Constant rumbling in one ear other the other — trapped water from the many hours lived in the swimming pool. This water often led to various ear and sinus infections, so the feeling of lying on a bed, with head dangling upside down, letting the antibiotic ear- or nose-drops properly get absorbed, is also a familar sensation. A common, related sight: green-haired (formerly blond) children.

Learning to hover above hot car seats when in shorts, as well as avoiding any surface that was in direct sunlight. The heat was no joke; how crazy is a climate when you’re relieved that it’s “only” 105° in August?

Salt pills. Little bottles of salt pills were at the ready at any daytime outdoor event. My weekly summertime tennis lessons featured the occasional sweaty, overcome kid fainting on the courts. Do they use salt pills any more?

When camping in the desert, learning to overturn large, nearby rocks in order to scare away scorpions, snakes and gila monsters. You had to learn to coexist with these critters, as they were everywhere. I remember mom’s fake calmness when she discovered a baby garden snake had slithered up the shower drain. And now I publicly apologize to my brother PA: I’m sorry that I took Peanutbutter (your gartersnake) out of his cage, and forgot to put him back, and he ran away.

Barry Goldwater. I met him on some field trip as a kid and thought he was really nice — until I came home and my liberal parents set me straight!

Navajo and Hopi friends. Of course, the friends themselves weren’t peculiar, but it was pretty cool knowing people with last names like “Three Stars”. My dad did a lot of work on the Hopi reservation, and sometimes I tagged along. I was in heaven, playing with the packs of always-friendly kids and dogs there.

The place in which I grew up often gets bad rap these days, but I say it loud and proud: I loved being a child in Phoenix, Arizona!

Photo: Barry Goldwater Statue, originally uploaded by cogdogblog. Thanks for letting me use it!