Scotty Overkill's pumpkin carving thread made me nostalgic for our much simpler past. I'm 51 and growing up we were more on the poor side. I remember activities like stringing popcorn for the Christmas tree, folding the pages on the large phone books to make a house decoration, cat's cradle, putting bread bags on our feet so they didn't get wet in our boots, slowly turning the knob on the tv and adjusting the rabbit ears....and so many others. Things really have changed! What do you recall?
This is what a phone book with its pages folded looks like. It took hours to make. My mother probably made me make these just to keep me busy.
Now THIS is gonna be a cool thread! I fondly remember making "cabins" in the woods, building dams on the small spring and making it deep enough to swim in, summer family picnics at grandmas, it makes me tear up a little....... We still do LOTS of those traditional things with our kids, I want them to have those good memories as well.....
Canes poles catching bullheads for dinner. Slingshots and stones ( till I got old/ big enough for the .22 and shotgun) for pigeons- breakfast). Drudgery at the time, splitting cook stove wood. Trapping mushrats for pocket change.
We also built forts, slingshots, wooden swords, made our own gun powder and explosives. The summers were so much fun. We'd all get together and decide what we we gonna do for the day; go fishing, play baseball, go for an overnight hike, make a go cart, fly kites, go swimming..... It was like Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. The only time you stayed in the house was when it was raining.
Much of what has already been listed . My grandfathers timber company owned 2000 acres at the main homestead which I bought part of and still live on to this day. I remember vividly all the time I spent exploring every square inch of that property at a very young age alone and with friends .
Me and muh Radio Flyer wagon moved some serious tonnage back in the day. Built miles of tunnels in the hay loft.
Good Lord, we could probably fill a few pages by ourselves. Like Jack, I grew up in a poor family until I left home at age 12 and went to work for a neighbor. But I fondly remember many things like making some of our own toys; for example, chicken feathers stuck in the ends of corn cobs made great rockets. Horse shoes, crochet, playing ball and even building a backstop because we didn't have enough players ever to have a catcher. Mowing grass with push mowers and they had no motors on them either! Feeding the cows and young cattle, bringing them to the barn at night and then shutting them into the pasture after milking. Gathering eggs. Chopping heads off chickens which turned out to be lots of fun because they really become acrobatic then! Mother didn't like it though. Halloween time we made our own costumes then walked to the neighbors for some candy. Made our own Christmas decorations. Winter nights cracking hickory nuts and getting the meat out then my big sister always made fudge and popcorn too and we'd eat lots sitting by the wood cook stove or the wood heating stove. Many probably don't go back far enough but I remember my folks owning a Model A Ford and none of our tractors (3) had electric starters. I always loved harvest time whether it be putting up hay or straw or combining wheat or picking corn or filling silo. Those were good times even if it was hard work. Okay, enough for now.
I remember the times during the oil embargo around 1975-6. My dad installed a Jotul 602 and had maple logs delivered. We moved the logs out back, he cut them with his little Homelite Xl and we helped split and stack them as a family. Those times really were memorable. It was also a very patriotic time during the Bicentennial. Other memories were the big GI Joe's, Johnny lightning tracks and Matchbox cars, riding our Schwinn bikes with banana seats and stick shifters. Tonka trucks pushing the cat turds out of the sand box. There was a small dump nearby and we would salvage wood and wheels to make carts to race down the roads. No safety gear, everyone lived.
I see a lot of familiar pastimes listed already! Building a fort! How many Dads would wonder where in the heck did that lumber (saws, nails hammers) go? Slingshots...used to stock up whenever we got to town-10 cents at the dime store! Building jumps (ramps) for bikes....building fires for cookouts; usually just a pack of hot dogs. Swimming in the summer, the old style steel runner sleighs in the winter. Catching any type of animal young we could to "raise". Town wide baseball games. (small town) Apple fights-yeah apple fights....hoo boy!
We weren't close to a town and we also made our own slingshots. Many times while going to the woods to cut wood for slingshots, we'd also climb the young popple trees and climg until they would bend down far enough to put our feet back on the ground. Better than a ride at the county fair! Used to be happy in winter too when we had ice in the ditches so we could make ice cream. For cream, we just had to go to the milk house and skim the top of the cans.
I grew up in more of a town environment but behind and beside my parents' place was woods - second growth and third growth timber. Best part were no wild animals. Living on an island there were no bear, cougar, deer, skunk, possums, fox or wolf. We roamed the woods, climbed trees and build trails and forts. There was a strip of land between our yard and the road that was covered with tree stumps from building the road. We created tunnels all through it. Dad would have a bonfire in the evening and we would roast marshmallows and hot dogs - trying to keep the dog from getting them. For me there was also Barbies, dolls and the awesome doll house that my grandfather built for my mother which was passed down to me. We didn't go swimming much as the water was so cold and lots of currents running. The best part was lying in bed in July, just before dusk and listening to the ravens and birds calling in the trees across the road. Winter was wet and cold so lots of books and crafts to keep me busy. On TV, Hockey night in Canada Saturday night where the only way you could tell where the puck was on the snowy b/w screen was where the players were battling it out. Thanks for the thread. Started me thinking of those times again.
Woodwidow good call on climbing trees! How could you have summer and not climb trees as a kid? Ever fall out of one and land on your back and get the wind knocked out of you? You just lay there for awhile waiting for your lungs to fill up so you can breathe again!!!
Summer was fort building, neighborhood baseball, kickball or smear the queer. When we could, walking to town for a greasy pizza and a bottle of red pop sitting on the post office steps. Winter we would stay out until your feet were numb, had a great sled riding hill (saved my paper route money to get an 8' toboggan from the local hardware), nice ice skating pond right behind the house.
I fell off a ladder a couple of months ago and got the wind knocked out of me, I was really scared because I didn't know what happened after a couple of seconds I realized what was going on. I haven't had that happen in over 30 years.
