Share something that you remember.

[WILCO]

http://www.sherv.net/cm/emoticons/eating/hamburger-waving-hello-smiley-emoticon.gif

[MT Gianni]

I remember party line phones, black and white TV with the cabinet twice as large as the picture, tube testing machines in grocery stores, and honest politicians.

[Uncle Jimbo]

I remember buying my first Colt revolver 22 when I was 16. My dad was pissed at me. Told me to take it back. That is when I learned that when you buy a gun, it is yours, there is no returns on firearms. That was 50 years age. I still have that revolver and shoot it. Can't prove it, but I bet there has been a million rounds down the barrel.
:guntootsmiley::2gunsfiring_v1::guntootsmiley:

[w5pv]

That when the old man would come and say boys it time to get up and the next time if your feet hadn't hit the floor his belt would get you moving.

[jcwit]

I remember listening to the Green Hornet, Straight Arrow, The Shadow, Sgt. Preston of the Yukon, all on radio.

I remember our 1st TV in 1949/1950, not sure just which. Friday night fights that my older brothers had friends over to watch.

I remember the TV ad for "CALL FOR Phillip Morris" & "See the USA In Your Chevrolet", and lots more.

[abunaitoo]

I remember walking in the park, at night, without worrying about being hassled by the homeless.
I remember having a nice dinner, in a restaurant, without having to hear people yacking on cell phones.
I remember when I could buy a brick of .22 Blazer for $9.99.
I remember when people would show respected for one a other.
I miss the good old days.

[pworley1]

I remember 5 cent cokes, milk in glass bottles, and getting inside the house plumbing.

[Fishman]

In 40 years, regardless of the state of the world, most will view these as the good old days.

[fecmech]

I remember as a 11 or 12 yr old going into bars with my shoe shine kit asking "shine Mr"? Kit was an old wood ammo box with a metal foot platform on it and all my different polishes and brushes in it. Many of the barkeeps would chase me out so I tried to keep a low profile. Made a few bucks that way!

Anybody else remember the fluoroscope machines in the shoe stores where you stuck your foot in and could see your foot skeleton? I did that so many times it's a wonder my foot hasn't fallen off from cancer.

[starnbar]

The Gillette razor commercials on the Friday night fights from Madison square gardens, Marlin Perkins Mutual of Omaha 20 mule team stories with Ronald Regan Sky King and Abbott and Costello The Little Rascals, Amos and Andy

[flyer1]

I remember my folks taking us to drive in and sharing a bag of popcorn for 6 of us. Great fun and a real treat.

[country gent]

DAd telling me its time to get to work A "hangover" isnt sick to get you out of days work. Seeing the deer and small game when working the fields. Fishing on a small farm pond or river bank. All those little memories I hope my Grand kids have also. Its not always the big trips events remembered but the little things That are there

[fatnhappy]

I will guard everything within the limits of my post and quit my post only when properly relieved.

[jcwit]

Anybody else remember the fluoroscope machines in the shoe stores where you stuck your foot in and could see your foot skeleton? I did that so many times it's a wonder my foot hasn't fallen off from cancer.

I think it was Buster Brown shoes If I remember correctly.

[RayinNH]

I remember my first job working for the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. (A&P)
I remember getting my first fishing reel at age 6 with one book of S&H Green Stamps. (I still have it and it still works, Berkley push button).
I remember buying cigarettes, BBs and pellets when I was tall enough to put the money on the counter with no questions asked.
I remember when men used to marry women.

[FISH4BUGS]

I remember being raised in the military and moving at least once a year, sometimes more. I lived in Japan, California, Germany (Munich, Stuttgart and Dachau), New York, Georgia, Texas Kansas, Spain, England, Phillipines and all those places I visited with my Dad on TDY - Morocco, Rhodesia, Persia, Berlin, France and way too many others. It was a great adventure to a kid. I could care less about traveling now - probably been there anyway.
As the training officer he could go to the armory and check out Thompsons, 45,s grease guns, etc and plenty of ammo. We could shoot all we wanted and no questions asked. You could do that in the 50's. My greatest thrill was sitting atop and tank and shooting a .50.
Rank has its priveleges and we took advantage of it.

[Mtnfolk75]

I remember seeing my Dad cry for the 1st time, as he said Grace at the dinner table, it was the day I enlisted.

[cga]

On base hair cuts that took about 5 seconds. And shots for one thing or another, seemed to be never ending.
USA made shoes and work boots that lasted a long, long, long time. Also, first, second and third grade was in the same class room. My dad's aunt was the teacher, and he had her when he went to that school. Probably can still find the scars on my knuckles.

Ooooo-yeahhhhh, the good ole' days.

[TCFAN]

I remember a time when you could buy all the 22 rim fire ammo you might ever want to shoot..

[edler7]

I remember going goose hunting in the morning, staying as long as possible. Then roaring to high school and leaving my shotgun at the front office with the secretary so it wouldn't be stolen out of my car. No big deal back then.

[JWFilips]

Anyone remember beating rugs with those wire rug beaters ? ( I do!) Also helping my mother sew rags together ( I was the string cutter) to get turned in to kitchen carpets! Anyone remember "Man in to Space" Sponsored by Lucky Strike "LSMFT"
Hey How about the Bill Bennett show from Philadelphia ( Mr Williams and Matilda!) ?

[butch2570]

I remember those saturday afternoon shooting matches, when there were 30 -40 shooters with shotguns and 22 rifles. Always someone trying to bend the rules a little and some one was calling their hand about said situation. Some one was always dropping a dime in some one else's shotgun barrel or looking at their shells to make sure they had not slipped a homebrew shell in the match. In the end the winners would would get a ham or turkey for each event, and us kids would have a little blasting time with the 22's . Usually there was a few people trading coon hounds/ deer / fox runners there also. Stories being told about who knows what and some one who could always do what couldn't be done or at least do it better than the last guy telling what he did, or some one took their 4x4 into the forbidden land and back out again that no one else could make it to in the first place. Man, life was good , I would love to revisit those by gone moments, sadly most all those gents are gone now.

