Things growing up have fallen by the wayside

ugeauxgirl said:
My brother shot me in the leg with a bb gun once- but only once cause he got in a lot of trouble for that. We played in the sugar cane fields (and ditches) every day till we heard my dad's whistle. The only instructions were to not go so far that we couldn't hear him. He was loud though, so we could go pretty far.

We shot snakes and frogs and birds from our pirogue in the bayou, and played endless games of croquet at my grandparents house. The shed where the game was stored (my grandad's toolshed) smelled like used motor-oil. There was always a pan of it in there somewhere.

My grandad always had enough change in his pocket for a treat if the ice cream truck came by his house. He lived in a city. We lived too far in the country for ice cream trucks at my parents house.

We got our milk delivered but it was in cartons, not bottles. I loved catching fireflies at night in our yard. Some time in my teenage years, they all disappeared. Probably pesticides the cane farmers used. I was delighted to discover that there are still plenty of fireflies where I now live in Alabama! I love to sit outside and watch them in the spring. Makes me feel 8 years old again.
Click to expand...

Remember they "Have you seen me" printed on the carton. I remember reading those images of the poor missing kids while eating my morning cereal before school.
 
jollystomper said:
When I played it, we called it "War Ball". That gives you some idea of our intensity :D.
Click to expand...
It was called 'Murder Ball' at our school. Our Phys Ed teacher was definitely a sadist!! In high school, this was topped by 'Bull in the Ring' at football practice.
 
kgtest said:
Remember they "Have you seen me" printed on the carton. I remember reading those images of the poor missing kids while eating my morning cereal before school.
Click to expand...


I remember these. Before it was kids, I seem to recall it was MIA’s and there brief stories on these cartons. Or maybe it was on something else? My memory is a little fuzzy on this.
 
Calico said:
Written thank you notes - a relic of my youth. I still write them, but no one else I know does..
Click to expand...


I still do this - and make handmade greeting cards ( no one cares if the art looks like a kid did it). Although lately I’ve been concerned whether cursive writing can be read?

A full size spare, a sturdy jack and a good size trunk to store it. Although I must say when I get out and get started on changing a tire someone almost always stops and finishes up. My Dad believed in making his 4 daughters self sufficient in car breakdowns so we were taught about changing tires clogged fuel filters, distributors, batteries, etc followed by a practical test…

A pox on whoever came up with storing a spare tire underneath the vehicle

Catching fireflies in a jar at dusk - don’t know if anyone still does this, maybe now you just make a meme of it…but nothing compares to being in the moment with the natural world.
 
Last edited:
All this talk about slides reminds me of this old Far Side cartoon:

https://www.thefarside.com/

4DqHp.jpeg


-ERD50
 
As seven year olds, we could walk down to the drugstore and buy cigarettes for Dad. Just walk in and say "a pack of Camels please". Try that now!!

(My brother would call them "Dad's batteries")
 
Games in the schoolyard and the street like tag, red rover, ringolivio (sp), stickball, box baseball, off the wall, stoopball.
 
marko said:
As seven year olds, we could walk down to the drugstore and buy cigarettes for Dad. Just walk in and say "a pack of Camels please". Try that now!!

(My brother would call them "Dad's batteries")
Click to expand...

Mom would hand me $2 and tell me to go to the drug store to buy a carton of Phillip Morris. I was maybe 7 or 8 at the time. Talk about inflation! I think $2 would buy you about 4 or 5 cigarettes now. YMMV
 
At age 5+ getting sent to walk to Zane's little neighborhood grocery store 2-3 blocks away with a couple of dollars to buy cold cuts, bread, breakfast rolls, and maybe get a nickel's worth of candy for my effort. That nickel would get you a candy bar or five pieces of 1 cent candy.

They had 1-2 butchers who would slice the cold cuts for you. No packaging back then. Of course, they knew me, and I knew them. They knew I liked fishing and would tell me their latest fishing stories. The checkout clerk would explain the bill and the change to me. I knew some math before ever going to school.

