The next time you saw that switchbox did you feel a searing pain between your waist and your knees even though no one was even near you???

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

After a few weeks of playing with them did you stick a match to them and 'forget' to put it out??? I did that with a plastic Mustang and was disappointed when it immediately curled up instead of looking like a REAL car on fire.

My favorite gimmick.. Start a small fire with nails in it. Let the nails get hot. As great of a distance as you dared and a little downhill, light another small fire. Put out the first fire and pour some gas on the hot nails. Watch the white vapor cloud rise and spread out. As the vapor cloud approaches the second fire stand back. When the vapor cloud reaches the small fire be ready for a real show!!!

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Carrying a Buck 110 on my belt in school.
Building a long rifle in shop class.
Riding a bike without a helmet
Driving a car with no seatbelts, a metal dash, and no power steering.
Shooting rats at the town dump with pellet rifles
Leave the house in the morning and not getting home till dark

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Regards,
Guy-Harold Smith II

One time I was playing 'flaming arrow' and on the way down it got caught high in a tree in the front yard. I got out the hose and realized that the 15' it shot up couldn't reach the arrow. (hoses seemed to have a lot of kick until you really needed them and found out how inadequate they are. I was hoping and praying when the fire went out by itself.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I won't climb the embankment behind my friend's house to sit on the RR tracks and watch X movies at the Port Drive In.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Oh, I left out some of the bad things we did. On the beer thing, around our town we didn't buy 6 or 8 packs. But we had one old guy who would fill up our gallon jugs with draft beer. He was a good old guy and everybody's favorite. If we were camping out, we'd just stop and ask for a favor. It was nothing for him to buy 5 fill ups of those jugs. The beer was beyond awful. usually Burger or Wiedemans, sometimes Schoenling. But we were teens, so we just got drunker than all get out. Anyone watching could tell what we'd done the night before. If we were seen straggling in about 8 or 9 in the morning, we behaved ourselves. If at 11 or noon, we'd really tied one on.

And I learned respect for Unions back then, too. The local park was often rented out by a succession of unions for their summer picknics. Everyone knows union members are drunks. For the union picnic to be a success, they needed to provide a selection of bottled or canned beer. They'd pay someone to clean up the grounds on Monday. We had our work cut out for us, we had to be up and in the park well before 8:00 to get all the left over stuff. And then pack it out of sight before the crew arrived. Storage was easy, we had a spring fed creek that was our natural refrigerator. For a couple of years, we were in tall cotton. After we got the full ones away, we'd go back and scavenge the empties worth 2 cents each, along with the pop bottles. One year the clean up crew even offered us the full pop bottles. We thanked them. Can't drink beer at that age all the time.

And one of our buddies got a job in a beer store. He had the evening shift. He kind of had crush on a tall blonde girl who had him pegged as a pushover. She was under 21 by a few years, but could always buy beer if he was the only one on duty. It started with him being cool and telling her he had to see ID. She pulled up her sweater for him and asked sweetly "have you ever seen someone with a set like this and be underage?" Of course he'd never seen anything like that before. He couldn't speak but sold her the beer. So he told us the story, and we hung around the place waiting for repeat. The next Friday we were rewarded. Someone pointed out he could get arrested or fired. He said it was worth it. Some time passed and he got the nerve to ask her out. He was afraid she'd refuse, but she agreed. They went together for a few months.

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Dick Burg

Wow!! Fun times were had. Too bad we all weren't neighbors in the same town!! Now that would be something to recall. Just be thankful we all saw those great simpler times. Didn't know how great they were back then but we sure do now! $10 for beer, smokes, and a snack? I just paid $10 for a box of Newports!

Do you really think that town would have survived?

Yes..........

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What - you have electricity in yours???

Must've been an officer. They were/are the only ones allowed to take personal weapons into a combat zone.

Man I felt that searing pain a month ago. It was that kind of beating.

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LIVE FROM THE DAWGHOUSE

I guess I'm old enough to remember $10 for beer, smokes, a snack and a few gallons of gas to boot.

and still have change.

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LIVE FROM THE DAWGHOUSE

I was in the 3/5 Cav, C troop BlackKnights Vietnam, 1969. Many of us had personal weapons in Vietnam. I had a model 10 S&W 38. Got my ammo from the helicopter pilots. They were issued 38s. A buddy of mine had his dads germen luger he had brought home from WWII. I also had a Thompson sub machine gun fully auto I bought on the black market for $20.00. We were a combat unit out in the boonies and no one cared.

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Endeavor To Persevere

buying beer with a fake id

Our log structure has electricity but no water. Before heading out to do your business, you can turn on the lights and heater from inside.
Here's a night pic of the log structure.

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A heater too? Now that's adding insult to injury!

Where we bought beer you didn't need an ID. If you had money, you could buy beer. It was Jimmy's Night Spot. If they were closed, you went around back and rang the bell. Any time, day or night.

I graduated in'87 . Most of us had gun racks in our trucks with loaded guns. That was Poudre High in Ft. Collins CO. I grew up in the mountain's west of Ft. Collins 100mile round trip to High school; always had a gun.