[Powder Burn]

Tom Terrific and Mighty Manfred the wonder dog; and taking a bus ($0.10), by myself at age 10 to go down town to see a movie for $0.35(saw same movie at least twice-no charge for 2nd showing), getting popcorn for $0.10, and taking the bus back home and still had money left over from my $1.00/week allowance. Movies like Spartacus, The Magnificent Seven, The Time Machine, The Longest Day, Sound of Music, Hell is for Heros, ect.. From 1960-65 I must have seen every movie released during that time period.

[MrWolf]

That public service broadcast "It's 10 pm, do you know where your kids are?" and rushing to the tv (no remotes then) to lower the volume. I also worked at an A&P as someone else stated.

[Goatwhiskers]

Oh man the memories! I'll just add the Gene Autry show and the Tarzan show on Saturday radio. Oh, and late nite country music coming home on Saturday nite from WBAP(?) or XEG, Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila, Mexico (in English, with all kinds of quack medicine commercials). GW

[Nicholas]

I remember when my Mom and Dad bought our first refrigerator and dumped the ice box in the garage for a storage cabinet. That fridge lasted over 40 years and might still be in use somewhere.

[BwBrown]

That when the old man would come and say boys it time to get up and the next time if your feet hadn't hit the floor his belt would get you moving.

Similar memory, but I was an Air Force brat. Second call was dad grabbing the side on the mattress and rolling us out!

[BwBrown]

M I C, K E Y...
M O U S E

Annette!

[blackthorn]

Amos and Andy, Fibber Magee and Molly. Little Orphan Annie, Denny Dimwit, Dick Tracy----- Going to the little country school (grades 1 to 8) in a horse drawn toboggan, or riding there in good weather. No electricity till 1948 and no phone till 1954 (13 party line). No running water in the house (ever). My folks retired to town in 1968 and after I moved to BC in 1958 dad hauled water in buckets till then!

[PULSARNC]

No seat belts in cars, everyone drove a straight drive transmission ,Grandad's 1956 Mercury was an automatic with no ac no power anything and no radio.home delivery of milk and ice cream by the milk company and a peddler who came by every friday selling fresh fish .When youu bought them he wrapped them in newspaper for you to carry in the house/

[MaryB]

Mercury space program up through the shuttles... seeing all the technology changes, mom and dad getting their first color TV when I was 4, getting cable when I was 14... yes the party line and the old lady that always eavesdropped. We got her one day by staging a fake murder when we had an argument in the background while my oldest sister was on the phone. We fired a blank in the house(no ear protection, yes my ears rang for a week) and had my little brother fall on the floor.

Cops came rolling up and all of us were out in the backyard playing, we asked what was wrong and he said Mrs nosy had reported a murder. We asked how could she have heard that and he said she heard it on the phone. We looked at the cop and told him to have a talk with her, it is illegal to eavesdrop on someone's calls... cops started laughing knowing we set her up and went over and gave her a ticket.

[tdoyka]

the big wheel tricycle http://www.gsptalk.com/images/random/childhood-thread/bigwheel.jpg , being home at dark, nerf football, wiffle ball, freeze tag, anything growing up in the late '70s early '80s, oh yeah before i forget Gee-Bee's- you could buy it all- from a sofa to a rifle.

[kfarm]

I think the kids of the 50's and 60's have the best memories. I wonder what the kids of today's memories will be like. And did anyone ever question "duck and cover" seem silly today.

[10x]

The last week of August before school started was always too short, too precious, and I desperately tried to get all those summer things in.
that was the week Dad and I haul in the oat bundles - stooked the last week of July right after we cut, cured, and hauled in the hay.
September was the start of school, and hunting season. In two months the squirrels and weasels would be prime, and trapping season would start.
If we were lucky the last weeks of August were swathing barely, and swathing wheat. In our spare time we fixed canvas on the combine and made sure it would last another season. A case A6 - basically a thrashing machine on wheels with a 25 bushel hopper.
Long rifle 22 cartridges for $0.49, selling a squirrel hide to the fur buyer for $1.25, or better having 10 hides and averaging a $1.00 apiece on them. $10.00 was more than a days wages - considering my family lived on $80.00 a month when there were pigs to sell, and much less when we depended on selling eggs, chickens, and cream.
The last week of August was a desperate time, the freedom of summer dwindling like the evening twilight. The fear of sitting in a school room at a desk during good harvest weather, not being there to combine wheat, or haul it from the field to the granary. That was Saturday and Sunday - and shooting sharptail grouse and ruffies on the trips to the field, or walking the edge of the wheat field and bringing home half a dozen sharptail for supper.

I was out at the family farm yesterday. There was a lonely sharptail, up on the shed roof, drumming, practicing for the spring mating I think. First sharptail I have seen on that land for almost 30 years - it is good they are coming back.

[SSGOldfart]

Mowing the yard without a gas motor,.milking the cow before school and a weed eater was a pair of hand clippers

[scaevola]

I remember when politicians proclaimed their patriotism and people believed their children had a bright future.

[Bullwolf]

I remember when shooting within the city limits, even in your backyard was commonplace and the neighbors would not have freaked out and called the police.

I remember kids walking around with guns, and it not being a big deal. Slowly over the years people have been conditioned to believe that guns are bad and scary, yet it wasn't like this when I was growing up.

Now unless you live in a rural area (or gang land area maybe) chances are you don't hear much fun fire.

I remember lead paint, leaded gasoline, and Ethyl gasoline, back when gasoline still smelled good.

http://media.liveauctiongroup.net/i/10456/11096168_1m.jpg?v=8CE3475E42B2770

http://truedemocracyparty.net/wp-content/uploads/ethyl-fuel.jpg


I used to love the smell of race gas, aviation gas and Nitro. I remember those neat visible glass gas pumps.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3639/3313582581_2f7fb9b506_n.jpg

http://aoghs.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Bowser-Pump-AOGHS.jpg

There's little chance of seeing a pump like this anymore in an older gas station. They are "vintage" items now which sell for top dollar to a collector.

