The Good Old Days

[f-x-d-w-g]

Having a slow morning, so...

I have run with scissors and still have both of my eyes.

I rode my bicycle without a helmet or pads and put a playing card in the spokes with a clothes pin.  A long balloon made a deeper sound - like a motorcycle!

We made swords out of fence pickets and used garbage can lids as shields and staged many epic battles.

I, and every other boy, carried a pocket knife at all times - even to school - and nobody got hurt (or expelled).

My big brother and I had cap guns (remember those?).  My Dad couldn't afford one for my little brother so he removed the firing pin from a S&W snub-nose .38 and gave him that to play with.  I took it to school for show and tell and nobody was killed or expelled.  I also took my snake to school.

Playing with mercury was great fun!

If you got in a fight at school nobody was arrested.

If I screwed up or was disrespectful of my elders, I got a whipping and my Dad was not charged with child abuse.

You could kiss a girl without fear of a lawsuit.

I picked up an M3 submachine gun (grease gun) at the base salvage yard.  The action had been cut with a torch, but it was quite a hit with the other kids when we played army.

We used to get glass syringes, needles, and serum bottles out of the trash at the base hospital.  What fun those were to play with and we didn't get hooked on drugs or hurt anyone.  I learned by observation about gasses in confined spaces by having to push air into the bottle to replace the liquid (water) which was removed.

I made gunpowder at home and didn't lose my eyes or fingers.  The firecrackers I made didn't work to well...

I made rockets by stuffing match heads into empty CO2 cartridges and launched them by holding a match at the end.  I still have all my fingers.

My best friend was a Negro.  My worst enemy was also a Negro.  That's what black folks were called back then.  Since I grew up on Air Force bases and the services were fully integrated in (IIRC) 1947, and there was no real TV to tell me otherwise, I had no idea of racism.  We were just kids who either got along or didn't.

Yes, I got a lot of cuts and bruises, have lived overseas, been to 46 of the states, but what fun I had and how much I learned.

[cheetah]

Good post, and yes, I remember those days. Ben there and done that.
Thanks for the memories
C

[Panzer]

Wow, GREAT.........memories.
I know others will add to it so here's a few.
I could carry a rifle on the school bus and into school and leave it in the principles office, because I was going hunting after school.

Had a Red Rider BB gun and an American Flyer sled.
Raced home made soap box cars (with rope steering) down the hill while someone watched for cars.
I had a dog that would follow me everywhere, even in the water swimming in the local creek.
The local forth of July parades, where everyone was a part and us kids would decorate our bicycles with crape paper and the card and clothes pin trick.

My dad and brother always picked on me to make me tough, mom defended.
Dad was a semi pro boxer in the Navy, I learned to box to save my tail end.
My name is not Sue.

I did all of what you said and I have all my fingers & both eyes too.
Scrapes, blood and bruises were only badges of courage, here today gone tomorrow, we healed fast.

I wish I could relive those days, they were AWESOME............I wish !!

Thanks for the memories f-x-d-w-g


Panzer

[ceduby]

Yeah those were the days allright

Me and buds pedaling our bicycles with a shotgun or .22 rifle over our shoulder wearing a vest full of ammo, would either walk the creek shootin at whatever or go to the school yard and try to pick off golphers.  Left our bicycles under the overpass and each time they were there when we got back.

Cops would make us dump the beer out and tell us to leave. No arrests or tickets

Speeding was just that, speeding, pay your fine and move on.

loud exhaust was just a "fix it" ticket

Wheelies and burn outs were just a fine ,if not just a warning.

Cruising was legal and encouraged

You could be gone all day and no one was worried, and you were not going to be kidnapped by some perv

NO CELL PHONES

You made most of your own stuff

"King of the Hill"  envolving dirt clauds being thrown at you was a lot of fun

Playing "war" with BB guns we still have our eyes. You knew when you got hit

Tomatoe fights in some farmers field

You had recess in school

You could walk to school, home for lunch and back to school.

