# The good old days



## HANGEYE (Feb 12, 2015)

I have often thought about this



Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread butter on bread on the same cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't seem to get food poisoning.

Our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper in a brown paper bag, not in ice pack coolers, but I can't remember getting e. coli

Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake or at the beach instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring), no beach closures then.

We all took PE .......... and risked permanent injury with a pair of Dunlop sandshoes instead of having cross-training athletic shoes with air cushion soles and built in light reflectors that cost as much as a small car. I can't recall any injuries but they must have happened because they tell us how much safer we are now.

We got the cane for doing something wrong at school, they used to call it discipline yet we all grew up to accept the rules and to honour & respect those folk older than us.

We had 60 kids in our class and we all learned to read and write, do maths and spell almost all the words needed to write a grammatically correct letter......., FUNNY THAT!!

We all said prayers in school and sang the national anthem, and staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention.

I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself.

I just can't recall how bored we were without computers, Play Station, Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV cable stations. We weren't!!

Oh yeah ..... and where was the Benadryl and sterilisation kit when I got that bee sting? I could have been killed!

We played "King of the Hill" on piles of gravel left on vacant construction sites and when we got hurt, mum pulled out the 2/6p bottle of Mercurochrome (kids liked it better because it didn't sting like iodine did) and then we got our bum spanked.

Now it's a trip to the emergency room, followed by a 10 day dose of antibiotics and then mum calls the lawyer to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat.

To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever been told that they were from a dysfunctional family.

How could we possibly have known that?

We never needed to get into group therapy and/or anger management classes.

We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills, that we didn't even notice that the entire country wasn't taking Prozac!

How did we ever survive?

LOVE TO ALL OF US WHO SHARED THIS ERA.

AND TO ALL WHO DIDN'T, SORRY FOR WHAT YOU MISSED.

I WOULDN'T TRADE IT FOR ANYTHING!


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## Lowe 2070 CC (Feb 12, 2015)

"Dunlop sandshoes" ? 

"mum pulled out the 2/6p bottle of Mercurochrome (kids liked it better because it didn't sting like iodine did) and then we got our bum spanked."

So, are you from Australia originally?


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## gillhunter (Feb 12, 2015)

Hangeye,
You must have been born in 1952 also. :LOL2: Good post.


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## WaterWaif (Feb 12, 2015)

Iodine if you complained about a cut. Oh yes.
Ten cents a week at one time for an allowance. Mowing/shoveling/raking leaves/burning trash ect. was expected.
Two pair of new pants for a school year was doin well. 
Dad was not afraid to work us. Digging a couple drywells by hand. Digging around sawlog base of a tree to be able to pull it over. 
His dad would put me to work with a shovel too digging his trash pit and while he had you might as well dig the next one too. What's with all the shoveling? L.o.l. Cutting wood with a bucksaw. Feed the animals before you get fed. Home late, there sits your plate.
Did get to roam at will when turned loose to get the stink blowed off on occasion.
Shoveled or mowed till old enough to work on farms till sixteen and could get a paper check job.
A shovel would have been more likely handed me if I had held my hand out for money.
Born in early sixties.


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## overboard (Feb 12, 2015)

Things are starting to sound familiar on here, TOO FAMILIAR! 
Born in 47; my how times have changed, and not necessarily for the better!


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## HANGEYE (Feb 12, 2015)

gillhunter said:


> Hangeye,
> You must have been born in 1952 also. :LOL2: Good post.




Yes Gillhunter, 3-10-52. 

Oh, I almost forgot the BB Gun wars.


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## HANGEYE (Feb 12, 2015)

Lowe 2070 CC said:


> "Dunlop sandshoes" ?
> 
> "mum pulled out the 2/6p bottle of Mercurochrome (kids liked it better because it didn't sting like iodine did) and then we got our bum spanked."
> 
> So, are you from Australia originally?



Nope, not an Aussie. Copy/Paste from an E-mail. But it does fit a lot of the "older" members here.


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## WiskeyJaR (Feb 12, 2015)

Rode 'round in the backward facing rear seat of me Dads '68 station wagon too, nothing bad happened unless Dad left the rear window down a little.....made for some nice dreams on long trips to grandmas house....<chuckles>....wife says "that would explain a lot about you." Ifn I didn't know any better, I'ld think I was being insulted. :roll:


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## JMichael (Feb 12, 2015)

HANGEYE said:


> Oh, I almost forgot the BB Gun wars.


Lets not forget about the homemade slingshots, as powerful as a modern day wrist rocket. And we were tossing 1 gal paint can lids around like Frisbee's before we knew what a Frisbee was. All I remember being put on my cuts was the liquid fire we called Merthiolate. How many times did you lose the key to the roller skates?


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## Y_J (Feb 12, 2015)

HANGEYE said:


> gillhunter said:
> 
> 
> > Hangeye,
> ...