I remember lead curtain weights, and "penny" weights.

http://www.fabricandcurtainsupplies.co.uk/ekmps/shops/penbrice9183/images/lead-penny-curtain-weights-sewing-workroom-14g-sew-in-hem-weight-10-bulk-6370-p.jpg http://www.theleadweightcompany.co.uk/media/catalog/product/cache/1/small_image/270x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/t/e/textile_weights_oblong_3.jpg

I remember putting them in my mouth too, and bending them in half with my teeth and shooting them in my slingshot. Despite this kind of behavior, and growing up with these horribly toxic lead weights, I somehow managed to turn out OK.

I remember my Grandfather's offset printing presses, and being fascinated while watching the machines run for hours. I also remember drawers full of backwards custom lead block pictures, and individual backwards letters. I remember watching my Grandfather set up type, and check it using a hand held mirror. He still lived to a ripe Centennial age despite handling EVIL toxic lead alloys like Linotype, Mono type and Foundry type for a good portion of his life.

Despite working at a reloading company myself, located inside and indoor range, and shooting daily at the indoor range over a period of years, as well as casting boolits and various other lead items... I still have not managed to die from lead poisoning, yet. Yes I've been blood tested frequently. It was a waste of both my time and money, but I won't beat that dead horse here anymore than I already have.

Remember those silly water filled drinking/dipping birds that used to be so popular in the 70's ?

http://thescienceexperts.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/drinking-bird2.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3a/Sipping_Bird.jpg/220px-Sipping_Bird.jpg

I remember 45RPM records.

http://drbristol.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/45-rpm-single-spindle.jpg

Along with the plastic and metal inserts that you had to put in the middle to make them fit in a full size record player.

http://www.mbvmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/452.jpg

There's probably a bunch of other esoteric items just like this, that the cell phone generation won't know the original purpose of anymore... At some point in the future.



- Bullwolf

[bubba.50]

I remember watchin' cartoons Saturday mornin', adventurin' the day away til suppertime, then watchin' westerns til bedtime:Fire:.

.22 long rifle's were $.59 at the Western Auto & if ya didn't have $.59 they'd sell ya a handful for whatever change ya had in yer grubby little hand. and ya didn't need no stinkin' adult to get'em for ya[smilie=l:.

[BDJ]

Burma-Shave signs

Past / Schoolhouses / Take it slow / Let the little / Shavers grow / Burma-Shave.

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/66-burmashave.html

[Lead Fred]

This is the America I remember


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fw4uSiBxlE

It got stolen

[Pipefitter]

I remember riding my bike 5 miles in the wintertime on Sunday mornings to set trap targets at the local shooting range for $1.00 an hour and all the coffee/hot chocolate I could drink to keep my fingers from freezing.

[bikerbeans]

I remember almost everything from my first 20 years of life and almost nothing of the last 20.

BB

[10x]

I remember almost everything from my first 20 years of life and almost nothing of the last 20.

BB

Funny how that goes, I remember most of the first 30 years - then once the children came there didn't seem to be time to remember, those years went by in what seemed like a few moments with windows of memories - of the remarkable moments.

[bubba.50]

I remember takin' my .22 on the bus to go groundhog huntin' at my buddy's house that evenin'. had to leave it on his bus til then. brought it back the same way the next days. the first stock I ever refinished was in shop class in the 9th grade. try THAT today:Fire:.

[smokeywolf]

I remember "The Life of Reilly", "Whirley Birds", "Sky King", "Have Gun Will Travel", "Lawman", "Cheyenne", "Wagon Train", "Rawhide", "The Fabulous 52", "The Late Show" The Noxzema Girl - "Take it All Off". I remember gasoline at 19 cents per gallon. I remember my Mattel Fanner 50. I remember American Red Plastic Bricks (1950s version of Lego). Milk delivered to our front porch in glass bottles in a wire rack. I remember pulling the handle on the Hollywood reloading press when I was still 3 or 4 years old. I remember our phone was on the EMpire exchange.
Was not uncommon to have entertainment industry folks over at the house; actors, technology people and stunt men. Dad did gunsmithing, holster and saddle making for them and rode horses with them.

[edler7]

I can remember picking up the phone to make a call and an operator answered. You had to tell the operator the number you wanted to call. The phone had a dial, but the town exchange still used operators. All the phone numbers were 3 digits.

I also remember when we got our first TV. I was 4 (1958).

[jcwit]

I remember, just barely remember, going to Goshen, Indiana and dad driving up and down main street with the horn blowing, early Sept, 1945, the end of WW2, I wasn't fully aware what it was all about.

I also remember the exact spot where I was standing when J.F.K. was killed.

I remember the Palm Sunday Tornadoes, and the cleanup I helped with for 1 day, the 2nd day I went into the Army.

I remember the exact spot I was at when the Twin Towers were hit.

[Budzilla 19]

I remember playing outside,in the dirt, with old discarded clothes iron, man what a bulldozer, squirrel hunting, quail hunting, hog pens, chicken yard, milk cow, gardening, canning, indoor plumbing, (that was a big deal where I grew up in the late Fifties),farming for a living,woodland wildfire firefighter, kids of my own, then grand kids, reloading about a gazillion shotgun shells for trap and skeet, lead scrounging, building high performance diesel trucks and am now enjoying my professional career and helping other people less fortunate than me! I guess when I'm gone, they will either say that I was a good guy or a bad guy! I just know that I am able to sleep at night knowing I did what was right for all involved! P.S. Anybody else remember the Philco Golden D model b&w tv? 200 lbs of vacuum tubes! Hahaha! How about wrestling on Saturday morning? Go, Cowboy Bill Watts!!! Last but certainly not the least, the wonderful red-headed woman who said yes to a long-haired construction worker 35 plus years ago, I love you Gail. (She shoots a mean round of trap, and you don't want her to shoot at you with a .357! ) Just my .02 cents worth!

