Things we did as kids for entertainment

[jjb4900]

Strike anywhere match heads too

I'm shocked none of us never lost an eye or finger........

[ants]

I'm shocked none of us never lost an eye or finger........

I remember hearing shrapnel whiz past our heads, more than once.

[JJBat150]

Growing up in the county, we didn't have alot of neighbors, so Baseball in the side yard involved lots of "ghost runners".  The Barn was the outfield wall, hit it for an automatic "ground rule double" unless you hit the coupla - automatic homerun.

 

BB guns and .22's for target shooting.

 

"bazooka wars" with bottle rocks.  We also discovered that Estes model rocket engines would launch from lengths of pipe - although not very stable in flight.

 

Down the street from a friends house was a local "lover's lane".  We would wait until the right moment, then start pounding on the side of a car that was visiting, then run like hell into the woods.

 

In the fall, we would travel to the local hamlets at night and going "chucking" - this involved left over produce from the neighboring farms, eggs, and what ever else we could get our hands on.  Halloween night was our most productive time.

 

Spent alot of time in a nearby creek catching crayfish, we were rewarded by finding someone's stash of Playboy magazines.

 

Three wheels, dirt bikes, and field cars taught how how to recover from bone-jarring crashes.

 

Cornfield mazes.  We would cut the leaves off the plants to make corridors to travel (corn plants can give you a healthy paper cut to the face).  We knew not to cut down too many plants, because we the corn was the income for the farm.

 

 

[fasteddie]

We used to have BB gun wars . No eye protection . We took body shots .

Also had wars with apple throwers , walnuts , etc .. Made sure we were wearing old clothes so we didn't end up with walnut stain on any good clothes . The lucky ones were the kids that had a rubber glove so they didn't get walnut stain on their hand as it didn't wash off .

We hiked in the gullies , slid down the slate banks , caught crayfish and drank water from the creeks . Wouldn't drink that water on a bet now days .

A few farmers had old wooden wheeled wagons . We would ride them down hills using a rope to steer with . It's a wonder we survived that .

Made tree houses and forts out of any lumber we could scrounge up .

Shot pigeons in barns . Played kick the can . Played softball all summer . Roller skated at Long Point Park .

Most everything we did was outside . 

[46rkl]

Can't begin to tell you all how much I've enjoyed reading this thread! Growing up in the sixties in what then was the edge of the suburbs around Rochester we did most of the same crazy things mentioned here.

The forts that we made were from hay bales. The farmer loved it as long as we were careful not to break the bales. We made massive forts and when the farmer was ready he pulled up the wagon and we all loaded the bales on.

We would make a sandwich in the morning and often, not come back in until the dinner bell rang. Then we would sprint for home cause dinner didn't wait and with four boys , there was no such thing as seconds.

Thanks again for all the great memories!

[The_Real_TCIII]

Rodney Dangerfield....One of the all time greatest stand up comedians.

My mom was such a bad cook, the flies in our neighborhood pitched in and bought us a new screen door. We said a prayer AFTER we ate

[fasteddie]

I also recall that you ate what was at the table or go without . None of the mamby pamby crap . My mother worked at the canning factory during the summer to supplement the income . We always had a garden and I hated weeding but we had some great tomatoes and I loved eating tomato / mayonaise sandwiches . Any chores we had assigned had better be done in a timely manner .

I think I had a great childhood ! 

[Pygmy]

A girl called and said " Come on over....Nobody's home"..I went over...Nobody was home.

Talk about UGLY ! My mother-in-law is so ugly that if you look up the word UGLY in the dictionary, they have her PICTURE in there ...

I get no respect...I went to my doctor, Doctor Vinnie Boombotz... He said" You're too fat"

I said " I want a second opinion"....He said, " okay, you're UGLY too !"

[Nomad]

My mom was such a bad cook, the flies in our neighborhood pitched in and bought us a new screen door. We said a prayer AFTER we ate

Had to bury the leftovers at the beach, where they won't kill any trees !