Escape from Disneyland

By Jil Carlson

When my husband wanted to move from our "crime infested" town (he had an electric drill stolen from his pick=up), I reluctantly agreed. Southern California in the mid 1950s was rapidly changing from a series of quiet suburbs into the frenzied conglomation known as "L.A." And, except for Disneyland, was not the ideal environment to raise our four little "baby Boomrers." My only criteria was that there be indoor plumbing. I should have gotten that in writing. Our transition was accomplished by agreeing to manage a small dairy farm nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains in northern California. The fact that we hadn't the foggiest notion of how to run a dairy (I thought we would personally pour the milk into individual little bottles)may have contributed to our being asked to leave after six trauma filled months. Since we had no money, no job, and apparently no sense-our solution to not having a home was to build one on a pay-as-you-go basis. If "Ma" and "Pa" Ingalls could build a "little house on the prairie," then so could we. It never occurred to us we would be more like "Ma and Pa Kettle. The experience did expand my manual skills. I learned to finish concrete, lay brick, install insulation, and put up dry-wall. I never did learn to stop leaping twenty feet into the air everytime I saw a snake, lizard, or spider in or anywhere near our domain. And nobody evern warned me agains raccoons, porcupines, and a mountain lion wanting to take up residence with us. Almost formidable was the culture shock of trying to adapt to a way of life where fine dining and "the theatre" was represented by a soiree" at the local grange. The definite pluses were a smog-free climate, clear sweet mountain water, rushing streams filled with trout and salmon, views of snow-capped mountains to the north and west, and meeting people who gave new meaning to the term "friends" and "neighbors." And having a mortgage-free house was the best plus of all.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1432769138
• ISBN13: 9781432769130
• Release Date: October 2011
• Publisher: Outskirts Press
• Length: 242 Pages
• Weight: 0.69 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.6" x 5.5"