Bill and Bob, Where Did You Come From (LaFond, Gehring, Imes ...

the south end of San Diego Bay, Tia Juana Slough and
even in a pond adjacent to our 10 acres. The gun was
also used to kill rabbits, especially in the Tia Juana
and Otay Valleys. My uncle's wife, Nora lmes, would
drive their big Buick. My uncle Harold would sit on
one fender and I would be on the other, and as rabbits
scampered across the road one of us would pick them off.
Exploring
What enjoyed most was exploring the waters and
salt ponds in the southern part of San Diego Bay, the
Tia Juana Sloughs and especially the beach. I learned to
swim in the muddy salt ponds near a rai I road trestle
where the muddy water was deeper. My grandfather
built me a shallow draft boat only 6 inches high and
12 feet long. This was used, with Raymond, in meandering
the channels of the salt ponds to explore and catch
mud suckers with bent pin hooks and line. Later I
acquired an old rowboat and duck boat, both of which
required considerable refurbishing. Although my mother
made me a sail from unbleached muslin, given to me by
Mrs. Babcock, it did not provide more mobi I ity since the
the boat lacked a keel and adequate rudder, and the
channels were so winding. We did venture out in the
southern end of the Bay and as far as the hog ranch
(now Coronado Cays) where garbage and trash from
Coronado were dumped •. Here we acquired discarded
baby buggy wheels which we used to construct a cart to
transport the boats to and from the water.
The Tia Juana Slough, then uninhabited, was even
more interesting. We discovered the location of cockle
beds, sanddollar concentrations, nests of, sea birds,
shark eggs, and dozens of interesting phenomena. On
the open beach were an abundance of sea shells. Large
conch shells were gathered for decorations to line
flower beds. The small donax shells would accumulate
on the beach in patches 1 to 2 inches thick. These
would be raked up in piles and shoveled into the wagon.
Some were ground up for chicken grit and others were
used to make a white but noisy covering for the driveway
to our house.
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