mAn I'm not even an old timer and I like alot of the things in this thread lol. I'm just old fashioned lol

Dad knew we were using gasoline in the backyard to melt our army men.

Remember the navy men?

The [i]blue/i] plastic ones?

great feelin' even older now.

g'nite all.

Happy Birdday

A brick of firecrackers was cheap, but the cadillac was when you could score bottle rockets.

M-80's cause they were waterproof!

Damn these are some memories.

I grew up out in the country, so things were a bit different. Instead of streets that couldn't be crossed, it was imaginary lines. "Don't go passed that pond" or "Don't go beyond the creek" kind of deals. Oh, and we had another rule.... don't bring anything home! Otherwise, the garage probably would have turned into a zoo of turtles, frogs, tadpoles, etc.

Oh, and my first computer was an HP. The kind with DOS and 5" floppies! I'm actually kind of glad that it was my first, because you can still fix a lot of things with a computer if you know your way through DOS. It's always fun to show off when someone else who thinks they know computers gives up, only for me to step in, bring up the DOS prompt, and have some fun the old fashioned way.

Ain't that the truth. And in our neigborhood if someone elses parents saw you doing something wrong they would give you a swat on the hindparts and everyone was cool with that. Then they would call home and report what you did and you got whacked again when you got home by your parents.

I think the worst trouble we got into was when we all made homemade bow and arrows one summer. They were all confiscated after the third kid went home with an arrow made out of a crooked stick sharpened on the concrete sidewalk stuck in him. I actually still carry a scar from one of those. I don't why everyone was upset, we all agreed no head shots before we started playing!!! Nowadays we would have all been arrested and thrown in Juvi.

Which brings me to the best: one pump BB Gun wars FTW!!!

-Prof

Happy T day old monkeys. Eat, drink, and sleep as much as you can. Enjoy it if you can.

Happy Thanksgiving to all the ol'timers. Be safe, enjoy your families and eat well! Looking forward to a turkey induced coma later!

-Prof

the wars...ahh yes the war....i remember....my first epic battle was in okinawa japan,1993-94 i was a military brat, so alot of my "playing in the woods" was playing in the jungle....all the kids were "strapped" with soft air guns.....even the japanese kids.....and sometimes we would cross paths with them, and even though we didnt speak each others language, there was the stare down, the "draw", then everyone scattered and took positions....we even had a battle in a 6 story apartment building once...

fawk halo and xbox on line.....until youve pulled a bruce willis move for real, then had to explain the stitches your brother had to get, you havent really lived....

ive been in parts of the jungle that even the military didnt even train in....i was there man....i was there....
lost alot of good buddies...

then i came to the to the states and decided american bb guns were dangerous....they actually break the skin!

my other than my amiga comodore, my first "real" computer was an AST 486....i thought i was the it.....especially when we upgraded to the pentium 1 and up the ram from 8 to 16 (maybe 32 im old i cant remember)....ah yes then there ws the "fun" internet days of aol 2.5 and 3.0 when you could actually "punt" folks off line...

I'm thankful for another day on borrowed time.

Happy Thanksgiving!


Edit: YES! Twilight Zone Marathon is on!

I'm playing Rock Band Beatles with my kids tonight and I know all of the lyrics without looking at the TV! My kids think I am amazing!!!!!!!

Rock on!!!!!

