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Back in 1973
Our Father moved us to Roseville Ca.
We lived in
a little shack of a house on PFE Road near the Curve directly across the road
from the Pacific Railroad main switching yards. And Yes, we lived there when
the railroad trains full of US military bombs, caught fire and exploded one
early Saturday morning back in April 1973. It was a frightening moment in time,
which we will never forget. (That’s another One Time Ago story)
I and my
Twin brother Todd were still in the 8th
grade and when we moved to
Roseville, it was
several months into the 1973 school year at Dry
Creek
Elementary. Dry Creek Elementary was a
very small school and the 7th
& 8th grade students
were taught in the same classroom. Our older
brother Jody was in his freshman
year of High
school and was now going to Roseville High
School.
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| Dry Creek Elementary - Roseville, Ca. - Tom Stover Photo |
We soon made
some new friends and the cool thing was, me and my twin brother Todd were good
friends with Curt, who was the younger brother of our older brother Jody’s good
friend Tal. We spent our high school years as best of friends. That was the
best of times back then that we cherish to this day!
Fast Forward
to 1974
So Curt and
Tal lived on Booth Road (Just past Denio’s Market & Auction) on acreage
that butted up to Dry Creek. We would help pick grapes in the nearby grape
orchards and also helped Curt with water irrigation piping he was paid by an
elderly neighbor to move around to water her pastures. We would have a few Bond-fire
parties, hunt, fish, at the creek and dreamed of the day when we were going to buy
two old 1962 Ford Falcons and make a race track in the dirt at the back of Tal
and Curt’s property and race each other! We didn’t have any money back then so
it never happened. Truth be told, I don’t think their parents would have let us
anyways.
 |
| Chat GPT illustration |
Curt was one
year older than me and my twin
brother Todd and his grandparents bought him a
Baby
Blue 1974 Ford Pinto when he got his
learners permit to drive at 15-1/2 years
old and he
would take us everywhere in that car. Plus, Curt
drove me and Todd
home after school a lot that
year, all the way from Roseville to Loomis, after
we moved there in December of 1974.
 |
| Not Curt's Pinto but this is what it looked like - Same color |
HATCHBACK BABY!
– Hey? Don’t
laugh… it was great on gas, and I
believe he could get it above 60Mph in 35 seconds or so, well maybe with one
person in it. Ok that’s funny right there. We would listen to Deep Purple, Led
Zepplin, or Tower of Power music on his state of the art 8-track tape player! –
Yer laughing again. On the weekends we would go to the Roseville bowling alley or
Birdcage walk to play some pinball or go to Citrus Heights Drive-in movie to
watch R rated movies - Like Confessions of a Window Washer (LOL) Cruised
Sunrise Mall and of course, who could not forget Douglas Blvd Jack-in-The-Box in
Roseville – We hardly ever went inside because the parking lot was where all
the action was! That’s where a lot of other students and young adults hung out
and Wild & Crazy stuff happened!
We also went cruising for late night parties
at Folsom lake or the Curve - I believe it was at Vineyard Rd & Crowder
Lane or we would end up at some unknown person’s house that we heard about and
just showed up at and that also meant drinking alcohol and smoking something, getting
the munchies etc. We listened to the best music ever made back then -
(Train-kept-a-rolling-all-night-long, Train-kept-a… Oh sorry, I got swept back into
the cool 70’s man!
Well, anyways,
we got this idea to go search for baby ducklings at the nearby Roseville’s City
waste water treatment facility on Booth Road, located about a block away from
their house. We were going to raise the
baby ducklings at Curt and Tal’s house and either sell them or eat them? Just
kidding! The ducks were going to be our pets. You know like, Give the duckies some
cool pet names like Disco Duck or Waddle Boy and teach-em tricks and stuff. They
would have a good life and eat the best Duck food money could buy or at least
whatever we could afford and was on sale – which also depended on how many
empty soda bottles we cashed in that week. We would spoil them with home grown
garden veggies & love.
