Telling my life story

Reading a friend's blog has given me the courage to begin writing about my own life.  Things won't be in order of occurrence, just as I remember them.  
I did not have an easy childhood and it shaped my  life as an adult and still effects me today.  I grew up introverted, shy and fearful.  I made a lot of bad choices with men that I believe can be traced to longing for a father figure or someone to show me attention and love.  
I was born to a poor couple.  My sister is 2 1/2 years older than I am.  When I was born, we were living in what was basically a shack in the rural countryside.  My mother will tell me stories about how there was no running water, and an extension cord running to the neighbors house to run one light bulb.  I remember when my father dug our well.  I can remember looking down into the very deep hole.  Someone has a photo of my sister in the hole with my Dad.  
I don't remember much about living there.  I remember playing with the boy next door with my sister.  We had a cat named Luggy, short for "Lug-nuts"!  He was a large, black and white cat.  I remember one time, us children must have really been putting my Mom through the wringer because she sent us to our room with the "wait till your father gets home" warning.  I remember waiting and the dread of it.  Dad had us all come out in order of age for a spanking.  I don't remember the actual spanking much though.  
My parents divorced when I was probably 4.  I remember us moving into a man's house.  His name was Richard M.  We called him Dick.  Turned out to be an appropriate name!  
My Mom said Dad was having an affair with Dick's wife, Jane and was wanting to move her into our house!  She wasn't haven't that so she left.  Having no skills, no car and no place to go, we moved in with Dick.  So basically it was a real life Wife Swap.  I don't think there were social service programs back then for single parents, so my Mom did what she felt was the best thing.  
The housing situation wasn't much improved.  We lived in an old metal trailer with an addition on it.  The addition was the living room and adult bedroom upstairs.  
I remember the day my Mom married Dick.  We were at home waiting for them to get back and my Aunt (I think) had set up a surprise party.  I remember hiding and jumping out, yelling "Surprise"!  
Dick was fun when we first moved in.  I remember one morning it had snowed overnight.  When we got up, he grabbed us, still in our pajamas and was pretending he was going to throw us out into the snow!  
I don't remember when he changed.  He became like a dictator and would punish us severely for any infraction.  He used mental torture as well as physical.  I will get into that later on.
My Mom felt trapped there with us.  She hated seeing us being treated so badly, but she felt like there was no other recourse.  No place to go.  
This new house was on four acres of land.  It had a stream running through the back yard and woods beyond that.  There was a large open area covering most of the property.  There was a garage and a sawmill.  I don't remember if the sawmill was already on the property or if it was built later.  
I grew up as a child of nature.  I loved to explore and examine life in all it's forms.  Insects, worms, birds, chipmunks, flowers, trees, etc..  Being in the woods was a sense of escape for me.  We could hide from the all seeing eye of Dick while in the woods.  
I learned to fish in a rudimentary way in the creek out back.  It held native Brook trout and while small, they were fun to catch.  My method involved waiting for a bite and then yanking up and over.  If I did catch a fish, it sometimes would end up in a tree!  
There was one part of the stream that had a large rock and a log as a bridge.  I would lay there and watch the trout.  They had a big pool there and the large trout would congregate.  I would put my hand in the water and ever so slowly move it up to where the fish were.  I could gently touch the trout after a while, if my hand didn't go numb first from the freezing water.
Anyhow, I think writing about my life will be lengthy.  I may arrange it by subject instead of historically.  I can give an estimate of my age when these things happened.  This photo was taken at Dick's house when I was little.  I think I may have been 4 or 5.  First row seated is me on the left, my cousin, Angie and then my brother, Richie.
Back row is cousin Beth, my sister, Brenda, cousin Barbara, Cousin Kathy, and cousin John.