Lava. Dude I so remember my mom almost scrubbing my smile off with that stuff. It never dawned on her that her baby may be getting facial hair. So she scrubbed the hell out of my face. No wonder I cant grow any type of a moustach.
Who had bottle rocket wars? We use to use pieces of copper water pipe as a mortor tube. I once got my bud in the ear. I though I had killed him. His ear was black and bleading. Oh I knocked him out of a tree and he was about 20 ft. up. Yea American bb guns hurt like a bieoch. One pump. Um he is over 100 ft away so I need to use 5 pumps. WTF was that 4? I can still hear that being yelled as they rubbed their belly or back.
Much like Ty I grew up on a farm alot. But I was also in the city. at the farm I had to be home within 30 mins of when the dinner bell was rung. Some times you had miles to run. Bikes dont go well through the woods. In the city...Man I had problems. But you ALWAYS heard momma yelling. We use to tell one kid that his mom was always yelling for him. That kid would always fall for it.
I remember smoking dried up leaves. YUCK. But we were cool.
We had a creek that ran behind our house. We decided that it would be cool to dump a bunch of gas on the water and play Rambo. DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY FIREMEN WILL SHOW UP IF YOU SET 800 FT. OF DITCH ON FIRE. It was alot. But the worse was dad. All of them. They lined us up and we took a paddling from each one of them.
So this brings be to church. Do you remember when it was game for anyone in the church to light up your butt if you were outta line? Man did I take alot of poundings at church.

Bottom line. I wish it were still this way. B/c I am a better person for it and I wish my kids could have a thread like this to turn to in 30 years. Electronics and laziness has killed the kids life as we know it. Dirt is safe and fun no matter how much others tell you other wise.


Oh oh who rode their Tonka trucks down the stairs? Nothin like a Tonka rodeo!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!

I remember our first cable experience with "ON TV" ...one channel.
I had the Big Wheel with the hand brake....I was pro at the J turn.
Roller skating on the side walk and jumping the cracks so I wouldn't kill myself.
Tree houses were the best.
Getting put in a barrell and rolled down a hill in the golf course across the street.
"The Green Cobra" our go cart with wheels *coughborrowedcough* from the Pantry Pride supermarket cart..."emergency" hammer included for nailing the wheels back on and green carpet...hence the name.
"Marco Polo" at the neighborhood pool.
Burger King was like going to a fancy schmancy restaurant...at my house you ate what was on the plate.

Ummm, probably about as many as when you accidentally set a corn field on fire? My best bud and I had the genius idea to try to get rid of a huge paper hornet nest that was about 20 feet up a dead walnut tree by using a flaming arrow. Turns out a paper hornet nest really can't stop a burning arrow shot from a bow with a 60 lb draw. Damn thing passed right through the nest catching it and subsequently the dead tree on fire and of course the corn field it landed in two pastures away. The corn was drying on the stalk for to be used as feed and went up like the blazes of hell. Not one of our better ideas.

Times were better when we were younger, I never died from a spanking and I am a better person for getting them. I deserved every one I got and truth be told probably should have got double the amount I did. It taught me respect, how to follow rules and that actions have consequences and you have to accept them. Those are three things kids these days don't seem to be learning very well.

And I loved my Tonka trucks. Huge pieces of steel with wheels that were nearly indestructable. And bottle rocket wars were great. The best thing ever though was making potato guns. Awesome fun!!!

dang, forgot about the bottle rocket wars on the 4th.....

ever been shot in the chest by a roman candle? i dont recomend it ....

i worry about my kid now.... will he have a childhood as wholesome as the one i had?

he needs scars

Okay heres you lighter and 3 bundles of bottle rockets. You gotta find your own pipe. Game is...Youve got 2 minutes to get into your positions. From that point when you hear the pack of black cats go off thats the signal to start. Sam you defend our pirates flag, David you have your teams. Go to your start positions. Picture this we have extra artillery, water bags, m-80's with the shortened wick, and smoke bombs. Were gonna kill them "which was always a good chance when m-80's were in the picture".

Klackity klack pow pow. RUN All hell would break loose. after what felt like 4ever the medics "mom" would come out and spray you down with Bactine and then tell you "I SAID TO STOP PLAYING WITH FIRE KIDS! YOUR GONNA BURN THE HOUSE DOWN. AND IF YOU BURN THE CARS VINYL ROOF YOUR DADS GONNA KILL YOU!" Funny how proud dads were of those cheep tops isnt it? Once moms aprin strings had cleared the door frame you would go right back to planning the next stratigic attack.

4 the record I have been shot in the chest by a Roman candle. That hurts like all get out.