5/22/52 here.. and more BB Gun wars than I can even remember. Imagine that. I've still got both eyes...


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## JMichael (Feb 12, 2015)

Oh not that I need to put this up here since 1952 is already heavily represented but 12/6/52. And I guess I'm another one that never heard of the Dunlop sandshoes. We couldn't wait for summer vacation cause we could shuck the shoes and run barefoot everywhere we went. My feet would be so calloused by the time school started back up that I could walk across piles of broken glass with no cuts deep enough to draw blood and I could walk across that 105° sun baked asphalt and not get the hot-foot. :lol: 

They weren't all "good ole days" but I'm pretty sure I'd take what we had then over anything we've had in the last 30 years. Heck we never locked our doors day or night (didn't even close them in the summer since we didn't have AC) and never had anything stolen.


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## fool4fish1226 (Feb 13, 2015)

A little younger then 1952 but all this applies to me as well awesome post :beer:


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## FishingCop (Feb 13, 2015)

Don't forget playing hide and seek until dark and listening to you name called out by your dad telling you to come home.... 3-12-49

Home made slingshots easily killed squirrels


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## gillhunter (Feb 13, 2015)

Played sandlot baseball, football and rode bicycles all without a helmet. "Gasp" 

Our daughters wouldn't let our grandkids get on a tricycle without a helmet.


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## KMixson (Feb 13, 2015)

How about playing in the mud. I used to play in the mud all the time when I was a kid.


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## JMichael (Feb 14, 2015)

FishingCop said:


> Home made slingshots easily killed squirrels


And with green plums for ammo they would even shoot an older sibling out of a tree too. :twisted: :lol:


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## Zum (Feb 15, 2015)

Lol...bb gun fights...i thought we were the only ones to do that...
Also used garden hose or flexible pipe for pee shooters...those big red berries sure would sting


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## S&amp;MFISH (Feb 15, 2015)

All these post sure bring back the memories. born in '59. Child of the 60's and 70's. Riding bikes with helmets, HA! Didn't even know where you would get such a thing. We skateboarded without helmets and pads. No wussies here. Full contact football, no helmets or pads, and we survived our "reckless" childhoods. BBgun, dirt clods, rock ,and bottle rocket fights. What fun we had back then.


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## lovedr79 (Feb 15, 2015)

I am only 35 and I am so glad I to experience life as a real kid. left at sun up, came in for lunch (sometimes), momma would yell "MICHAEL" and I could hear her from 100 miles away, time for dinner. no helmets, pads, anything on the bike, lucky if I had on shoes. and yes flip flops only during the summer time. didn't have a Nintendo or anything like that. 

and above all RIDING IN THE BACK OF A TRUCK! that was a treat!


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## malaki (Feb 15, 2015)

Any bottle rocket fights? That keeps you on your toes!


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## FishingCop (Feb 15, 2015)

Ha, remembered a few other things.... after a good snow, we would stand by the side of the road (residential) wait for a car to turn the corner then run up behind it, grab the bumper and (skitch) behind the car - crouched down and sliding along the snow covered road on our shoes while holding onto the bumper - lots of fun   Ha, had to be careful not to be directly behind the traction tire or you got a face full of snow.... oh, and no helmets 

Also hitch-hiked to high school 8 miles away everyday - the bus wasn't fun and took to long. Back then, hitch-hiking was the only way to get around until you turned 16 and "maybe" got a car - I was lucky and had a car shortly after I turned 16. Ha, each friend (usually 2-3) pitched in a buck for gas and we would cruise all night and still had gas left over ($24 cents per gallon) Camels or Lucky Strikes were 26 cents a pack) ,,Ah yes, the fun days of growing up in the early 60's   sock hops, sneaking beer from your dad's stash, eating a midnight snack at the local all night cafe, drive in movies with your girl, then meet up with the guys before going home by midnight. Fun times. Born in 1949, had two older brothers so I learned fast and was taught well


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## huntinfool (Feb 15, 2015)

Amen.


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## Y_J (Feb 15, 2015)

Zum reminded me of this one when he mentioned the red berried.. Ever take a bicycle spoke and stuff a match head into it followed by one of them red berries? We would shoot each other with these berry guns by holding a match to the end of the spoke to ignite the match head inside and shoot the berry out.. Had a blast (pun intended)


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## FishingCop (Feb 15, 2015)

Y_J said:


> Zum reminded me of this one when he mentioned the red berried.. Ever take a bicycle spoke and stuff a match head into it followed by one of them red berries? We would shoot each other with these berry guns by holding a match to the end of the spoke to ignite the match head inside and shoot the berry out.. Had a blast (pun intended)



Never did that, but used to fill the end of the spoke (after turning the end around backwards) with gun powder from a shotgun shell then force in one of the bb's from the shell into the end (bird shot I think) then fire it off by lighting the match  Also used to make zip guns with a car radio antenna and a .22 shell. Never wore a helmet for that either  

Also, used to take to pop bottle caps, fill them with film from a camera and a bunch od strike anywhere match heads, wrap it up tightly with tape. When you trhough it onto a hard surface (Sidewalk, etc) it would ignite and made a great smoke bomb.