School buses met kids at a central location(s),not at each house

You could build forts in trees with nails and scrap wood.

The worst STD was VD, and there was a shot for that.



Ahhh the memories...........................................

It's no wonder the new/younger generation whine and think the world owes them something

[Panzer]

ceduby,
Boy to you ever have that right.
Boy do I ever miss those days & Saturdays at the movies and penny candy.
I'm getting home sick !!!

[truck]

How about putting a strike anywhere kitchen match in the muzzle of your BB gun and shooting it so it glanced off of a rock?
Instant tracer bullet.

[ceduby]

Never heard of that Truck. I'm just going to have to give it a "shot"     LOL

[Jim Bronson]

Paint can carbide cannon. I think that's how I got the tinnitis. 

[mapboy]

Yup, did a lot of those myself.  good old chemistry set gunpowder. . . .

I, too, played with mercury.  Someone recently asked where we used to get it from, and CRS rolled in.  Where the heck DID we get that stuff???  I vividly remember a certain neighborhood car leaving droplets, but I KNOW there was another source.  Maybe they let us take it home from school??

Mapboy

[truck]

Mercury
My brother found a sealed can next to a railroad track and it was heavy!
It contained about 3 liquid ounces of "quicksilver".
It was fun to play with it, separating it into several droplets then rejoining them, shining up coins and letting it flow from one hand to the other and feel the weight transfer.
Do you think THAT had anything to do with me becoming extremely anemic as a kid?

[HV]

Older thermometers had mercury in them

[Panzer]

Mercury, shinny and slippery dimes and quarters, the ones that had 90% silver in them. 
Had about two oz of it up to about three years ago.
You could put a small amount of lead in it and make more. 
The lead would dissolve in it but would leave like a scum on the top.
Cool stuff, reminded me of the liquid cop in the movie "Terminator".

[cig]

Old thermometers, thermostats, and electric switches all had mercury.

[harpo1313]

been in xray most of my life used to save all the mercury tilt switches knowing its bad stuff,well on enviorment day at the dump they give you digital thermometers in exchang for the merc ones,so i go in with 90 or so switches and they say no way,go figure.still have em in a safe place.brought up some good memories guys,kids nowadays dont have a clue as to how to enjoy themselves without a joystick[that sounds queer].sad.. this summer i  asked my grandson if he wanted some wood to build a fort and he looked at me like i had three heads.

[f-x-d-w-g]

Yup, I either got the mercury at school or by breaking a thermometer or thermostat.

Kitchen matches...  Can you get them any more?  My brother showed me how to separate the halves of a wooden clothes pin, invert the pieces and rubber band them together, attach the spring on the outside and, using another half clothes pin push the spring back cocking the "zip gun".  Stick a kitcen match in it head first, point, and shoot.  The match would light and go flying.  Started quite a grass fire one day.  Didn't get caught...

Got a whipping when the police brought me home for shooting out street lights with my Daisy Eagle scoped BB gun.  My Dad (age 88) just threw it away last year because a neighbor's little bass-turd kid broke the plastic stock and bent the BB tube by whacking it against a fence post.

King of the mountain, smear the queer (best in mud, kick a football and everyone tries to get it, when someone gets it, every one tries to tackle him.  When you can't take carrying the ball any more, kick it and the process repeats.)

Sandlot baseball.  Played in rotation because we never had enough kids for two teams.

[04deuce]

wait a minute, is Jim Bronson really a member? I love that guy. I have his albums and an autographed picture

[04glide]

As a kid we would cross the border into Mexico and buy quarter sticks of dynamite, M-80s and huge packs of fire crackers. We would stuff them into our socks and cross back over. Where I lived we were pretty close to the hills and we would have a blast setting all that stuff off. I can remember sending an old steel bucket about 100' in the air. And guns were all over the place. I used to go shooting at least once a week. My Dad would bring home 5gal can of gas for me so I wouldn't steal it from the cars in the neighborhood. I would go through a can every couple of days riding my dirt bike.  