[castalott]

[QUOTE=MT Gianni;

and honest politicians.[/QUOTE]


That must have been quite a while ago....:kidding:

I remember when JFK was killed & all the stuff on TV about it. They showed a marksman shooting three times at a moving bullseye from a tower just to prove a good rifleman could do it....

I remember growing up and every man you knew was a veteran. And none of them took any *(&%&@# off of anyone.... A total stranger would tell you to straighten up and fly right...and make you believe you better do it...

Dale

[Echo]

I remember 'Grand Ole' Opry', with Minnie Pearl (HOW-DEE! Just so proud to be hyere..), the Duke Of Paducah, Lucky Strike Green going to war, Stella Dallas, Easy Aces, Lone Ranger, Capt Midnight, Don Winslow of the Navy, The Great Gildersleave, Fibber McGee & Molly, Amos & Andy, Tom Mix - all radio programs before WWII. Getting under the '37 Plymouth we had and watching my Dad repair a leak in the gas tank with soap and Liquid Solder. Climbing in my own chinaberry tree, having a pet rabbit named Gene Autry Jacky (named after my hero and my buddy).

[woody1]

I remember.........some prob'ly already mentioned...... All the bells and sirens going off on VJ Day, milk delivered by horse drawn delivery van (the horse knew every stop), the iceman delivering ice (not horse drawn), crank phones where you cranked up the operator and said "247J2 please" to call my Aunt and Uncle. I do NOT remember about throwing my shoes in the creek but I was sure told about it a lot! I remember getting paddled in school & spending most of 3rd grade sitting off by myself 'cause I guess I was a little rowdy. I remember swats with a paddle in Jr. High and High School & storing my 22 in the school locker so I could take it on the bus to my buddies for the weekend. TV? Didn't have it 'til I was near done with high school. Seems like I've posted this stuff here before. Regards, Woody

[Land Owner]

I vividly remember the "Cuban Missile Crisis" of 1962. Duck and cover drills in Elementary School incorporating the placement of bed sheets over desks (in case the windows shattered) and crawling under. Hording bottled water, Sego, and Metrical. Talk of bussing us as school children to the potato fields in Hastings, FL. My Mom asking my Dad if he thought she was stong enough to swim the width of the St. Johns River should she be stranded on the far side. Fallout shelter construction in neighbor's back yards. Looking up Kim Meeker's skirt in 8th grade.

[DR Owl Creek]

What was the question again???

Dave

[lbaize3]

Dang-it, I remember every dog gone thing everybody else has mentioned!

[bob208]

I remember when I worked in the gas station after school and all the girls started wearing mini skirts and we had to wash the windshields. some really clean windows went out of that station.
staying with my grandparents and learning to milk cows by hand. when my grandmother made donuts I was her number one helper and taster.
walking to the local farm and buying whole milk for 25 cents a gal. you had to take your own jug.

[Kent Fowler]

Jimmy Durante ending every show saying " Goodbye Mrs. Calabash, where ever you are" And then walking off the dim lighted stage.

[mexicanjoe]

I remember my dad taking us out to work at the local cemetary( he was the caretaker ), showing us what was to be done and driving off.i remember shoes with holes, and patched blue jeans. He was generous to fault, an elephant of a man, but a small child could have wrapped him around a pinky finger. He taught me my work ethic. I also remember getting a quarter to buy two comic books"( I can still remember buying an 8 cent funny book) because I brought in good grades . I remember my older brother trying to teach him that an automatic transmission does not have a clutch......we had some really fantastic times drinking coca colas in th old section of town.... It's been 43 years but the memories are still fresh!!!!! Miss ya daddy!!!

[Harter66]

I remember the POWs coming home from VN but then I'm just a pup. I watched a lot of Lone Ranger ,Roy and Dale weren't all that far away, spending hours wandering around in their museum. I remember all the over cautious preparations for Apollo 14 . I had my arm wrapped around the steering column of a 69 Chrysler Newport cussing that back plug when I heard that the shuttle had blown up . When I was a kid there was a quarter Coke machine at the gas station about a mile from the house. My shock to learn which girls I could have gone out with in HS ......
I get to brag now that I saw Ricky Nelson, Tommy James,the Coasters ,Jan and Dean and the Beach Boys (3 of the original 5).
That morning I tripled flushing Mallards . Asking my great grandmother what the turn of the century was like . She said "Another day " . Sure enough the turn of the century was another day. When people listened to what you had to say and read every word and everyone was taken at face value. Knowing my dad was 1 the 4 greatest men in the whole world ,and coming to grips with the idea in the 8th grade just how lucky he was to have lived so long (he was 39 then) . He had jumped in a Cadillac with 2 friends and drover to DFW in 1968 ,not a big deal except that the Caddi belonged to a black man and the other guy was a Mexican (3rd gen) ,my ol' man was 1 luck German/Irishman that trip.

[JeffinNZ]

I remember being berated for writing with my left hand.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

I remember when I could go into any number of different types of stores and buy a box of 22 LR for a reasonable price without any of the horse manure that we have to go through now including the ridiculous prices.....and then go home and shoot them without developing anxieties about where the next box might or might not come from. LLS

[jcwit]

Remember the tin cars, trucks, & airplanes made in Japan from beer cans with the beer label and printing on the inside of the toy.

Likely part of the reconstruction effort.

[texaswoodworker]

I remember 45RPM records.

http://drbristol.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/45-rpm-single-spindle.jpg

Along with the plastic and metal inserts that you had to put in the middle to make them fit in a full size record player.

http://www.mbvmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/452.jpg

There's probably a bunch of other esoteric items just like this, that the cell phone generation won't know the original purpose of anymore... At some point in the future.