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## JMichael (Feb 16, 2015)

FishingCop said:


> Also, used to take to pop bottle caps, fill them with film from a camera and a bunch od strike anywhere match heads, wrap it up tightly with tape. When you trhough it onto a hard surface (Sidewalk, etc) it would ignite and made a great smoke bomb.


We use to do the spoke thing with match heads but we never tried firing a projectile from them, just did it for the bang when they went off. 

One of the older guys that ran with our group had been a chemistry nut growing up and the rest of us learned early on from him that sugar + potassium nitrate made a monster smoke bomb. I can tell you this, you can take 1 cup of mix in a small jar, then stick the butt end of a lit cigarette into the mix until it stands up, place this behind a toilet in the bathroom at the local theater, and when it ignites, it will empty that theater until the next day. :shock:


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## SumDumGuy (Feb 16, 2015)

Remember the cell phones we had as kids? Hmmm..... neither do I.

Think how "advanced" our society will be in the next 10 or 20 years.


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## KMixson (Feb 16, 2015)

SumDumGuy said:


> Remember the cell phones we had as kids? Hmmm..... neither do I.
> 
> Think how "advanced" our society will be in the next 10 or 20 years.



I remember the cell phones. It was two cans tied together with a string stretched tight between the cans.


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## BloodStone (Feb 16, 2015)

This is easy enough to sum up...
The older generations by & large never considered themselves _"victims"_ while growing up. We weren't raised with an entitlement mentality but, one of rugged individualism & responsibility with a gratitude for growing up in America where your success or failure in life depended largely on YOU, your ambitions & your drive. JFK's inspiring speech of; _"ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country"_ has been replaced by a socialistic collective message encouraging the masses to sit on their butts & wait for help/"freebies" from Uncle Sam. 
We went from _"Proud to be an American,"_ to _"Hello, I'm an American & I'm sorry."_  


The Eagles song _"Get Over It"_ (lyrics by Don Henley) sums it up best;

_"I turn on the tube and what do I see
A whole lotta people cryin' "Don't blame me."
They point their crooked little fingers at everybody else
Spend all their time feelin' sorry for themselves
Victim of this, victim of that
Your momma's too thin & your daddy's too fat

Get over it
Get over it
All this whinin' and cryin' and pitchin' a fit
Get over it, get over it

You say you haven't been the same since you had your little crash.
But you might feel better if I gave you some cash.
The more I think about it, Old Billy was right
Let's kill all the lawyers, kill 'em tonight.
You don't want to work, you want to live like a king
But the big, bad world doesn't owe you a thing

Get over it
Get over it
If you don't want to play, then you might as well split
Get over it, Get over it

It's like going to confession every time I hear you speak
You're makin' the most of your losin' streak
Some call it sick, but I call it weak

You drag it around like a ball and chain
You wallow in the guilt; you wallow in the pain
You wave it like a flag, you wear it like a crown
Got your mind in the gutter, bringin' everybody down
Complain about the present and blame it on the past
I'd like to find your inner child and kick its little ass

Get over it
Get over it
All this bitchin' and moanin' and pitchin' a fit
Get over it, get over it

Get over it
Get over it
It's gotta stop sometime, so why don't you quit
Get over it, get over it."_


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## HANGEYE (Feb 16, 2015)

Flushed a CHERRY BOMB down the toilet in Jr. High. That got me a painful vacation. 
Climb the water tower and throw eggs at cars.
Sneak into the basement of the local tavern to "have a couple with the boys". Also painful.
Pitching pennies down by the sweet shop.
Hopping the train to get from one town to the next.
12 years old, in a boat with an outboard motor BUY MYSELF. Oh the horror.
At 15 I took my dads truck to go ice fishing with out permission, (BAD) didn't get back in time for dad to go to work (WORSE).
At 13, hunting with a 20ga single shot by myself.
How did we ever manage to survive?


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## FishingCop (Feb 17, 2015)

Walking home on the third rail - had to be careful jumping on and off
Putting pennies on the track then trying to find them flattened out after the train went by
smoking in the boys room 
transistor radios to keep up on Splish Splash, Hound Dog, Johnny B Good, etc.
ditching lunch at school to grab a smoke
stealing the root beer mugs from the A&W and Dog N Suds
double dating at the drive in movie, sex in both front and back seats at the same time 

Ah, the memories


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## lovedr79 (Feb 18, 2015)

ahh the zip gun. we also had BB gun wars...... definitely put stuff on the RR tracks. lucky that all of us in the group have both, eyes, 10 fingers and toes still.


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