[seattledyna]

when we were 'bout 11 or 12 we would sling our rifles over our shoulder and ride our bicycles thru town to the river to plink away at cans and junk cars, we were taught young how to handle a rifle and never had any problems, local cop would just wave and say "have a good time boys"

those were the days!!

[82fxrstroker]

  In sixth grade we had a two day NRA gun safety class we had to take, compliments of the public school district and most of us carried pocket knives to school.  Don't remember anyone ever getting stabbed.  Seemed to be a lot more respect for human life back in the day, unfortunately I can't say the same in today's world.  You probably can't even bring a picture of a gun to school without getting exspelled nowdays.  How times have changed.

[Ultrashovel]

When I wa a kid if you were eating an orange or a banana and dropped it on the ground, you would pick it up, wipe it off and eat it anyway. If anyone made a face when they were watching, you would shrug and say, "Gotta eat a barrel of dirt before you die"/

Remember when all the yo-yos were made by Duncan out of real wood? Try to find a wooden one nowadays.

Remember when you could buy the old style tops that were turned out of wood wih the point on the end? Try to find one of those, too.

Remember when they sold little wax bottles for a penny that were filled with sugar syrup? Can't find those anymore.

Ever jump off the roof of a garage on a dare...hee hee, I did....damn near broke my neck but it was fun.

I'll try to think of some more.

[truck]

Remember when they sold little wax bottles for a penny that were filled with sugar syrup? Can't find those anymore.

And after you drank the syrup you chewed the wax for a while.

[Evo1]

Dam, this has to be the BEST thread yet!  Makes you wonder how we let it get so screwed up today. I'm sad for the kids of today, they have no idea of what they missed out on.

[JamLazyAss]

Ok, ok, you guys are making me feel terrible   
So... I'll add one to the list of memories.

Ever eat an ice cream on a stick? Like a creamsickle or something?
When you got done eating it, did you ever look at the stick to see if you had "A Free Stick"?
Yep, a free stick entitled you ato a free ice cream.

That was in the Syracuse NY area. I don't know if it was just a local thing or nation-wide.
You guys tell me.
Now I'm talking about the late 50's thru the 60's era.

There. Now I feel better having added my .02. Carry on men.

[Ultrashovel]

If you want to have some fun and get really nosalgic, start going on Google Earth. I got on it a couple of months ago and have been looking up all the places I lived in my life. I found all of my schools and most of the houses and many landmarks, mostly in Chicago. When you get bored, go and look at the Eiffel tower in PAris or the Pyramids at Giza, Egypt. There's no end to the fun!

Google Earth is simply amazing. You need a fast video card but it's really easy to use. Set it on DX mode and go!

[someday69]

spending half a summer day collecting bottles,,cash them in and go the movies,buy a zero-(frozen candy that you smacked on the sidewalk,and it broke into 47pieces)- for a nickel,movie-fifty cents...steal cigeretts and playboy mags..trade'em off to the older boys for rubbers..(just to carry'em around)..and favors-(local gangs would lay off if the right older guy put in the word)
     Paper route-(my best friend had a huge one 5;30 they dropped off 4 1/2 stacks of twined up papers)We spent mornings
   folding/stuffing papers into the bags on our bikes....We both got free trip to the movie its a mad mad mad world...we used a whole bag of rubberbands shot'in at everything in sight out the window of the bus..
   Bubble bug same size as football and baseball cards...used to gamble with'em by throw'in against a wall at school....
        my dad would come home after drink'in all night ,,I'd try to stop'em from beat'in mom,,,I'd always lose.but it made me very,very tough,,I could take a lot of punishment,,,I would fight bigger,older boys anywhere anytime..never fought 'fair'....
      But I'd never go back to it..I became a looser...lost,,broken spirit,,,drunken,garbage head...worthless...30+years of waste

   Now I ride an 02fxd,that has become the bright light in this messed up world.....hope to make it to sturgis this summer....make some memories...just ride'in with the wind.....someday...