- Bullwolf

You'd be wrong there. I not only knew what those were, I have used them. I like old records. They have a sound that CDs just can't duplicate. :p

[Clay M]

I can remember the joy of growing up and an working very hard mowing grass and helping my dad roof a house .I saved all my money buy a .30/40 Krag rifle.. It was $60..
It is a fantastic rifle and I still have it today..
I also remember buy an old yellow handle knife at the local hardware store for $1.25 It was a treasure to me.. I also remember buying .22 shorts to go in my model 62 win rifle..

[Hickory]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/images/icons/icon14.png Share something that you remember.I remember a lot of things, both good and bad.
And if you are talking about remembering, you probably are referring to the past, as in our youth.
So, I'll pick something good. Something that gave me great satisfaction and pleasure.
When I was in my teens, I found a great way to sort out my problems, and every teen is in a flux when his or her body is changing from a child to an adult, I remember walking to the woods and laying on the creek bank seeking solace, wisdom and understanding. Spring was always the best time, soaking up the sun's heat on a cool afternoon. Putting in order the things that seemed so confusing at the time. Things, that as I look back, were of no account, but mattered a lot then.

Hunting was also a great time to be in the woods, to not only solve my own problems but those of the world too.
But, no matter how hard I tired sidestep my problems I still entered adulthood a mixed-up kid in a world of hippies, drinking, fighting, fast cars and women.
It was a time that I learned of life . . . and death. Love and hate. The goodness of mankind and it's evil.
These things I remember. And somethings should never be brought to remembrance.

[castalott]

I was just a mere boy of 10 or so and went with dad to hunt squirrels. I carried his Remington 552 autoloader. We didn't get but one squirrel , but I asked dad to show me how he could shoot. He busted 4 Hickory nuts in the tree in about 10 seconds. It was the only time I seen him shoot when he wasn't hunting. He never wasted anything all his life. I read his service record after he died. He shot expert with M1 Garand, M1 carbine, and 45 auto. I miss you, Dad....(Since 1980)

[MaryB]

Burned into memory... space shuttle Challenger explosion and all the people gathered in my store crying, Twin Towers the same thing, people would just start crying for no reason... bad memories but also landmark memories for this country.

[texaswoodworker]

Burned into memory... space shuttle Challenger explosion and all the people gathered in my store crying, Twin Towers the same thing, people would just start crying for no reason... bad memories but also landmark memories for this country.

I remember 9/11. I was pretty young at the time, but those images are still clear as day. I remember Columbia burning up on reentry.

[Bullwolf]

I can remember picking up the phone to make a call and an operator answered. You had to tell the operator the number you wanted to call. The phone had a dial, but the town exchange still used operators. All the phone numbers were 3 digits.


You've got a few years on me. I've got some black and white photos of the man who raised me that show a 4 digit telephone number.

- Bullwolf

[Rufus Krile]

I remember most of these things but then I'm old enough to remember when the Kennedy's drowned their women one at a time.... My paper route paid for my first car ( a '51 Chevrolet) which turned into my first real job at 14 yrs old (bootlegging) before I worked in gas stations. Once I got my commercial license I started driving trucks... freight, grocery, gasoline, and ice. Delivered ice for one summer and some of it went to the old 'iceboxes' of elderly individuals. Bought 22lr's for a penny apiece, shotgun shells at a dime... Cokes for a nickel... Here's one for Char-Gar-- fajitas for 49cents/lb back before the gringos found out about 'em. Driving the grocery truck I delivered everything from baling wire to dynamite to little country stores in southern Oklahoma. A LOT of those trucks didn't have synchronizers... just old crash boxes... so you had to double clutch every shift. An old driver worked for my father that had been a true teamster... had hauled oilfield pipe with teams of mules... drove trucks since they were chain drive. He was 70-something when I was in my teens and scared the **** out of me. Still have about a case of 1950's .410 paper hull shotgun shells... I occasionally take a few out to shoot just to smell them... and I'm 6 yrs old and dove hunting with my father again... Olfactory response is real strong. Yeah, I remember all of this and more...

[doc1876]

We had family pic nics on the Hams Fork. There must have been 40 of them there. Now it is Lake Viva Naughten, & I am lucky to find 20 all across the country.
Grand pa whittled me a Willow stick into a whistle

[BrentD]

I remember this
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~jessie/Snapper.jpg

[opos]

At 77 there are many things that come to mind but a couple of things are the glass milk bottles in the milk box on the back porch and when it was really cold the milk would freeze and "grow a neck" up and out of the bottle with the little paper cap perched atop the "long neck"


One of my very favorite things was on Sunday evenings my Grandparents would take me to Stapleton Airport in Denver (this was in the 40's) and we would sit on "airport hill" and wait for an airplane to come in and land...mostly twin engine planes like the DC-3's and the twin tail craft that flew all around the area in those days (think they were Beechcrafts)...just felt really good to sit in the back seat and wait in the dark and then Grandad would say "here comes one" and we'd all watch it land..My Grandad was my hero..loved Dad but Grandad was the special man in my life..he taught me to fish...he taught me to ride a horse (wouldn't let me use a saddle for several years so I'd get the feel of the horse) and generally was my buddy...
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[mold maker]

You fellows make me feel old. Do any of you remember the flat iron that my Mom heated on the wood stove, to iron for other rich folks?
How about fresh churned butter, pressed into a wooden mold, or fresh warm butter milk?
My Dad did building and remodeling, and I straightened the salvaged nails, after cleaning up the used lumber.
How about the Sat morning ritual of getting chores done for a quarter, that got you 3 hr at the movie for .07 and a hotdog/drink for a dime. If I didn't squander for a .03 candy bar or pop corn, I brought home a nickel and 3 pennies for the piggy bank.
Any one else cranked a car or tractor with that hand crank, that would often kick back?
I remember when $4. worth of gas would last all week till next payday.
This past Sat I attended the 100th birthday of my only remaining Aunt. I bet she could tell us about things we never saw.
Another Aunt that died in 94 at 104, said "I'm not old, I've just been here a long time."