Riding our bikes downtown to the Western Auto hardware store on Friday evenings to buy BBs for our Saturday morning hunts. Their BBs came in crimped tubes vs Daisy's which had caps. The crimped openings were perfect for loading our Model 25 Daisey BB guns, and the BBs were better and cheaper. I think they cost 10 cents a tube. Our skill with those BB guns was amazing, at least in my memory. We lived at the edge of town.

At age four, I walked downtown to the five and dime store to buy my mother ear rings for Mother's Day. I got quizzed at the counter but told them my mom was somewhere in the store. To say my mom was shocked was an understatement but I didn't get into trouble. She'd be in jail now-a-days.
 
Last edited:
When I was in Junior School I was entrusted with the task of walking to the town's Post Office with one other student during class time to get the money order and mail our class's order to Scholastic Books! I remember the excitement of the books coming a few weeks later.
 
6miths said:
No presentation was complete without a couple of Far Side cartoons. Another thing gone by the wayside. Hard to believe that Gary Larson FIRE'd almost 30 years ago at 44!!
Click to expand...

Apparently, he had "enough."
 
Sledding down the steep hill we lived on, in the road. At night. Sometimes the fathers would run interference at the intersection at the bottom, but usually us kids would just yell, "Car!"
 
Radio was something that everyone had in the kitchen or living area in their home. We listened to radio a lot to get news and for entertainment. I remember listen to a boxing match that my dad wanted to hear. I can't remember the fight but remember the play-by-play excitement.

Small towns had a radio station and most everything was from local small area town news and advertising. Church on Sunday from local sports games to all local deaths of time and dates. Also, local buy/sell/give away programs was a big thing in the day.

Not that most of those things don't happen today but was more of a daily ritual when I was kid to have that radio getting all the news and events happens.

I might add that just AM radios were a norm on the old radios we had around as a kid. In fact, I have one that is just an AM built by Motorola that I have from the ranch. It is a tube radio and works great!
 
Last edited:
street said:
Radio was something that everyone had in the kitchen or living area in their home. We listened to radio a lot to get news and for entertainment. I remember listen to a boxing match that my dad wanted to hear. I can't remember the fight but remember the play-by-play excitement.

Small towns had a radio station and most everything was from local small area town news and advertising. Church on Sunday from local sports games to all local deaths of time and dates. Also, local buy/sell/give away programs was a big thing in the day.

Not that most of those things don't happen today but was more of a daily ritual when I was kid to have that radio getting all the news and events happens.

I might add that just AM radios were a norm on the old radios we had around as a kid. In fact, I have one that is just an AM built by Motorola that I have from the ranch. It is a tube radio and works great!
Click to expand...


+1

---

The father of my across-the-street playmates loved to listen to Cleveland Indians baseball on the radio while sitting on his front porch. I remember sitting there with him on many a hot summer night. Good memories.

omni
 
We had no running water in the house. Water tap/spigot uphill a block or so away. hauled and kept water in buckets for drinking, cooking, and many trips on wash day. Mother washed clothes in a tub using scrub brush.

Along the so called sidewalk was a drainage ditch. In winter every 30 feet or so we would put a piece of branch across. Then keep the water running for a while from the water tap. Let it freeze then do it again many times.
Thus we created an ice filled trough about 300 foot long.
Me and the rest of kids in the neighborhood made sleds of a piece of wood plank about 8" long and 6" wide. Nailed a piece of branch to the front for handle to hang onto.
Scrounged for old ice skates, which were bolted to the bottom. Thus an ice sled was made.
Starting at the water tap, sitting on the sled with feet forward, leaning back, slid down the ice path, getting some jumps in at the previously placed barricades.
Speed was phenomenal as were the spills in the curves.
 
Last edited:
Where did Jean pockets go?? Perhaps this is only with women’s attire but new jeans, whether they be shorts or full length now have a pocket that struggles to contain a tube of lip balm or a roll of mints. I have actually lengthened the pockets on my favorites so they can store a set of keys.

