Gladiator Play in Rigby

When I was little, and spending a week with grandparents in Rigby, Idaho, I went with my brother Weldon and my cousin Danny Green to a movie about Gladiators.  I imagine it was "Spartacus and the Ten Gladiators" which came out in 1964.  We were totally overcome by the fighting in the movie. We especially enjoyed the scenes in the arena where gladiators would show their strength against each other in battles to the death.  Being boys, we were determined to become gladiators ourselves.  It just so happens that Rigby at the time had a gladiator ring.  I don't know if this was an old fountain or wading pools, but it was perfect for gladiator wars as it served as a coliseum.  The cement structure was about three feet deep, circular, had a step down along the edge all the way around, and gave suitable space for fighting.  
We we made to this arena at the Rigby Park for some reenacting.  My younger brother Charlie joined us for this expedition even though he had not seen the movie.  We armed ourselves with stick swords and spears and had tournaments to see who would sin.  It made for an exciting afternoon.
One type (of course who can prevent every such occurrence) in chopping my younger brother I banger his elbow with my stick.  He took to crying.  A passerby in a car, rolled down her window and expressed her disgust over the way we were abusing each other, and beating on each other with sticks.  She nagged at us for a bit before heading on her way.  We had a good laugh at her expense after she had gone.
Charlie's elbow wasn't the only casualty, we all banged a finger at least once.  We were trying to act out, rather than actually fight our battles.  But anyway, accidents happen.  In trying to make our activities lifelike we could not always control our swings.
It seemed we shortly became bored with this game, mostly due to the injuries.  It must have been some pretty serious boredom, because I do not ever remember playing "Gladiator" again.

Skinny Dippin' by Charlie Wardle

“Skinny Dippin’” by: Charlie Wardle
One day while we were at Granma Wardle’s in Rigby, Idaho, Dad decided that he would take us boys and some of our cousins to his old swimming hole for a swim.  Since we didn’t have any swimming suits with us, Dad said it would be alright to go skinny dipping.  When Uncle Olsen heard this, (he was very strict with his children) he told his two boys that if they even got a little wet, he’d beat them.
Dad assured Mother and Aunt Verna that his swimming hole was where no one could see us.  It ended up being about twenty yards away from a busy highway.
Dad’s swimming hole was a great big canal with a small ditch that ran along the side of it.  The place where we were swimming had about five great big trees and a rope hanging from one of the trees to swing across.  Dad said there used to be a diving board when he used to swim, but it was gone.
The people that ended up going were Dad, Weldon, bill, Charlie, the two Olsen boys and Danny Green.  The canal we were swimming in was fairly deep, at least over my head, and it was fairly swift.
We would walk up the ditch about thirty or forty yards, then hurry and jump into the canal and float on down the canal. 
We had the Olsen boys at each end of the canal when we were swimming, to watch for cars when we switched from the canal to the ditch; or from the ditch to the canal. 
One time when we were moving from the ditch to the canal, Weldon got up on the bridge that went over the canal, to dive in.  While Weldon was standing on the bridge a car came by.  Weldon didn’t have time to jump in so he just stood there and waved.  The funny thing about it was that the people in the car were Sara and Clyde.  When Sara noticed that the person standing on the side of the road nude was her brother Weldon, her bottom jaw dropped so far that I thought it was going to fall off.
After we got done swimming and put on our clothes, Weldon, Billy and Danny started swinging across the canal on the rope.  The younger Olsen boy [Reed] wanted to try swinging across the canal, but his oldest brother [Ray] told him he better not in case he fell in.  To show his oldest brother that he could do it, he grabbed the rope and started across.  He just barely reached the bank on the other side with his “tippy-toes”.  He was trying to pull himself up with the rope when his grip slipped and in he went.  We all started laughing at him.  When he pulled himself out, his brother was telling him how he had told him that he shouldn’t have swung across the canal on the rope.  He got mad at his brother and pushed him in the canal so they both got wet. 
When we got back to Grandma’s their dad was so mad with them they both had to go sit in their van until their family left Grandma’s.