[Bad Andy]

I remember when there were no cell phones.

[country gent]

Mold Maker, you learned real fast not to wrap that opld crank with your thumb just cup it so when it kiced it jumped out of you hand. Some of those old motors would break your thumb when they kicked back. We had a 400 international the crank was high enough to hit you in the head Dad cut that old crank into pieces afraid it would kick and break a head. Remember the old John Deeres with pit cocks on each cylinder and pulling the flywheel on the side to start them also

[brstevns]

I remember my Great Grandparents in Wayne Co. MO getting electric in their home , that was the early 1950's

[gwpercle]

Mail ordering A Walther P-38 from Kleins Sporting Goods and having the mail man bring it to the house. I tried to talk my Dad into ordering a P-08 Luger but he said the P-38 was better.
In fact, he ordered two, one for himself and one for a friend . When he placed the gun order he also ordered several hundred rounds of WWII surplus ball ammo, it was dirt cheap back then!
I still have the P-38 and 4 boxes of the ammo....them days are gone!

Will our grandkids beleive us when we tell them , back in the day you could buy all the 22 ammo you wanted...on sale...In BULK PACKS!!!! I'm keeping a bulk pack for proof! Yesterday I was allowed to buy 2 - 50 round boxes, no more...the limit!

Gary

[Mtnfolk75]

MaryB, the Challenger Disaster will forever be burned into my memory also. I saw it on a TV in a Mini-Mart in Wasco, I was stopping for a cup of coffee while on patrol. My next youngest and undoubtedly closet Brother, died in a MVA the next day .... :-(

And country gent, I remember my Paternal Grandfather bleeding those pit cocks on an OLD John Deere. He was 68 at the time, he and my Grandmother lived as caretakers on a farm in Zwingle, IA. I had gone down there from my "A" School at Great Lakes NTC over the Thanksgiving holiday in 1972. I had gone down there thinking I was going to SEA the 1st of December, when I returned on Monday I had a new set of orders to a Pre-Comm DE in Newport, RI. Never did make to SEA before the War Games ended ....

And to the OP, Thank you so much for starting this thread. It makes me glad that my memory banks are wide open and at the same time makes me sad when I see how much has changed over my 61 trips around that big rock called the moon. I wish we could return to the simpler times ....... [smilie=s:

[woodbutcher]

:grin: What do I remember?Pretty much all of the above.Remember purchasing 22lr for less than $5.00 out the door for a brick of 500.22WMR for about $1.00 a box of 50.The old Hodgens 4831 for $1.00 a pound in the old paper bags.Hehehe.Buy a 10lb case and got it for $9.00.
The 150grn Sierra spitzer for appx $4.50 per 100.62grn Sierra semi pointed for $2.25 per 100.Loaded .223 Remington for $2.25 per 20 rds.
Remember a sale on.22rf at .25cents a box.Bought a case.Remember the time spent with my Grandfather,which was all too short,showed me how he cast bullets for his 1ST gen Colt .45.My Father teaching me how to fish and shoot safely,along with all of the American Legion post members who also taught me how to shoot safely and with accuracy.Hard taskmasters all.WW1,WW2 and Korean war vets.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[brstevns]

I also remember buying 22 longs all the time. I thought they shot harder then the LR's did.

[edler7]

Friction tape and baling wire. Both were an unlimited supply when I was a kid, and you could fix almost anything with those two items.

It's been a while since I have seen either one. I did snag a roll of friction tape a few years ago at an old timer's garage sale...wife thought I was nuts getting so excited about an old roll of tape.

[MaryB]

Grandpa farmed with an old Minneapolis Moline with a crank start well into the 70's when he retired and rented the land out. That thing got me more than once! He still used a horse drawn wagon for a lot of things, making hay, the small corn wagon(harvested on the cob), anytime we needed to pull something alongside the tractor. Horse knew exactly where to be in relation to the tractor for corn picking. She was also a mean old nag to get a harness on or to saddle for riding! Like to step on your feet and bite! I finally had enough and wrapped leather around my knee then some barbed wire. Kneed her 3 times, she would jump over to the other side of the stall and look back at me with a what the heck was that expression. After that she never went after me and grandpa never did figure out how I cured her. She still stepped on everyone else!

[country gent]

I can remeber Dads first "tractor" an old oliver row crop on tracks pulled great on everything but a cultivator LOL. He farmed with that old oliver right up to when a track started to walk off due to wear. The back field was rough and had had a dump on one side. The tracks were better than the rubber tires until we got that field completely cleaned up again. Also was no bridges across the little creek and it crossed that alot better. Also remeber the first riding lawn mower an old 7 hp Cub Cadet took 3 of us to move the mower deck around as it was heavy cast iron.Bought new in 1962 we mowed with it to 1987. Alot of projects with Dad making and repairing farm equipment. I learned to weld do lay outs and alot of planning making trailers and other equipment.

[marvelshooter]

Riding in the back of Dad's pickup truck and taking turns getting the good seats - the fender wells.

[blackthorn]

We lived 8 miles fromtown. Until I was 12 or so, every winter the country road we lived on was nevermaintained. We went to town once a week (every Saturday). My dad had a sleighbox (think 4x12 utility trailer on runners) with a wooden back and front 6 feethigh. The sides were covered with canvas and inside there was an “air-tight”wood burning stove with a stove pipe through the roof. There were benches oneach side and a window in front and right under the window were two holes,through which passed the leather lines for driving the team of horses and therewas a door in back. Dad also had a set of sleigh-bells on the horses’ harness.I can still recall the sound of those bells! When we went to town, we leftearly in the morning and were gone all day. At lunch time Mother cooked on thatair-tight and I can almost taste the fat beef sausage (served on home-madebread like a hot dog). We usually picked up three or four neighbors and Dad’steam would stop at each place we stopped on the way in, on the way home. Onceout of town Dad tied the lines inside the Van and let the team go on their own.We did not always pick up the same people but that team never stopped at thewrong house coming back. We had an old kerosene lantern in that Van and theadults used to play cards while the team was going along.

