Fond old memories anybody got some?

Yup,
Remember the days when we kids could run the neighbor with BB guns
In high school we carried buck knives and our guns hung in the back window of our trucks at school as we waited for the bell to ring so we could go hunting

and this was the 80's in San Antonio, and a fight was a good old fashioned bare knuckler w/o any BS

The only officer was the one who came when the bell rang to direct traffic out of the school parking lot

Making wine....any wonder I'm a wine fanatic in my old age ?

Pops would order 100 crates of grapes from California. We all helped with putting them in the grinder and pressing, barreling, fermenting, and of course tasting. No, we didn't stomp them with our feet. Every year pops would put some aside to age for like forever. Nascar would have loved to have gotten their hands on that stuff.

After it was done, the cellar was under lock and key for obvious reasons. Except he had to sleep sometimes and we always snuck the keys and filled a few bottles for the weekend. Then he got smart and started marking the barrels. Then we got smart and started adding water after we took our wine. Before long the cellar door looked like the door to Fort Knox.

Also had a pet Alligator too. They used to sell them in pet stores back then. When I'd go to school, I'd leave him in the grass to bask in the sun. I'd come home from school and he was always within a few feet of where I left him. Until one day....he wasn't, gone. Neighbors called my father complaining my 'gator bit their dogs nose. You could see the 2 puncture marks in the dogs nose too. Who knows what happened to him, he was never found. So if your ever in Harwood Heights Illinois visiting anyone, don't stick your head into any sewers or drainage grates. Not that that's the first thing normal people do, but you bozos aren't exactly normal, especially after a few cocktails.

I was watching the news awhile back and they wanted to charge this mother for neglect, for letting her daughter walk to school by herself.
I was thinking back to the 60's/70's when myself and my 5 brother's and sisters would take off in the morning and as long as we returned home by suppertime, eveything was cool.
Sure Ma would ask where we were going, but it wasn't such a big deal back then.
I was always out the door first thing in the morning in the summertime and would go down to the woods, or hang out at the rivers edge.
Hell, I was born without legs and was lucky enough to have a ma that loved me enough to let me go out on my own and experience life, instead of smothering me with a protective hold.
We really do live in a repressive society these days.
Being born in New Hampshire, I take the "LIVE FREE OR DIE" thing seriously.

Polkaguy58 wrote: »

I was thinking back to the 60's/70's when myself and my 5 brother's and sisters would take off in the morning and as long as we returned home by suppertime, eveything was cool.
Sure Ma would ask where we were going, but it wasn't such a big deal back then.
I was always out the door first thing in the morning in the summertime and would go down to the woods, or hang out at the rivers edge.

Yep. We had to come home when the street lights came on. With 5 of us, Mom wanted us OUTSIDE and playing.

^^ Oh yea, the mistakes made trying to sneak back in..
I stepped in the dryer one time coming thru a window as the lid was open and I didn't see it. Drunk as a skunk as I was, about pooped my pants when I looked up and their was my Dad looking at me half hanging upside down. Damn lucky I didn't break a leg..

Great stories, takes me back...

Sneaking in late...The house we lived in had a parquet floor in the front hall. Squeaked like and battleship when you walked on it! I committed to memory which one squeked the least. Came in one night stoned a$s drunk and made across the hall to the stairs going to the lower level. Success! Right? Nope...
Slippery socks one the carpeted stairs. Miscalculated the fist one and it was a flying cartwheel down to the landing. At which place Mom had her chair next to the TV in the living room at the bottom of the stairs.
Hitting the opposite wall and sprawled out on the floor at said chair which at the time was occupied by said Mom.
She calmly asked "Is anything broken?" It wasn't the words, it was the way she said them. Cold and damning. Crawled to my room and started writing my last will and testament.
The next morning she proceeds to torture me by clanging every pot and pan in the kitchen whilst making runny scrambled eggs and livermush for breakfast.
She had won the battle. God rest her soul. She meant well.

tonyb wrote: »

oldrocker wrote: »

Great stories, takes me back...

Amen pal, though at our age we may have to settle for a rocking chair at Volts grandma's joint and some Blackberry cobbler. Which is just dandy by me.

And Fried Pies

There mostly for day trips or traveling... for picnic's, basically just like a hostess pie except home in a skillet

another pic from the little Missouri river in the Ouachita National Forest.

tonyb wrote: »

Jimbo18 wrote: »

Penny candy, 10-cent Cokes, baseball cards, bicycles with 1 speed, hide-and-go-seek, building bonfires for the 4th, climbing trees, comic books that only cost 12-cents, sneaking cigs from the old man's pack, Sat. morning cartoons, 6 channels on the B&W TV, analog everything, foot races, pick up games of baseball and football, "friendly" fights with unwritten rules, and BB guns.

However, yesterday I spent 30 minutes turning everything upside down looking for the car keys.....which were in my pocket all along. WTF ??

Lost my reading glasses on the top of my head the other day...sheeesh!
Wooden deck skateboards and the tallest road hill in town. Trying to break the sound barrier without breaking bones. Sans any protective gear. Still have some road rash scars on my knees!

Some of the finest field engineering took place in the garages back then.
Big wheels! Burnt the wheels off many of them. Get up to warp speed and do power slides down that same hill.

tonyb wrote: »

Goes without saying Russ, we put wheels on anything back then. lol No safety gear, helmuts/pads etc....which today you need to just ride a frickin' bike. Anything you could put wheels on, climb into and shove down a hill, blow up....that's called using your imagination.

Remember when the Monkeys came out, they had that skateboard with the motor on it ? We used to tie together 20 or so of those model rocket engines and fuse them all together. Steal fire extinguishers and blast them to thrust yourself forward. Worked pretty well too.

+1. This thread is too funny and brings back a lot of memories. Your right, we did put wheels on everything. I made a few of my own skateboards. I also had the real (I believe) first pair of rollerblades. They were made be a ski company so skiers could practice during the summer and went over your shoes.

Ok, one more. My brother had been coming home past curfew. My Dad kept saying, you need to be on time or your done driving for a while.

Next friday night, here comes my brother about 1 1/2 hrs late, Dads waiting up. As my brother walks past the dining room he just tossed his license on the table and heads towards our bedroom. Dad says, "hang on just a moment, we need to talk".

Some type of discussion happened and the next thing I knew, my brother was carrying 2 pairs of old boxing gloves down to the living room. So they both got them on, my brothers jumping around like he's Ali, jabbing and running his mouth.

My dad is left handed and out of no where comes his left hand at an unreal speed, **** my brother right upside his jaw. All my brother said after he got up was
"Ok Dad, where done here"..

I wish we had video back then. It was GREAT!!!

Wow man, that's pretty cool. See...somethin' like that would have never lasted around my house. We'd blow it up some how, start a car on fire and then run it around the track.

Fire was another kids dream. For some reason we were amazed by it like cavemen who first saw it. 16 inch softballs were soaked in gas, fired up, and attempted to play something with it.

Bugs and fire....like PB&J. Poor gas on ant hills, bee hives....you name it. Anything that could burn, did. I still say Mrs. O'Leary's cow was a cover story for the Chicago fire. I know it was a bunch of delinquent Dago kids.....maybe a few Irish too.