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| My Friend Ned's Photo |
FYI - The
Roseville Waste Water Treatment Facility is where all the peoples Sewage from
Roseville, Rocklin, Loomis and a few other small towns’ go to for treatment.
One night we
decided to hop the fence at the one evaporation Pond at the time (It’s now filled
in and grass grows very well there!) and search for baby duckies in little
patches of bushes all along the pond.
We had flashlights to help us see and we
had to be very very quiet. Like Elmer Fudd when he’s “Wookin for Wabbits”
Shhhh! And I believe I remember we almost caught a few.
Then I guess word
traveled quickly around the pond and we ended up not seeing any signs of ducky’s
after that.
The excitement of possibly catching one as we got closer to each
bush was the “Thrill of it All” perhaps, or was it? But wait! - There’s more! -
The story doesn’t end here, read on!
On one side of
the pond there was a creek separated by a chain link fence named Dry Creek and has
lots of wilderness areas where Muskrats, Beavers, Raccoon’s, Ducks, and Egrets
that look like Cranes etc. all co-exist and eat berries and nuts and or hunt
for small fish and other amphibious creatures like crawdads to munch on. Bigger
fish like Salmon migrate up this creek during spawning season each year.
As we walked
down each side of the pond, we would whisper to each other to be quiet! And
then… I think it was me who first spotted something moving about 100 feet in
the distance but it was way too dark to see what it was. “Hey! What’s that!?” I
blurted out! - “I think it’s moving towards us!?” “What is it?” someone else
asked. Was it a Bird? A Plane? Or maybe it’s a Cat? – Heeere Kitty-Kitty.
“HURRY! – WHO HAS THE FLASHLIGHT!” --- I see this black thing coming
towards me, while someone shines the flashlight towards whatever it was, still
not sure what it could be and then I see a white patch “Oooooh SH---T! - ITS-A-SKUNK!”
Someone
didn’t believe me at first and said I was joking (which I do a lot) but I
wasn’t joking this time.
Then I hear
someone else yell “SKUNK!” and they all took off! But Umwa - at that split second in time, went into flight or
fright panic mode, and I just stood there watching this skunk coming towards me
for some unexplained reason,
but when I heard another person yell out loud once
again “SKUNK!” I was instantly brought back to reality.
Just then
the skunk started moving even faster and I just happened to be the
closest.
(dam that fright mode cost me big time) and I believe, I
became it’s locked-on target because just then, I see this little varmint turn
it’s self around and is Literally running backwards, straight at me! Getting ready to
unleash its stink bomb! –
I had never personally witnessed that before and I
was like - What the? As the Skunk Lifted its tail even higher and that’s when I
did the Hokey-Pokey and quickly turned myself around as well!
(I guess High
School square dance class came in Handy after all? – Anyways, I started running
as fast as I could! Kind of – Sort of not
really knowing which direction I was going! But I did know, I did NOT want to get sprayed by
this Ass-Backwards thing chasing me!
I yelled “RUN-RUN!!!” The four of us are running towards the fence
near the gate to climb the heck out of there! (In-The –Dark) and kind of – remember
hearing screaming! - Well – maybe it was only me screaming ---
I was
running but trying to look back at the same time (In the Dark) to see where this
freakin Mad-Max Skunk was and if it
was gaining on us! - I sure as heck did not want to be sprayed, or do they
squirt it at you? Either way even though I was like 20 feet or so behind all
the others, I Somehow, was able to catch up to Curt, as we were both now
running side by side in the dark. Our adrenaline levels were in overdrive I
tell you!
Now I’m trying
to look back with my eye balls straining to my right and not really looking
ahead as me and Curt were ---Running --- Towards who knows where? (IN THE DARK)
and then suddenly… we both run into a huge mountain of….??? It came out of
No-where, And we both instantly stop. WHAT THE? - WHATS-HAPPENING? - WHAT IS THIS?