[jcwit]

We lived 8 miles fromtown. Until I was 12 or so, every winter the country road we lived on was nevermaintained. We went to town once a week (every Saturday). My dad had a sleighbox (think 4x12 utility trailer on runners) with a wooden back and front 6 feethigh. The sides were covered with canvas and inside there was an “air-tight”wood burning stove with a stove pipe through the roof. There were benches oneach side and a window in front and right under the window were two holes,through which passed the leather lines for driving the team of horses and therewas a door in back. Dad also had a set of sleigh-bells on the horses’ harness.I can still recall the sound of those bells! When we went to town, we leftearly in the morning and were gone all day. At lunch time Mother cooked on thatair-tight and I can almost taste the fat beef sausage (served on home-madebread like a hot dog). We usually picked up three or four neighbors and Dad’steam would stop at each place we stopped on the way in, on the way home. Onceout of town Dad tied the lines inside the Van and let the team go on their own.We did not always pick up the same people but that team never stopped at thewrong house coming back. We had an old kerosene lantern in that Van and theadults used to play cards while the team was going along.

Read that to my wife, what a memory to have, thanks for sharing.

[Doggonekid]

I was probably only about 8 or 9 and my dad would give each member of the family a coupon to buy a box of .22 LR for .50 cents. All five of us would buy a box of shells. My older brother and I were both under 10 years old. The coupon said only 1 per customer. That is how my dad bought 5 boxes at a time. Times are similar now days except you can only buy two boxes at a time, and your $10 per box. If you can find anything at all.

[Wild Bill 7]

Moved to Florida in '57. We were allowed to go bare footed to school. What a treat. Being able to take or 22's to school put them in the corner and go plinking in the afternoon. Playing marbles with steelies(steel ball bearings) as shooters. Catching fireflies and putting them in a glass jar to use as a lantern. Standing on the roof of Publix taking pictures of the Challenger and seeing the unthinkable happen. Buying gas for 29 cents a gallon. Hunting Morell mushrooms in Indiana and making a big meal out of them. Mowing yards with a push mower for $3.00 and trimming with scissors, that was torturous. Ha just some of my memories.
Bill

[scarry scarney]

I remember changing the 49 star flag to a 50 star flag in my Cub Scout pack (I still have that 49 star flag), attending the ticker tape parade in Chicago for John Glen, watching the Kennedy funeral on TV, being at a drive in theater with a date, and they interrupted the movie, to play the audio of Neil Armstrong stepping on the moon. I remember my Jr ROTC, shooting rifles in the basement of my High School.

[starmac]

I remember a huge percentage of the things listed. Even as a little boy I loved to listen to the old timers talking, telling stories about what ever and their memories, and I don't even remember ever hearing about that there HONEST politician someone remembers.

[big bore 99]

I remember party line phones, black and white TV with the cabinet twice as large as the picture, tube testing machines in grocery stores, and honest politicians.
You must be about my age!

[jonp]

Delete post

[captaint]

Gilette Blue Blade commercials, Fractured Fairy Tales (the best) and the SevenEleven selling shotgun and 22 rimfire ammo. Heck, that was the only place I ever bought 22 ammo..

[Four-Sixty]

I remember when I used to find piles of lead wheel weights at the end of freeway exit ramps.

[cliff55]

I miss halter tops.

[BrentD]

Don't we all?

[frkelly74]

138271


Good eyes, good reflexes, time on my side, money enough.

[opos]

Another hobby...restoring old farm engines...most of the ones I have date back to the very early 1900's but got a couple of engines that were from the '40's and were used on occasion into the '50's on a farm we owned where electricity was late getting there and also the cost of running a line to pump water from a stock well was too expensive so we kept using a gasoline engine that had been around for a very long time...these are all "dressed up " for shows now but they all came from a place of very hard work. The John Deere is 1 1/2 hp..weighs in at 230# (Hows that for a weed whacker engine?) and the "chug" is when I was 12 or so (checkered coat) made with a Maytag washing machine engine (My Grandmother used a gasoline washing machine on the farm into the 40's as REA was slow in the tiny town where she lived)...the final picture is just there to show that any hobby can get out of hand..just like guns.

138272

138273

138275

[Outpost75]

A picnic lunch, circa 1967.
138274
Working vacation on Giglio in Tuscany a few years back.138276

[waksupi]

I remember this old swing in the back yard. The yard was fenced, with an iron gate. Dad would let the sheep in to keep it ate down. I would some time like to go back and walk around this old farm, although it is now a private hunting reserve.
138277

[smokeywolf]

Beeman's gum. Learned to fry my own eggs at age 6. Playing catch with Don Drysdale in his back yard.

[scarry scarney]

Outpost - I remember heating those "picnic lunches" on my bomb lift truck (aka jammers) manifolds, as I would drive around on different airbases overseas....

[jcwit]

I remember when Honda commercials consisted of motorcycles and not cars.

[jcwit]

I also remember when the "cool" car to have was a MG TD.

[castalott]

How about rowing thru a 4 gear in a 69 Z28..... If they would make one of those again I'd buy it...
Cars today have no soul...

[458mag]

I remember when riots were met with policeman swinging clubs and using dogs, water canons, tear gas, and shotguns when needed. Today they are told to stand down and watch the very crimes they are sworn to prevent. I remember when this country was full of hope and promise. I remember when this country had a future. I remember wanting to live a long and happy life.

[kfarm]

"C" rations were the bomb, 4 Chesterfield's and a square of tp. Put the on the manafold and knaw on the biscuit. Yum yum.

[MaryB]

I have that exact same box of 22lr sitting on my desk! No price tag but memory says it was under $1


138271


Good eyes, good reflexes, time on my side, money enough.

