The Grandparents' Broken Swing Set

Our grandparents swing set was broken by two of my less than slender older cousins hanging from the top rail. We thought that grandpa and the uncles would have it fixed in days. But all that happened was the set was dismantled and taken away.

Whenever we went for Sunday dinners or we dropped in for something, the grandkids were sent to the basement. We were put to work taking apart broken, smashed, or old metal milk boxes, the type your milk was delivered to your house then, instead of playing. We all thought we were being punished for the swing set being broken

Our grandfather was the night maintenance man at A&E Dairy in Des Moines, Iowa and for years he had brought the boxes home.

We were to carefully remove rivets and hinges. The older grandkids folded the sides, top, and bottoms flat. We took the insulation slabs out of the insides and set them aside.

The slabs were layered everywhere in a small room above the stairway to the backyard and basement. Our grandma used it for cool storage for food and other stuff. Even the door had about three inches of slab insulation on the inside.

Soon there were six stacks of sorted pieces of milk boxes about three and a half feet tall. Then grandfather made what he called "JIGS" for something he wanted to make. They were for cutting, folding, and bending metal pieces.

Soon all the grandkids got involved in working with the JIGS. Our grandparents didn't believe that girls couldn't do maintenance work any more than boys shouldn't know how to work in the kitchen.

None of us were told what we were making or why. We were to figure it out for ourselves because we were expected to think out things. You could tell when the light went on when someone stopped stared, smiled, and go back to work. Maybe some even started whistling or chuckling softly.

At eight years old I was one of the last ones to see what we were working on, but no idea why or what for.

After all the folding, cutting, and bending were done the older grandkids, uncles, and grandpa started drilling hundreds of holes per the patterns that grandpa had made for them.

When the first one was riveted together it was a metal open box 24 inches long by 8 inches tall. The angled ends were 6 inches wide at the bottom and 9 inches at the top.

After each one was built it had to be lightly cleaned and polished ensuring the pebbly metal surface glowed. Then they were taken out to the garage stacked with paper between them and then covered with a tarp.

I didn't hear how many there were, but it was a lot.

After they were finished they just sat in the garage for a long time, maybe three weeks.

Early on one Saturday, they were all loaded into Grandpa's pickup and Uncle Jimmy's station wagon. They just drove away.

Sunday, we found out that, they had sold all of those boxes, which were metal flower/plant holders for the graves next week on Monday, May 27 Memorial Day in 1957.

That Holiday dinner was late because we all went to the cemetery to put our flowers on our graves too.

As we all drove up the alley to the grandparents' house there was a truck and three men erecting the biggest swing set I had ever seen outside of the park or school.

There were three swings, two slides, two trapeze swings, a baby bucket swing, and a two-person glider. We all stared at the wonder of this playground that was ours to play in.

Grandma and pa shouted for us to be quiet and pay attention. "You've all worked to pay for this set. Plus you made people happy to have very nice plant holders for their passed loved ones. They will use them for years and be pleased."

When I was buying this I saw something I hadn't seen before. I took a ride on it and then checked if I had enough money to pay for it too. Luckily I did." said grandpa He pointed at the covered truck and two men opened the back and slide out a ten-foot ramp out and carried it up to the house under the kitchen window.

The ramp was about twenty-four inches high, and had a round rail on each side with two-foot flat spot at the top and then angling down to about two inches at the bottom. There were two flat plates in the middle of the ramp.

Then they went and got a little cart out and placed it on the top of the ramp clipping a stop in place at the back to secure it in place. The four wheels rode on the flat plates and there were pieces that went partly around the rails to keep the cart aligned and from tipping over. The cart had a handrail on both sides to hold on to. My cousin who had been sick a short time before was the first person to ride it.

They unlocked the stop, he was given a small push and down the ramp, he went. The yard gently slopped down from the house and he rolled for about forty-five feet before it stopped. The neighbors came outside to see what the yelling about and stayed to watch the kids having so much fun.

We all rode the ride for years; the wooden base was replaced many times over those years.

I have never seen another ride like it, but when I think about it and the plant holders our family made that year I always smile for a long time.