One of my best friends lived in a cul-de-sac where almost all the kids were boys around the same age. We often made our own bottle rockets by removing the base and unwrapping Piccolo Pete's. We would then electrical tape the remaining part with the powder upside down to wooden dowels. They were awesome. We launched one once that landed in the middle of the neighbor's 4th of July party. We ran, but it wasn't like they didn't know who it was. Another time, we poured a bunch of flammables into the manhole and dropped "fire in the hole". The manhole cover came up at least 3 feet. We also accidentally started a major fire in a river bed.

I am so sittin here singing Smoke on the Water.

I concur..and lost a darn good shirt in the process!

I think it was a "RIGHT OF PASSAGE" to catch something on fire... I know damn well we did! Burned about an acre of a field by my dads on accident!!! Man, were we ever scared!!!

Building huge forts and tunnels in the ice and snow. We would gather up large boulders created by the passing snow plows, carefully bring them back- via the trusty old Flexible Flyer sled- and set them in position before making another run. These forts would span several backyards and the snowball fights were awesome!

We don't seem to get snow like we did back then.
Global warming I suppose.

Most vivid memory of those days was an incredible ice ball fight we had one day. A friend and I, on opposite sides that day, both jumped up from behind our protective walls at the exact same time and fired with all we had. Both shots headed for dead center full facial shots. Incredibly both ice balls collided halfway with a sight and sound that rivaled the exploding Death Star We both stood in shock not believing what we had just witnessed. Lucky it happened though, surely stitches and dental work would have been required had those rock hard icy projectiles found their mark. Good times, good times.

And for the old kid in me, today I just had to put up Christmas lights. Fingers are still frozen. Took me about an hour to type all this sheet.

DUDE I FORGOT ABOUT THOSE DAYS!
We lived on a road that was parallel to the main street. One day in 1994 my sis and I were making a huge fort. We actually would use the trash can to make huge snow castles. Think small sand castles only much larger. Well we made probably 20-25 of these things that was at the end of the street "we were the last house on the street". So it was about 10 pm and we were ready for who ever. Well we had our ice mortors in hand. All we heard was the Jake brake of a truck. We took aim in the sky and let her rip. The next thing we heard was JOSH AND ASHLEY GET OUT HERE from the loud speaker on the truck. We didnt know that our dad was in the truck. It was an LG&E Bucket truck. His Explorer was needed by a different supervisor so his crew had brought him home. We had busted the front window and knocked holes in the fiberglass hood and finder. Man were we in trouble. We were grounded to the house for 14 days. The entire time we were out of school on snowdays. I'd rather set the creek on fire again.

Oh do I so have it coming when my kiddos grow up.

Needreefunds - your avitar is amazing!!!

Kids these days and their lack of morals...

izza kitteh

i miss my swimmin hole.....fishin and floatin in a creek tom sawyer style.....

we called it "chit" creek, but the water was always crystal clear, you could see the bass swimin

my little brother now,15teen....is scared of the woods! if he didnt play so much football and baseball, id pull his man card and revoke it....

hed rather be playin xbox or ps3......and he lives in the country!

he doesnt know what hes missin....

Scared of the woods. What has JR Tolken done to kids these days? If he were my bro I would still revoke it and then procede with a cup check. I still think that game system consoles should have timers on them. Oops your 30 mins is up. Timed out. Man I was at our far y-day and it only took me 45 mins to be at the creek. And it was 41 degs out. I so had my shoes off, pants rolled up and was a wading. Was it cold? Hell yea, but it was fun.

LMFAO at the cup check!!! I coach my son's baseball team and last season I had a problem with the boys wearing their cups. I warned them "you don't want to make me do a cup check" and they just looked at me like WTH is that?

And my kids video game consoles do come with a timer. It's me yelling "Times up, 5 minute warning". The alarm is my foot in their azz if they lose track of that 5 minutes and don't have it shut down. It's the parents job to be the timer.

Cowkid, when your kids get older you are in for it. I am already learning that with mine. Luckily, since I was so bad, I am on to almost everything mine are doing before it gets out of hand. They have a hard time getting anything past us, but they keep getting older and smarter!