This big hill of something just happened
to appear in front of us both and we ran right into it? I think I was stuck almost
up to my knees! I don’t remember how bad Curt was stuck but I do remember all
of a sudden I couldn’t move.
So apparently,
all of the sewage solids (Hint Hint) are scraped off before the rest of the
sewage is treated and this fenced off pond area is where they pile the
Excrement into large piles inside a fenced off area and locked gate, you know,
health safety issue thingy.
Oh ya back
to the story!
Aaaand Action!
I don’t know
how deep Curt was stuck, but I was now instantly stuck Knee deep and I can’t
move – At first I’m thinking what the hell is this stuff? And why is it so mushy
and thick? – And, I can’t move?
One quick sniff test, told me exactly what it
was. “OHHHH SHEEET!” Literally – It
was something like you would see in a comedy movie but this was for reals S@#!T
- Mixed with who knows what else!? - Amazing how during that fright or flight
thing - In flight mode, your mind can process Q & A stuff so quickly to yourself ? – And also just then my
mind quickly remembered – OH YA! – “SKUNK!!!!
- WHERE’S THE SKUNK!” I yelled out! - While my two brothers and Curt’s
brother Tal, are already climbing the fence!
Luckily, the
Skunk retreated and disappeared – because me and Curt were sitting ducks! - How
Ironic is that right?
Me and Curt
would have definitely got it good!
Either way we still got Stunked!
I can still picture in my mind thinking - That
skunk and all those other critters, Raccoon’s, Rabbit’s, Beaver’s and Ducks,
all laughing at us that night. The “Wild Ones” high fiving each other! - Lifting that skunk up on their shoulders as their Hero and stuff…. Laughing, Celebrating
and Chanting all through the night with their Victory Party against…
The Humans!
Who’s
complaining? I have come to accept “The Agony of Defeat” from that night, a
long time ago. Well kind-a Sort-of.
I was 14 years old – and who doesn’t forget running for your life for the very first
time! And let’s just leave it at that.
Oh ya, So, I
had to somehow get unstuck without using my hands and I started twisting and
turning and slowly got myself out. I don’t remember much after that exact moment
back then, other than Curt didn’t go as deep into the $!%T as me and was able to
get himself out sooner.
I had to get Un-STUNK ASAP! – I remember thinking… How, am I
going to clean this crap off my shoes and also get the smell out? - Those white
tennis shoes were the only pair that I had back then (we didn’t have much money
back in those days) and I knew my dad would be pissed if he had to buy me
another pair because I didn’t watch where I was going, while being chased, no
make that, hunted down by a killer Skunk! (I don’t think he would have bought
that?)
So that
night, I had to scrub and scrub with dish detergent and douse them repeatedly
with Listerine (LOL) So I could wear them to school the following Monday.
I think I
did a good job because I didn’t notice any strange looks or see any classmates
or teachers sniffing the air during class that day at school. I believe I eventually
ended up getting new shoes later because even though the smell was gone, the
fact was, my shoes were white and you could still see smudges of brown stains
that just would not come out? I believe I got some Denio’s Auction Specials!
Looking back on it all now… I
realized how lucky I was, and very thankful I didn’t end up face planting.
Well, That’s – That
– Oh, one
more thing - here is a related little
footnote –
Another friend/Classmate
from Dry Creek School and Roseville High school, named Edward and his family
and I believe his Aunt and uncle’s family owned and lived in houses on property
right next to that Roseville Treatment facility and one year the two families
got a notice that the treatment facility was expanding and the city of
Roseville was now going to need their property and did the eminent domain
thing. I don’t know how it all transpired but Edward’s family had a house moving
company dissect their home into like four? Sections and each section was moved
to another location nearby and put back together. They did a masterful job. I had
never heard of or seen that done before and was amazed that was even possible
back then.
Author – Tom
Stover
Re-edited Oct
11, 2025
Quack-Quack
