Barb; I was born 1/7/50, so I'm quite confident I've got more than a few years on you. Yeah, I heard the same stuff from my parents, and I pretty much believed them. Yeah, I had chores around the house, a paper route and lots of side jobs doing lawns and washing cars. My efforts afforded me the opportunity to buy RCBS loading gear and Lyman single-cavity bullet mold to cast my own .357's. I shot those thru a 6" Highway Patrolman I bought on lay-away with the princely sum of $5 down and $5 per week until it was paid off. It took me about 4 months to finally bail myself out, but I've had a lot of fun with it and still bring it out once in a while. I grew up and lived in Portland OR, but spent 4 summers in Challis ID, about 50 miles from where Elmer Keith lived. In Challis, I spent virtually every day roaming and exploring the sage brush areas, hills, the Salmon River and all with my .22LR Rem 514T. I worked from 4 til midnite working in my Aunt & Uncle's restaurant. I was in charge of peeling potatoes and converting them to french fries, making hash browns and other kitchen crew work. My real title was "dishwasher-extraordinaire" and I was a whiz with a plate scraping station and 3 stainless sinks. Where was the dishwsher you ask? well, that be me. And no one ever got sick off the stuff I cleaned.
My sons had it pretty good, as we bought a 14 acre "farm" 20 years ago. They helped out a fair amount, but as any of us who have kids know; We had it a lot tougher. They built forts, panned for gold in our creek, spent years glued to 2-cycle dirt bikes, did the paint ball thing in a big way and eventually got into some of those party's we never did when the parents were gone. They also learned as much as I and Hunter Ed instructors could teach. We have a range down in the woods where they shoot and practice for their tactical rifle and pistol matches. They are both involved in loading, shooting and started their own company 5 years ago, GunCoat Northwest. Go to
www.guncoat.com and you'll enjoy what they do. Of course since I'm the dad, I could say they had it a lot easier than I did, and maybe that's true. But I had the fun of looking thru the Rifleman, lusting after a $30 M1 carbine or a $25 1911 and of course puting out the effort to buy my loading equipment and my Mod. 28. My boys had a great youth and still come over here to load, "borrow" some ammo and shoot in the woods. Since they're my sons, I could be tempted to say I'd trade with them, but I probably wouldn't, and there's no, notta, uh-ung, way that I would trade with most of today's kids. They don't get to do 1/25th what I was able to do. To a significant degree, they interface through TV, computers, cell phones, testing, crappy plastic toys and rarely get to roam the woods, camp, shoot or have the wonders of discovery I had when I made my own gunpowder and blew stuff up as a kid. What freedom and ingenuity that isn't already completely quashed by the above, get's pretty much destroyed by over-achieving parents who scream at them from the sidelines of the soccer field, in hopes that will motivate the kid's desire to excel toward a future scolarship.
No, you and I and most Forum members had it a lot better than today's kids. We should be thankful for all the freedom we had.
Thanks for a great topic Barb.
Thanks for the topic; you got me thinking.