Definitely a different world back then.
I'm sure they welcomed the break in routine.

I went to high school in a small town in the Texas Panhandle in the early to mid 80's, and every single country boy 'redneck' there carried a Buck knife on their belt in a leather holder, dang I'd forgotten all about that. They had those, and the ubiquitous wear-circle in their jeans back pocket from carrying a can of Copenhagen or Skoal...LOL!

Back in the 1960s, I routinely flew with a handgun in my briefcase. I never advertised that, but no one ever searched me, and there were no X-ray machines, baggage searches, or patdowns. You just walked into the airport, went to the waiting area, then boarded. I don't think there was much concern about carrying guns on-board until the wave of hijackings started in the late 1960s and early 1970s, lots of people wanting to go to Cuba and similar places, also the D. B. Cooper affair of 1971.

I lived in the boonies of western Ks and went to hi school in the 60s. I always had a gun or two in my car and often road hunted to and from school.
Shot lots of jack rabbits off the hood of a moving pick-up while brothers or friends were driving, at night.
Also tried unsuccessfully to shoot jack rabbits off a Honda trail 90 dirt bike with a 410 at night.

Not sure how I made it to 65 years old.

We used to fight as kids over who got to ride on the "hump" in the back seat (driveshaft hump) so we could see out the front window better.
We played pick up tackle football all the time up to high school in the 1960s and 70's without pad or helmets. We drove around in the back of pickups.
We always used gasoline as a solvent and we never had a problem discarding it or oil or batteries. We just chucked them. We carried our shotguns to school or left them in our cars later on at school so we could go hunting after school. It was not at all unusual to see teenage boys walking down the street with a shotgun in their hand. Lots and lots of stuff we did back then that is so phobic today. It's a wonder we have any real young men at all. I really believe if it weren't for good "competitive" organized ball teams, and the military, and those fathers that teach heir kids to be men regardless of the PC culture, this upcoming generation would be completely emasculated.
Edit: 1 last one I forgot we did as kids..catch carp at the local ponds...they were ice ponds in the way way way back days, then lay them on the track and watch the train squish them. Even though they were dead I am sure you couldn't get away with that these days.

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John 1:17
NRA Life Benefactor

We used Roman Candles. Multiple shots per flick of the BIC.

Yeah, but they stick to your face.....

I quit drivin' in chuck wagon races after my first one.

My Momma raised some dummies, but they was my sister.

Besides that, you cain't trust them Canadian fellers, they drink warm beer!!

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Eccentric old coot

Met my future wife because of a bottle rocket fight.

What I've gotten from all of these wonderful responses is that, we lived a much better life back in "the ole days" than people do today. And I feel sad for that, back then it seemed we did what we wanted to do , stupid, dumb , idiotic , what ever but we were free to at least try. Today, everything is regulated, illegal, or racist or etc. Sad, sad, sad !

As a group my friends and I would wander all over our small town with BB / pellet guns...maybe 6 or 8 of us total. Just going to / from someones house to where we could target practice.

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1st smiles,lies.Last,gunfire.

I lived in the dorm at Auburn University in the early '70s. Not only did I keep my rifles, shotguns and handguns in my room, other friends would store their guns there as well, due to having roommates that liked to leave their rooms unlocked.

A friend and I built a small bench and I had an RCBS reloading press mounted on it. I would take my Coleman camp stove down to bathroom and cast bullets. Once we got a bunch of ammo loaded, we either went to the country range or out to the National forest.

I vaguely remember studying and going to class too.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

I agree, even the movies and music we had back then towered over the garbage that is puked out of the pop culture sewer pipe these days...my wife's grandkids have discovered Johnny Cash, at least. I feel bad for this generation, but worse for the future ones; they'll never know what it means to live in a free country and their music will probably even be worse than it is today, if that's even possible....

I remember my sister and I making mud pies and catching horn toads and keeping them in cigar boxes.

My cousin and I would walk along the highway and pick up soda bottles. We'd take them to the little country store and sell them to buy BBs.

Back then, I guess you could actually buy mercury in a drug store cause a lot of kids, including me, would take the mercury and rub it on a penny for a while until the penny shined like a dime. Mercury poisoning? What's that?

In my neck of the woods, the methane in the outhouse wudda done blwed up when the heater got turned on!

Yep recall those cardboard tubes of Daisy BBs for .10 or .15 cents a tube. Still got my Daisy 25 pump from 62. Cost about $11 I believe. And yes it still works!

Was listening to Roy Orbison the other day when my niece was over and she loved it. She said if he ever comes in concert to the area she wanted to go. Told her sure no problem, my treat.

These are all great stories. I'm not as "wise" as some of you. I just turned 40, but still remember things you can't do anymore.

I also sat on my dad's lap and "drived". Never wore a helmet on bikes or skates. Had a chemistry set and I remember setting a small portion of the carpet in my bedroom on fire. I played with mercury too. Remember my uncle jack giving me the book, "Young Boy Electrician". Had so many neat experiments from stuff I could buy at radio shack. I carried a pocket knife (Swiss Army) from elementary to high school. Now I carry a buck knife every day.