-Prof

I'm an old monkey.

LOL over this thread. My wife just commented about the 'fire' thing. Said she don't get it, "sounds a little psycho to me." I told her, "No it's just a boy kid thing, You don't understand, You can't NOT play with fire, you've just got to do it."

We lived in a apartment complex, maybe 7-8 yrs old or so, I got to playin' with matches and caught my sister's baby doll, cradle and the yard on fire. It was fall I guess and the grass was very dry, caught most of the vacant lot on fire between the buildings. Fire trucks came. I remember hiding in some stairwell, but they found me.



Speaking of playing in the woods, You guys remember swinging on big vines? I'm talking about the big ones, where you swung out over a story deep or so and threw down glass bottles and tried busting them with rocks.

I spent a lot of my childhood busting glass bottles. Repeatedly my mom told me to stop busting bottles. Once, we were out busting glass bottles, I reached down in the mud and picked up what looked like a bottle but was only a half buried in the mud, as I threw it, it sliced into my finger. I had to be taken to the ER to get stitches. I was in trouble so I lied and told her I was not busting them but I tripped and fell and got cut. Didn't tell her the truth until I was grown up.

Reminds me of the time my father caught us firing snowballs at passing tractor trailers near our house.
Suppose I deserved that arse whoopin'.

And Blockclimber hit on another one. We used to just go fishing. Do kids do that anymore?
We'd break down the rod- you know, the two piece jobs- tie them to our bikes along with a small tackle box and pedal for miles to the stream or pond. Sometimes then deep into the woods to our fav spot. Great fun, with little to no money needed.








Thanks!

Fishin was a really good and cheap time.... especially if you dug up your own worms!

Oh, and I had another fun little hobby, speaking of BB guys. When I was a kid, I had a BB gun with a small scope mounted on it. I had that puppy DIALED. I'd go out early in the morning, find a decent tree to climb that would give a good view, and I'd snipe just about anything that moved! Birds were the most fun, because they were the hardest to hit at long range. I killed a few rabbits though, with well placed shots.

i rocked open sites, could never dial in those cheap made for bb gun scopes......

my fav was frogs actually....b/c they were quick and hard to spot

Yea I know I've got it coming. BUt like you said you have to be one step ahead of your kiddos at all times. But man the things they learn on The you tube.

Fishing. Man those were the days. I visited my favorite hole this weekend. No rod in hand just the little girl. But do I so remember those days of holding the rod between the bikes grips, praying that the hook would not swing around and grab your arm.

scariest fishing moment. I was probably 15 at the time. Our farm is 75% surrounded by Russel Creek. Its a rather large creek that feeds the Green River. This said it has some of the bigger river critters swim up into it. Okay I was barefoot obviously and was fishing the riffels. The water I was in was about a foot or so deep. You know trying to catch me a small mouth or a red eye. So there I was lost in moment. THEN IT HAPPENED. I felt something on my leg. Nom Nom Nom! I looked down and it was a 5 foot KY Blue Knose Gar. I freeked out, but was like okay its only one. WRONGAAA! I was surrounded. Not sure how many, but enough to make me run on water. Dude I was so friggin scared. So 45mph on the Honda grabbed my 20 guage and a pocket of shells. Man I went plowing back through that water on the 4wheeler with the gun a blazin. Man it was like a shark feedigng frenzy. Those Gars started biting eachother and the tires... Glad I wasnt in the water. I'm telling you I barely survived that one.

Fishing was the best. We either dug worms out of the compost pile or we would hit a swampy area for leaches before we went to the river to fish. Leaches are the best bass bait ever and easy to catch. We would just wade out into the swamp for 5 minutes or so and then walk out. You usually had 3 or 4 stuck to your calves. A couple of leaches will last you all day fishing cause they won't wear out.

