building that was never hauled away, lots of cement slabs everywhere, perfect for playing war with friends.

 

The fairgrounds home to the Minnedosa Rodeo. More amusing however, home to a snake den. In the spring we would grab snakes by the bucket and terrorize the town. The hills in the background were perfect for toboganning on, and the bush was perfect for partying in. Also the first place I had ever held and later fired a loaded rifle.

 

We used to fish and swim in the spillway at the base of the man-made lake. The beach a little further up was groomed twice a week with a tractor when I was kid. Free of sticks and glass!

 

One of the town doctor's families lived here in "The Castle". I think it's a bed and breakfast now? I spent a lot of time here with the kids, mostly playing on the trampoline. Across the street was the dentist.

 

I could go on for hours with memories of this town, but I'll cut it there.