I Raced Marbles on the Slant of the Sunny Front-Porch Floor

The front porch at 1469 Van Buren is enclosed. Windows run continuously along all three sides. Because the long wall (the front of the house) faces south, in the fall and spring and during many sunny winter days the front porch gets warm. 

:: on steps of front porch ::

I enjoyed playing out there. Because the posts supporting the front of the porch had no concrete footings (until dad jacked up the porch and put in footings), during my early youth the floor slanted gently to the south. The flooring had grooves in it of the type that was more popularly used for wainscoting. If I remember right, the ceiling of the porch used the same or similar material. These three ingredients--warm sunlight, a slant, and groves—gave me a great race track for marbles. This could occupy me for long periods. Lying on the floor, selecting pairs of marbles from my small stash, I would racing one against the other in parallel grooves. Wishing to be fair and moderately scientific, I would alternate grooves and run multiple races trying to rule out any advantage due to differences in the grooves or any prejudice in my start action that could favor one marble. Winners would then compete against winners in my tournament of racers.


Mindless, for sure. But I had fun.

(c) from date of posting, by Bob Komives, Fort Collins