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Scott is the second son of Fred and Sandie Monier. He was born in Alamogordo New Mexico on December 1, 1964. He had an older brother Wes who was born in April 1962 and a little sister born in August 1967. All three of the kids were each other's best friend, where you would find one you would usually find the other two. They even shared getting in trouble together, not really covering for each other but then not admitting to anything either. As they grew up and became teenagers, where most families fall apart, the three became closer. Wes and Scott became Melissa's protectors and Melissa advised them on girl" issues.
Scott was always adventuresome, you couldn't keep him in a crib, even at an early age he could climb out. Playpens held no challenge and the back yard cinder block fence was only a minor obstacle. He could scale it like he had suction cups on his fingers and toes, and this was all before he started kindergarten. We lived in the last row of homes before the desert and even before school Scott loved to explore. He could slip away from us and disappear in a "New York second."
One very shocking moment in the life of a mother was when Scott was suppose to be in taking his bubble bath. This was a cold winter evening and I was also cooking dinner in the other end of the house. I left the bathroom area to go check on dinner, I know I was gone just a second, when the doorbell rang and there stood Raymond, my neighbor from across the street. He had Scott in tow, naked with soapsuds on him. Raymond was grinning from ear to ear and holding Scott's little hand. Scott was sucking his thumb, which he did until he went to kindergarten and I told him the teacher would cut his thumb off if he continued. Raymond, who happened to be a highway patrolman, said he found Scott down at the corner and thought he better bring him home before someone picked him up for indecent exposure!
The day we got a family dog was a big day. The kids and their father went down and picked out the biggest hound in the pound. A greyhound, great-dane mixture they suitably named Zero. Zero was too big for the house so their father built a large doghouse, big enough for dog and kids. Grandpa and Grandma Murchie were visiting us from California and Grandpa shingled the roof, painted the house white with flowers and ivy and added a chimney. Many years later Scott built a doghouse for another dog, Frosty, and modeled it after this doghouse, only without chimney and flowers.
Just before Melissa was born we decided to sell the house in town and move out into the desert with some acreage. Fred needed a hobby and we decided to undertake a project of building our home ourselves. We bought, in Oro Vista Estates outside Alamogordo, 5 acres of undeveloped land and started a five year project/process that held many adventures for the kids. The house in Alamogordo sold before we were ready to move but we moved anyway. Out to where we had built, so far, one pump house and a future home with only the decking on the roof, plywood around the outside, holes in the walls where windows would eventually go and studs for the walls.
Before long the kids had acquired 5 dogs, several cats, two horses, one pony and one lame duck. Preparing for 4-H we bought baby chicks from Sears Farm Catalog. The kids were thrilled. They played with them and built little houses out of books and things and squashed a few. Scott tried to teach one to swim in the toilet. Thank goodness I heard a giggle and the flush of the toilet and went in to investigate. We built a sort of chicken house out back and one of the boys' chores was to feed, water and collect eggs. Chickens can be nasty tempered when they are trying to next and you want to reach under them and take their eggs. One nasty tempered hen wouldn't get off the nest and kept pecking the boys. Scott and Wes took what eggs they had gathered and threw them at the hen.
When we were roofing, Wes and Scott would help by being the gophers. We were also multi tasking and had a huge pile of cow manure stacked outside the kitchen area ready to go to the orchard. I was in the kitchen looking out the hole in the wall when I saw kids flying by. They had climbed the ladder to the roof and were sky diving into the pile of manure making quite a puff of noxious fumes. When I reclaimed the boys one of them, I'm not sure which one made the statement "it tastes as bad as it smells!".
One incident really sticks out in my mind. We belonged to the country club, mainly to use the swimming pool; the stock tank really wasn't adequate. The kids and their friends were doing their usual summer afternoon thing of swimming. A group of them wandered over to where the electric golf carts were parked, close to the pool area. Even though the kids weren't suppose to be there, they were. Scott had climbed into one, of course the mal functioning one, and the thing took off with him in reverse, across the green, with a stream of kids and golfers chasing him. He went up and over the hill and finally into a rock fence, not too sturdy because he knocked a hole in it. Actually, it was a very lucky thing that it took off in reverse. Had it gone forward he and the golf cart would have landed in the swimming pool with all the swimmers. The golf pro pointed this out to me.