If the fish were not biting we would swim instead. Always used to tell my mom we fell in because we weren't supposed to swim in the river, I didn't know why at the time but later found out the local sewage treatment plant would overflow upstream everytime it rained and added it's on special fertilizer to the river. Hell, the water looked good to me and the fish were huge! When I was a kid I would swim in anything if it was wet and over a foot deep.

Funny thing is that was a about a 10 mile bike ride to that river and we did it without even thinking twice about it. Bikes were freedom back then. We actually wore out tires and brakes back then. I remember when we got rid of my son's first bike I was amazed it had almost no wear, the tires were fine and the paint was like new. He had just outgrown it.

My kids and I go fishing as much as my schedule allows in the summer. Not often enough to suit me. That is the one curse of parenthood; If you wait until there is time to play with your kids, there will never be time. You got make the time and say, "F-it, the lawn isn't getting mowed today or the wood isn't getting split" and go do something with the kids.

-Prof

my boy broke his first window yesterday.....hes 17 months!

it has begun.....

Don't sweat it. In another 15 years he will be wreaking your car........

-Prof

bb guns ... i still shoot mine sometimes, though it has admittedly lost some of it's charms next to the big boy guns.

i had a crossman pump when i was little that somehow had gotten the front sight knocked off. I could hit anything to around fifty yards just pointing the darn thing and looking at the line and tilt of the barrel.
not sure how.

although i'm still a good shot, i can't shoot near as well without sights now.

I shot a bunch of birds and squirrels for awhile, but it always bummed m out once they were dead.
I still plug one of the 3 million grackles that hang out in my yard now and again. they are so f'in obnoxious.

d.

Ah ha ha! now your having flashbacks of all the things that God can remind you that you have done in your life. I cannot laugh much, cause my son is just like me and he is only 5 months old. I need life ins.


I did get a really neat flashback to my early Christmas memories today. Late lastnight I set up my old Lionel train up around the Christmas tree. I had it chuggin along when my daughter got up. She was so excited! Only the way a two year old could get. She woke up my son. Needless to say I have a vid of her and he sitting in the floor just watching the old train smoking and going in a circle. My son sat there for over 30 mins and just cooed to that old train.

I sat in church and thought about them. Then my mind drifted to my younger days. Do you guys remember sitting up your Erector sets, Aurora slot car sets, and the old Lionel trains. I can recall many evening spent with my dad just playing with these toys. Metal toys. I think I got my first stitches from getting my finger wound up in the gears on my Erector set. Imagine that toys that hurt you. But man werent they fun? I sadly do not have my old slot car set any more, but I do have the others. My oldest train set it the origional Lionel Lines train set that dates from the early 40's. It was my dads, now mine, then will be my sons. I sure wish I had a way of knowing how many miles that old train has on it.

Truth.


People who have never been in the outdoors or shot a weapon of any kind bother me...

Ahh, erector sets.....my sister pierced my hand completely through between the thumb and index finger with one of the screwdrivers.

I could so take this to a diff level with someone in the white house

ahhh TCK, you mentioned trains.....thats how we got to the fishing hole, we followed the track a couple miles till we got there....

i never got an erector set and only got one or 2 slot car sets b/c i broke everything that i touched

i did take lots of stuff appart.....and my dad would put me to work in the shop w/ him rebuilding motors...

i had real tools, and we were constantly modding our bikes, skateboards, even custom GI joes from the scraps of the broken ones...

Oh Erector sets..... so much fun was had with those! I think I still have a box full of the stuff somewhere in my parents' basement. Once I get some storage room freed up in my house, I think I'll box the stuff up proper, and save them for some day in the future. I don't think they even make anything close these days!





True story.

I still have my original Tinker Toys somewhere.

Same here. And Lincoln Logs!

Lincoln logs ftw

Remember AFX slot cars??

Estes rockets??

And as for boys being boys, my first new bike was a Rollfast IIRC.
Took that sucker apart in the backyard, ya know, to see how it works.

Old man was none too happy with me that night.

Anyone here used lawn darts? Deadly and illegal now but....

Also anything with an M80 is fun.

Am I an old monkey? o_O