Our home was a block away from a community park. The park had a creek running through it. In winter I could ice skate on the creek to school about 2 miles away. This was in the 3rd and 4th grade.
My granpa had a stepside pick up truck. He would take all us kids, my sister, brothers, cousins, to the store. We rode in the bed of the truck, on the side boards and rear bumper. On the way, he would stop, get out of the truck, flip the seat forward, pull out a 5th of some whiskey and then put it back, tell us kids if we told grandma, he'd horse whip us, then climb back in and drive away, only to repeat this every few miles. When he ran out of the whiskey, he'd head back home.
We had a couple ponds for watering the cattle. In winter it would freeze over. Near by would be a brush pile gathered from clearing land for pasture. We'd light a bon fire on the pond and if it didn't burn through, we'd skate on it. Then we would fill empty metal coffee cans with diesel fuel, heat them in the fire, and light them. Then set them around the pond and skate at night, warming by the bon fires.
Once we decided the ice was too thin and rough, so we cut a hole in the ice and laddeled water out to spread across the pond. We had a small dog at the time. If fell in the hole we made. We had to sneak into the house to get towels to dry the dog off, then held it in our jackets by the bon fire until it warmed up.
We boys played mumbly-peg.
Mosquito abatement trucks dispensing fogging to kill mosquitoes and we would ride our bikes through the haze.
Bottle rocket wars with garbage can lids for shield and a coke bottle.
My dad had a 66 mustang and worked nights. My brother and I would push it out of the driveway and joy ride.
Late at night, after parents were asleep, all the kids in the area would sneak out of the house and meet up on the rail road track bridge that crossed the river. There we would sit and talk until a train came. Impossible to tell which direction it was coming from and it would turn into a game of chicken to see who would run first and in which direction. The worst thing to happen would be a forced jump into the river.
Company for dinner, Mom sent me to the store to get a few things. One of the things was napkins. I figured with company, I'd get the good napkins. The 'sanitary' napkins....
We lived near a cemetery. I would dress up in my Sunday suit and attend graveside services of people I didn't know.
When there weren't any people getting buried, I'd take my pellet gun and shoot crows in the cemetery.
Dad would buss us kids in to the rich neighborhoods to go trick-or-treating. Always dressed up as a hobo and used a pillow case for my candy bag. Every kid had to tell a 'trick' to get a treat. Jokes, riddles and such. Only then would the home owner hand out a treat. When done, Dad would confiscate our candy to check it for razor blades and needles. He'd glean the good stuff and give us back the rest. The candy would last through new years.