The Hills were Alive with P I

Remember the opening scene from the "Sound of Music"? Maria, played by Julie Andrews, was spotted in a meadow high above Saltzberg singing the movie's theme song. The aerial photos and scenery were enough for me to have this destination as one place I must see in my lifetime. and of course, the music speaks for itself. In fact, when the movie came out in 1965, my Father and Mother made sure we saw it, so they took us to the "Showcase Cinemas" in Lawrence where we watched it for the very first time. It won several Academy Awards, and even today, it remains a classic among Hollywood's greatest musical productions. The hills may have been alive in Saltzberg, but "them thar hills" didn't have what the "O'Brien's hill" had, and that was the problem.

My sisters, brothers, and I had a wonderful sledding hill right in our own backyard, sort of; in actuality, it was part of the next door neighbor's yard. During the winter, it provided us with plenty of altitude for those snow dependent activities, but in the off season, it became a place to explore and set up "camp". There were trees and one grove of white birches where we had our pretend campfires. Unfortunately, forests can be full of "irritating" things too, and in this case, there was a rather generous poison ivy patch which accounted for a "rash" of issues for the whole family. After several encounters with the poisonous stuff, my father decided it was time to quite literally, take matters into his own hands. Many nights after work and on weekends, my father would cover up and take us to the hill where he'd pull as much of that nasty stuff out as he could. The only "Round Up" that was available in those days was rounding up the members of his work detail. He'd have us trudge off to the "hill top" where he'd pull the PI regularly in hopes of eliminating the rhus toxicodendron, something I am sure he learned during his days at Iowa State studying Forestry. Evidently, he was at least somewhat successful at getting to the "root" of this problem, as the ocean of lotion use declined thereafter.

We sure had lots of fun playing on the hill behind the house when we were kids, and to us, it seemed just as tall as the Alps must have been to the Von Trapps. It was part of our imaginary world, but if it hadn't been for Dad clearing out the PI from time to time, our little slice of heaven on earth would have been off limits to his "troop of angels". Thanks Dad. You were always there "pulling" for us and for that, we are and will always be "externally" grateful!