…This was late '60s early '70s. I remember a lot of playing in the woods, building forts, riding bikes on dirt roads; generally a bunch of kids living a ‘Lord of the Flies’ type of existence on the weekends…
[/quote]
Yep.
exploring the woods
building forts
playing war
riding bikes with banana seats more in one month than modern kids probably ride in their entire youth
playing tackle football
never wearing shoes in summertime except to church
watching in awe as Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the moon on live black and white television
[/quote]
Good list. Much of those were mine.
adding:
We’d come in crying and bloody from some backyard injury, and my mom always said, “Oh hush, you’ll live!”
In summer, I’d spend the entire day fishing with my brother on the edge of the marina, without life vests.
I’d be out at 5am helping my dad shovel our LONG driveway after a snowstorm, just so he could get to work.
How about carrying a few dimes so you could call home on one of those fancy phones that you used to see on every corner?
When I was a kid we were lucky to have an Atari for video games. I grew up in S. Idaho (Twin Falls) and I used to go hunt lizards and snakes in the Rock Creek canyon, which was a quick bike ride away. Had a blast in that canyon until I fell of a cliff and broke my foot. That was an actual life saver for me, the day before the neighbor kid shot at me with a pellet gun and the pellet got lodged in between my toes. If I had not fallen off of the cliff, they would have never seen the pellet in the x-ray. I had to have it surgically removed and the docs were able to stop the blood poisoning in my leg.
We were actually taught things in school. Yep that’s right, we had to learn in order to get to the next grade and graduate. I have not met a high school student yet that can tell me the 3 branches of government, name 10 Presidents, name 15 states, show me the 7 continents or how to repair ANYTHING other than change the battery on a cell phone.
[quote]msw1959 wrote:
We were actually taught things in school. Yep that’s right, we had to learn in order to get to the next grade and graduate. I have not met a high school student yet that can tell me the 3 branches of government, name 10 Presidents, name 15 states, show me the 7 continents or how to repair ANYTHING other than change the battery on a cell phone.[/quote]
[quote]CLUNK wrote:
And how about the toys back then?
SSP race cars
Mattel Toggle Blocks
Major Matt Mason astronaut sets
Big Jim doll
[/quote]
My big brother had a five-gallon bucket of Lego when we were kids. We would make toy cars and have demolition derbies. He always won, until I got stronger than him.
When I was 10 or 11, my dad would send me to the gas station to buy smokes for him if he was busy around the house. He’d give me $2.00 for a pack of Parliament Lights and I could spend the change on candy.
No seat belts, no child seats, as a kid it you’d kind of squeeze up between the front seats and hang out to talk to your parents in the car. Road trips were spent looking out the window (I’d get car sick if I read for too long) and if you wanted some fresh air you’d roll down the window with the hand crank. I was 11 before I ever saw a Walkman; there was no way to take music with you if you were going to go for a jog (which was just getting popular due to Jim Fixx’s book).
I was in college from 1990-1994, not exactly the dark ages, but no one was on the internet as there were no browsers. Mosaic Netscape wasn’t launched until late 1994. No email either. I learned how to type on an honest to goodness typewriter and if I made a mistake, I would have to backspace, hold the little white correction film to cover the error, and then continue on.
There were no cell phones so hooking up with someone was always hit or miss. You’d fire up at the house, then hit the usual bars and if Lady Luck wanted you to get laid that night, the girl you were interested in was at the same place at the same time.
[quote]CLUNK wrote:
And how about the toys back then?
SSP race cars
Mattel Toggle Blocks
Major Matt Mason astronaut sets
Big Jim doll
[/quote]
Lincoln logs
Erector Set
Barbies (I loved barbies)
[/quote]
The only times I played with Erector sets, Lincoln logs, or toy race cars was when I visited relatives.
[quote]CLUNK wrote:
And how about the toys back then?
SSP race cars
Mattel Toggle Blocks
Major Matt Mason astronaut sets
Big Jim doll
[/quote]
Lincoln logs
Erector Set
Barbies (I loved barbies)
[/quote]
The only times I played with Erector sets, Lincoln logs, or toy race cars was when I visited relatives.[/quote]
To be fair, the only time I played with lincoln logs and an erector set was when I took them off my little brother.
[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:
When I was 10 or 11, my dad would send me to the gas station to buy smokes for him if he was busy around the house. He’d give me $2.00 for a pack of Parliament Lights and I could spend the change on candy.
[/quote]
I used to buy smokes for my mom from the cigarette machine at the gas station down the street… back when Exxon was still called Esso. The cigs were only 55¢ a pack back then.
[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:
Oh, and GI Joe was 12" tall. I think the declining testosterone levels in boys can be directly linked to GI Joe becoming a 4" toy.
[quote]CLUNK wrote:
And how about the toys back then?
SSP race cars
Mattel Toggle Blocks
Major Matt Mason astronaut sets
Big Jim doll
[/quote]
Lincoln logs
Erector Set
Barbies (I loved barbies)
[/quote]
The only times I played with Erector sets, Lincoln logs, or toy race cars was when I visited relatives.[/quote]
To be fair, the only time I played with lincoln logs and an erector set was when I took them off my little brother.
[/quote]
Did you beat him with the Lincoln log roof slats? ;-{D
[quote]silverblood wrote:
Some of my favorite toys growing up:
Big cardboard boxes that freezers and refrigerators came in. My Grandpa drove down to the Otasco store and they would give us 3-4 on the weekends to take.
Big metal barrels. Lay them on their side and see how far you could walk on them.
Pocket knife for mumbly peg, whittleing, or whatever.
Marbles
BB gun[/quote]
[quote]EyeDentist wrote:
Sitting in the rear-facing last-row seat of the family station wagon.[/quote]
Sitting in the back of the pickup truck praying no one in the cab was chewing tobacco!
[quote]EyeDentist wrote:
Sitting in the rear-facing last-row seat of the family station wagon.[/quote]
Shoot a many tie-fighter from that position.*
Not old, just old car, a “res-rocket” as they were (and are still) known – no requirement to get your car inspected if registered on the reservation, so old, generally-previously-totaled crappy cars were the norm. Mismatched driver’s door and tied-down hood. The snow and roads (and occasional errant elk) destroy anything decent, anyway.
Boom box playing “Summertime” from Will Smith, various fleshy beasts getting BBQ’ed on the grill, friends in the pool…and my dad trying to serenade any number of girls in my class, with a cigarette in his mouth, guitar in his hand, wearing nothing but a speedo.
When I asked my dad WTF was he thinking, he pointed down at his dick saying “this thing isn’t going to fuck itself.”