I also miss hardcopy maintenance manuals. We recently purchased a Rockwood MiniLite camper and all manuals are online only. We regularly camp where there is no cell service and needed to look up something but, of course, could not. I’m hoping to find a way to download it but am not hopeful as the online manual isn’t specific to a particular model. So, I miss that a lot.
 
ls99 said:
We had no running water in the house. Water tap/spigot uphill a block or so away. hauled and kept water in buckets for drinking, cooking, and many trips on wash day. Mother washed clothes in a tub using scrub brush.

Along the so called sidewalk was a drainage ditch. In winter every 30 feet or so we would put a piece of branch across. Then keep the water running for a while from the water tap. Let it freeze then do it again many times.
Thus we created an ice filled trough about 300 foot long.
Me and the rest of kids in the neighborhood made sleds of a piece of wood plank about 8" long and 6" wide. Nailed a piece of branch to the front for handle to hang onto.
Scrounged for old ice skates, which were bolted to the bottom. Thus an ice sled was made.
Starting at the water tap, sitting on the sled with feet forward, leaning back, slid down the ice path, getting some jumps in at the previously placed barricades.
Speed was phenomenal as were the spills in the curves.
Click to expand...
That is interesting!!

Your post brought up a subject of running water. My grandmother lived in a very small town and never had running water in early 70's. The small community had a public pump jack run by electricity where she carried water for everyday living. I loved to go there because I like to go carry water for her. She did have electricity, but her home only had a few plug-ins and a few light bulbs.
 
Yeah. Our neighborhood water spigot was the meeting place for gossip. I learned much about paternal grandfather who died long before I was born, from the local folks.
 
blueskyk said:
Where did Jean pockets go?? Perhaps this is only with women’s attire but new jeans, whether they be shorts or full length now have a pocket that struggles to contain a tube of lip balm or a roll of mints. I have actually lengthened the pockets on my favorites so they can store a set of keys.

I also miss hardcopy maintenance manuals. We recently purchased a Rockwood MiniLite camper and all manuals are online only. We regularly camp where there is no cell service and needed to look up something but, of course, could not. I’m hoping to find a way to download it but am not hopeful as the online manual isn’t specific to a particular model. So, I miss that a lot.
Click to expand...

Have you check this site: https://www.manualslib.com/manual/909108/Forest-River-Rockwood.html
 
Koolau said:
Following one unfortunate incident, I made up my mind never to play dodge ball again - without a steel cup.:sick: YMMV
Click to expand...

I used to love dodge ball. I used to hang out in the back until close to the end. We used those hard rubber balls. Gym coach didn't care if we killed each other.

Fast forward to my son playing dodge ball in his after-school daycare in the early 2000's. I used to show up early to pick him up and watch. He had a cannon of an arm. But, he never won. Nobody won. About 2/3rds of the way through the game the daycare teacher would yell "jailbreak!" and everybody that was out would be allowed back in.
 
PatrickA5 said:
I used to love dodge ball. I used to hang out in the back until close to the end. We used those hard rubber balls. Gym coach didn't care if we killed each other.

Fast forward to my son playing dodge ball in his after-school daycare in the early 2000's. I used to show up early to pick him up and watch. He had a cannon of an arm. But, he never won. Nobody won. About 2/3rds of the way through the game the daycare teacher would yell "jailbreak!" and everybody that was out would be allowed back in.
Click to expand...

Two totally different schools of thought: Coach believed what didn't kill you made you stronger. Day care teacher believed in "trophies for everyone!"

I find myself more in the "old school" camp but I'm bringing my cup with me even for the senior dodge ball game:blush:. YMMV
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

folivier
Christmas tradition?
2
Replies
25
Views
2K
brett
B
calmloki
Things that have gotten better than the olden days
2 3 4
Replies
87
Views
5K
Texas Proud
T
Midpack
How to Make Evil Childproof Caps Easy to Open
2
Replies
33
Views
2K
MissMolly
MissMolly
M
Basement: Suddenly Cold and Drafty
2
Replies
43
Views
3K
MichealKnight
M
D
Three more shifts!
Replies
14
Views
1K
disneysteve
D

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom