In the late 1970s, my dad purchased three empty wooden spools. All three were different sizes. The wheel-like edges of the "big" spool were about 7 feet in diameter. The other two spools were about 5 feet and 6 feet in diameter.
Dad turned the spools into dog houses. He removed a few of the slats in the middle of the spool and then tipped the spool on its side so it would not roll. The removed slats made a nice door into the middle of the spool for the dogs. He put straw and old blankets inside for the dogs to use as a bed.
The summer after Dad bought the spools, we would play with the spools in the yard. One game we would play was to stand the spools on their "wheels" and then climb onto the middle part and walk on them while they rolled around the yard. Kent and Kelly could make the spools turn by themselves by standing in the middle and using their weight to make the spools turn. Cade and I were not big enough to get the spools turning by ourselves but could make them turn if someone helped us get the spool started. We would "walk" the spools back and forth in the yard beside the house.
The big spool was so big that Cade and I could easily fit inside the spool middle together. Kent and Kelly would put the crowbar through the center hole on the spool while we (Cade and I) were inside. Cade and I would hold the crowbar as a safety handle while Kent and Kelly would push the spool around the yard.
One day, Mom and Dad were not at home. Kent, Kelly, Cade, and I were playing on the hill behind the barn. We were riding the Big Wheel and little red wagon down the hill into the corral by the barn. Then we decided it would be fun to ride down the hill inside the big spool.
We pushed the spool to the top of the hill. It was hard work and required the strength of all four of us.
At the top of the hill above the barn, we used to have a gate. From that gate to the small gate by the barn, the cows had made a trail between the two gates. The trail was as straight as any cow path you might encounter. When we rode the Big Wheel or the wagon down the hill, we were able to steer a bit to follow the trail and avoid the sagebrush bushes on the way to successfully drive through the small gate by the barn.
Kent and Kelly directed us in positioning the spool on the trail so it was headed toward the small gate. We decided to try rolling the spool down the hill one time before we put someone inside the spool to try riding down the hill. (In retrospect, this was probably a good decision! Search for "rolling down a hill in a wooden spool is a bad idea" on YouTube)
We pushed the spool to get it started down the hill. The spool began accelerating down the hill. We had no way to steer the spool. It picked up speed and turned a bit left and right as it encountered sagebrush on the way down the hill. It quickly became evident that the spool would NOT roll through the gate into the corral. It was headed right for the fence.
Would the spool stop at the fence???!!!
NO! The spool rolled right through the fence! It knocked poles and slabs off of the posts.
Fortunately, the fence did slow the spool and it stopped rolling shortly after crashing through the fence.
Well, that ended the fun part of the day. We sheepishly rolled the big spool back into the yard by the house.
Then we repaired the fence.
Kent and Kelly made us all promise we would not tell Dad.
SIDE NOTE: My apologies to my siblings not mentioned in this memory (Kris, Cory, and Keri). While I suspect you were all involved in playing on and with the spools, I do not remember you there. In particular, I do not remember you there on the day we rolled the spool up the hill.
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