Our neighbor, Darryl, was also doing the same thing the Monier's were doing by developing and building from scratch. Scott spent a lot of time with Darryl. Darryl was in the process of leveling some of his land. He had plowed deeply and was using a railroad tie, pulled by the tractor, to level land and Scott had the brilliant idea it would be fun to ride the drag. Darryl said that faster than a speeding bullet Scott was on the tie, lost his balance and went under. When Darryl brought Scott back to me he was covered in dirt and all you could see were big blue eyes. The drag had gone completely over Scott. We put Scott in the tub to see if there were any injuries. Darryl said he was never so scared in his life, "it happened so fast." I said, "yep, I understand what you mean."
Before Scott was really entrenched in grammar school we moved to Hurst, Texas where we spent three years. These were fairly quiet years living in the city. The next door neighbors became our best friends and the kids learned to water ski behind their boat.
With the down swing of aerospace, Fred made the decision to move to McAllen, Texas and open up an avionics shop on the border. Scott, being a pre teenager, was into the usual pastime of throwing oranges and grapefruit at moving cars. One time he got caught by a driver who brought him to the house. Scott got punished for throwing fruit at cars. When I finally let him explain I learned it wasn't him but the other blond guy, Mac who threw the fruit. When I asked him did he throw fruit Scott, always being honest, said "yes" but not that time. No one had caught him yet! So consider yourself caught!
Scott had a special friend, Jesus Melendez. Jesus' father was a doctor in Reynosa, Mexico and Jesus and Scott spent a lot of time in Mexico. Scott learned to skate board in the halls of the Reynosa hospital. The Melendez's would take Scott with them on their vacations to Padre Island. When we left McAllen for California, Doctor and Mrs. Melendez came to the house and wanted to adopt Scott if we didn't want to take him with us. We opted to take Scott with us. Doctor Melendez raised tropical birds and Scott wanted one. Scott had a favorite bird, a red headed parrot. We bought the parrot, named him Jesus after his friend, and flew the parrot to California with us. The eight months Fred was working on a project in California the kids and I lived with my parents in Merced, California where the kids got a chance to know their California grandparents. Scott attended the seventh grade in Merced. Scott would put Jesus on the handlebars of his bicycle and ride around Merced. Scott peddling as fast as he could and Jesus leaning into the wind like a great big dodo bird. When he would park his bike Jesus was like a watch dog and would not allow any one near the bike. Not only squawking loudly but also biting anything that came near. Scott had Jesus for years. Where we lived next, in Springtown, Texas, where Scott graduated from high school, Jesus was never in a cage. He wandered around the yard and sometimes strolled down the street looking for company. He never offered to go far. I could always tell when Scott was coming home for Jesus would start calling. Jesus just disappeared one day.
Scott was in the eighth grade when we moved to Springtown Texas. In high school Scott worked on the Sessum's dairy. He milked cows and broke and rode horses. The Sessums were also in law enforcement and I think this is where Scott made his career choice. He and his best friend, Douglas Deweese, who also went into law enforcement hung around the Sessum's farm and spent many a day with Troy and Linda absorbing law stories.
All three of the guys, Wes, Scott and Doug were very protective towards Melissa in her high school years. The guys screened all potential dates. I remember one time when I came home from work and Melissa was waiting for me to tell me they were chasing off all potential dates. The kids helped each other with school projects. For one high school science project Melissa was going to label every bone in a bird's body. But first, Scott had to shoot the bird. Scott shot a pigeon on the Sessum's dairy and Melissa cleaned the flesh off the bones. She was rebuilding the bony bird on a piece of cardboard and had it almost finished. Bootsie, our cat, took a liking to the bones one night and Melissa woke up to a much mutilated and half eaten science project. Scott, not liking to hunt, said, "I can't kill another bird for the sake of science!"
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