Somebody mentioned it earlier, flattening pennies on train tracks. I guess I am still a kid. Not only do I remember doing that with my dad, I recently moved to a new house that backs up to the metro line. I have wanted to go out and do that again... Not sure if it is illegal or not... Doubt it would derail a train, but may just have to see....

I was up skiing this winter, and think I am about the only one that doesn't wear a helmet. Never have, don't want to. I hope they don't make it mandatory.

Keep the stories coming. They entertain me.

When I was about 6 or 7 years old I'd ride my Schwinn Stingray to the store about 4-5 miles away to get my mom some Winstons...she ran an account so I didn't have to carry money (helmet, what helmet).

Are you sure that's a TOY gun???

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Don't worry - that train is safe! Go for it!

One thing my wife mentioned. With all the overprotective parents today that are worried their kid might get a scratch, they still don't have seat belts on school buses.
I got into an argument with a guy on another forum cause I said I ignored the law and rode my quad 5-10 mph on the ice, ice fishing without a helmet. He thought I was going to get thrown off and get a severe concussion.

I'm pretty sure we were all cowboy gun slingers at that age and that's how we all ended up here today. Still got that cap gun? It's probably worth as much as a real Colt these days.

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Back to back World War Champs.

Wrapped tin foil around a pencil, made a hollow rocket with a pointed end. Filled it with match book heads, held a match under it until it went off and flew wherever it felt like flying.

Made my own gun powder when I was in like the 4th grade, bought items at local drug store.

I was taught to use my head - spearing - in football.

Eat lots of salt when you worked out - it is good for you! No water.

Every school had one of those hand generators you lined people up to shock the person at the end. Someone would call the police now days.

Took by barreled 223 to the college I taught at around 1990 or so and showed it to the welding instructor who had a student who was working at the Bell & Carlson plant - got a nice synthetic stock and we had it at school for several days.

Made a billy club in shop class when I was senior - nice walnut one complete with leather strap. Used it once and later the authorities wanted it more than me.

I never did this but it was popular to make acetylene bombs in a balloon and set them on fire. A guy I worked with broke his arm clean in two with one of these.

Dove off of cliffs and jumped off ropes without knowing what was down there.

Take your pocket knife to school.

Drink out of the garden hose.

Grab a machete, bb gun or 20 Ga and walk down the street to the good part of the woods, not realizing we were trespassing with loaded firearms at times.

Build a fish basket, (trap). By the way, what's a "limit"?

Having a bonfire just because.

Going in a buying a pack of cigarettes for one of your parents over the counter.

Seeing a cigarette machine.

Thumbing thru the barrel of used rifles in the aisle at the local hardware store and looking at boxes of ammo on the shelf next to them.

Using a whisk broom or an ice pick.

Filling ice trays and spilling half on the way to the freezer.

Watching my grandfather plow his fields with a mule. His feet were so tough he could put hand rolled cigarette out on his heel. Not sure about the mule, I don't think he smoked.

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Isaiah 41:10

Never forget Mad Magazine with Alfred E. Neumann on the cover. Remember swiping a Playboy magazine from the corner store when they cost .50 cents an issue? And yes I agree that Fanner Fifty the kid is holding could be worth some cash today. I had a few myself like the Mare' Leg, Bat Masterson cane you could put caps in one end and bang on ground and limitless cheap pocket knives for .79 cents. Not much money in our youthful pockets back then but a quarter went a long way.

I can relate to every response made, as a big cup of coffee has awakened some brain cells I just thought of something else. In the fifth grade, this would be 1965, there was a kid that had a perfect attendance record at school. The principal and the fifth grade teachers got together and bought him a pretty darn nice hunting knife, I remember every boy in the class envied him, nice knife, scabbard and all, wow. The teachers made a fuss about it too, it was given to him in front of the whole class, in the auditorium. The next day he showed up wearing it, cool!!!

Today the kid's award would be what????? Priority one today is that the award not offend anyone at the school. What could they give him???

I've just taken five minutes to ponder on what they would give him and realized, there would be no award, it might offend the people that called in sick a bunch.

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LIVE FROM THE DAWGHOUSE

Hmm...........let me think.
BB gun wars.
Bottle Rocket wars.
Roman Candle wars.
Riding in the back of a pickup.
Riding a motorcycle with no helmet.
IIRC bicycle helmets didn't even exist back then.
Jumping off the roof.
Making pipe bombs out of empty CO2 cartridges and blowing up all sorts of things.
Making HUGE scratch built model rockets........they had "F" size engines back then and you had to use a "fuse" to ignite them.
Blowing up said model rockets by inserting a small container of gasoline in the top and gluing the nose cone on.
Tennis ball cannons!
I could go on all day folks but, this at least gives you a taste of my childhood.

Oooh.......almost forgot. Does anybody remember REAL M-80 firecrackers? Blew up a few things with those too!

I think I had that same outfit at some point but, mom wouldn't let me wear it to school.

Ha! A sheath knife as a reward! Yeah that would go over like a you know what in church today. Yep days like that are definitely gone. Hope that knife was a Puma and the kid still has it.

Did anybody else have a pair of boots that had a knife holder on them? Every boy in our class wore 'em.