Screw that, go for the real thing.
Posted on 08/09/2017 4:50:01 PM PDT by vannrox
In 1982, me and my family moved to New Zealand for a two year stay and shortly after coming there, it was Guy Fawkes week, with fireworks. The first time I ever bought fireworks involved me going to a corner store to buy a flowerpot (small version of a Roman candle). Took it underneath a bridge over the main river nearby and with a friend, set it off with a bright display of white sparks and smoke (it was a “Bridal Veil”). Good old fashioned fun, lol.
Hahahahahahahaha!
I’ve done fourteen of those things in the last couple of months! Just shot a slingshot two weeks ago at squirrels (to knock em off my bird feeder)
I think boys should be allowed to be boys. Some of us don’t make it, and coddling and wrapping us in bubble wrap or medicating us down to avoid those things that might hurt us does worse things in the end.
The very last time I tried that, things were going great until the front wheel hit a rut and pivoted to the left. I eventually came to a stop by using my skin as a brake pad.
Life was really fun. WE often walked that mile to school, even ice-skated when the sidewalks were frozen solid. We also loved construction sites and one night discovered the workmen had left the keys in a forklift kinda thing, so I drove it around the half-finished house, even tho my friends were saying NO. I think I was the only little girl in the crowd. My mother would have had a cow.
BB gun. Kids have to learn how to hit moving targets when they’re young or they’ll never be any good at it.
LOL, ifinnegan, isn’t it almost ALWAYS an “ow”? I swear, I don’t know a single guy who didn’t try to build a ramp with a board and cinderblock, and did a face plant as a result of it!
Kind of a rite of passage!
A life well lived...:)
And no more writing or endorsements or characters on clothes.
On a typical summer morning as a kid, I'd roll out of bed, pour myself a big bowl or two of Raisin Bran and be out the door. We'd ride our bicycles all around the neighborhood and went adventuring. We'd explore woods, marshes, ponds, abandoned houses, and built clubhouses, usually up in trees, where we'd hide our stash of Playboys, comic books and Mad magazines. We'd get wet, dirty and bit by spiders, stung by bees and whatnot. We never got in too much trouble but from time to time, the police would be called by some cranky old person who didn't like us running through his yard, making a lot of noise or poking around "looking for mischief." The cops would just smile and ask us to move along.
Around lunchtime, there were always mothers handing us sandwiches and cold drinks in paper cups out the windows (they didn't want us trampling through their houses). Then we'd spend the afternoon usually playing pickup ball games at the various parks and fields, basketball, stickball, baseball, street hockey, tag football, etc. Not many of us did the organized Little League type sports. We just appointed captains, split up into teams and did our own thing.
Kids growing up today cannot imagine such freedom I'm sure. Everything in their lives is organized to the minute and always under adult supervision. The streets in my neighborhood are completely empty of kids, even on a perfect summer day. All you see in my neighborhood is men mowing lawns and adult couples walking dogs. It's like the kids don't exist. But I know they do because as soon as school starts up, you see all the minivans idling at the school bus stops in the morning and as the bus pulls up, the kids dash from minivan to bus in their flip-flops and pajama bottoms, only to reverse the process in the afternoon.
LOL, I remember cutting up a beer can to shim those handlebars because they were loose and the stupid nut wouldn’t tighten down any more, then riding down Kalyann Hill in Subic Bay at top speed with two friends only to have the handlebars fold up on me, and I went over the front onto the asphalt and tore myself all to hell.
Problem was, I thought it was fixed. They seemed sturdy...and I assumed I was back to normal. But when I stood up in the pedals to pedal faster and bore down on those handlebars for leverage as I tried to be the fastest down the hill, my cheesy shim gave way and there I went!
We had water moccasins to play with though, so it evens out.
My 24 yr old son just moved to Kauai to apprentice with my brother making custom windows, doors and cabinets. He has a flame thrower to tame the elephant grass in the garden, jumped off a cliff into the ocean, he’s growing mango/avocado, papaya trees and bought a school bus to convert into his living quarters (on my brother’s huge property). Can you say Heaven on Earth???
Screw that, go for the real thing.
Good enough substitute. ;-)
And that was without any cellphones to keep in touch.
That photo shows why I Hate
Red headed kids!
Oh, and I forgot one. Model rockets. Oh hell yeah...
I’m so glad I grew up when I did. Sis and I did ALL of that kind of stuff. Thanks, Mom! Thanks, Dad! :)
I did all those things except jump off a cliff.
I still have a scar on my left elbow from such an adventure. :-)
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