[Rally]

I remember when a kid living by a river, could make fishing sinkers from wheelweights (that were free at most every place that sold tires), hunt night crawlers and sell them both to a local bait shop, and make enough money to keep him in "Golden Stren" fishing line and Zebco 33's were the reel to have.
Took four Silver Everyready batteries to catch 1000 crawlers on a good rainy night. They cost .28 for two if I remember correctly.
A Payday candy bar was .10 in a machine or .28 for a six pack in a grocery store, and were just about a meal.
You can pop popcorn in an empty bean can while night fishing, but it tastes like plastic if it gets too hot!
Chiggers were sent directly from Hates to ruin part of a weeks fishing!
Snapping turtles will fit in the baskets on your sisters bike, but they are hard to keep in their and your sister won't ride the bike.
Coast to Coast stores used to run specials on Master Craft .22's for .39 per box.
You should always tap on the shot tube before moving the shell to the starter crimp station when loading .410 shotshells, the larger the shot the more this is true.Federal made a real stiff .410 shell and they crimped terribly, but nothing a candle and a little patients couldn't cure.
Pretty girls always got their oil, radiator, and brake fluid checked at the station where I worked, and they all knew it.
Elvis always got the prettiest girls.
A Mossberg bolt action shotgun needs to be refinished if you drop it while traveling down a gravel road on your "Stingray", and the end of the barrel protruding into the spokes will usually remove at least three spokes!
Not all tourist are impressed with a limit of Grey squirrels hanging off your belt, while riding past the local gas station.
Mothers aren't impressed with live crawdads in the laundry.
Bats can bite you through an ice bag.
Carp dry out fast if left in the sun, even if you are just going to cut them up for trapping bait.
Dad doesn't appreciate carp in his bandsaw, even if it is dried up.
Carp will make a bandsaw stink for about two years.
It takes about two saturdays of straightening rusty nails out to pay for Dads new bandsaw blade, and your blue thumbnail will come off in about a month.
Pennies used to be made out of copper and made a good start for a crappie jig, and make a pretty good projectile when coming out the back of a Coast to Coast benchgrinder!
Monofilament fishing line,even 20 lb test, makes a poor leash for a muskrat.
I remember seing gas in Davenport,Iowa for .25 a gallon, during a gas war, while visiting an aunt who lived there.

[Rufus Krile]

Outpost... at least you didn't show the "Lima Beans w/ Ham" meal. I've known some hungry folks but I never met one that would eat that particular 'C'. Our locally adopted platoon dog wouldn't touch it. Pee on it, but not touch it. Heated our c's w/ C4 or mortar ranging rounds. We were ALL thinner then...

[starmac]

And along with that 25 cent gas, they pumped it, checked the oil, checked the air pressure iin all 4 tires and washed the windshield.
I had one gal that would come everyday for fifty cents of gas and get the works. At the time my wages was 3 cents out of that fifty. I got to where I would hate to see that 57 chevy coming. lol

[Rally]

I was that guy Starmac. I used to work at a Zephr station that was located on a corner, but had a sloping lot to the street. Anyone that wanted thier tranny fluid or oil checked, I had to have them pull up into one level corner of the lot. Otherwise the dipsticks wouldn't read correctly due to the angle of the lot. On Fridays we offered a free bag of popcorn(about the size of a bag of ice) for every fill up. I had to pop all the corn and bag it with my filthy hands too. Nobody ever said anything about it either. We got alot of females(moms) coming there to buy Pepsi by the case (in bottles) that I had to put in their trunks, and get the empty cases out. My girlfriend then( wife now) used to come and pop popcorn and bag it. The station owner knew it too and never once offered to pay her, in over a year of working there. We got all the free popcorn we wanted though, but I ate it with dirty hands. LOL

[frkelly74]

I got a used CD to listen to. It is Titled " The best of Bob Dylan'' It has songs from 1963/63 all the way to 2000 and i was listening to it and the second song is "The Times , They Are a' Changin " which I remember well. The second to last song has the refrain in it " I used to care, but things have changed" . I found myself feeling sad about that change in attitude from hopeful to jaded indifference.

[BrentD]

Dylan

[woodbutcher]

:grin: As the old song says"Ah yes,I remember it well".Don Drysdale used to give base ball seminars to the little league team that I played on in Vero Beach,Fl.When the Dodgers first came to Vero in 1949 they arrived aboard a DC3.Then they upgraded to a 707 Boeing.That created a stir the first time that they arrived in that.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[shdwlkr]

I remember when you could go in and put your money down and walk out with a firearm no paper work, ammo same thing
I remember being able to leave your rifle in the back window of your truck with the windows down and still find it there when you got back
I remember when people didn't lock their cars, homes when they were not there and even when they were
I remember when neighbors actually knew each other and interacted with each other
I remember when being an American was a good thing around the world even
I remember when we were proud to be veterans, not so much anymore
I remember when if you wanted something you worked to get it
I remember when I could walk and stand for long hours each day not so anymore

[BrentD]

shdwlkr - I except for the first one and maybe the second one, I find all the rest are just as true today as ever. So even more so.

[shdwlkr]

MaryB
the farm tractors I remember were farmall H and M and the John Deere 2 cylinder poper we called it as it made a popping sound every time it fired, I remember long hot days in the hay field or barn putting up hay for winter, chopping corn in the snow, walking to the barn with snow up to my butt and finding so many things froze in the barn. Finding rats in the grain and dealing with that, my barn cats the owner got rid of once only to find we had so many mice and rats he was glad when some of the cats found their way back. Much simper life and yes I miss it

[GLL]

I fondly remember 65 years ago getting a J. C. Higgins single shot .22 for my seventh birthday ! :)
i still have it !

jerry

[scb]

I remember when no one panicked at the mention of the word lead. I remember the first rifle I drilled and tapped for sights - in my high school shop class - with help from the teacher.

[edler7]

I remember in 6th grade, one of the 2 6th grade teachers taught all the science classes. He had a bottle of mercury (maybe a half cup volume) he would let us play with when class finished early.

Nobody died.

[largom]

I remember my 1st. grade school, one room, 8 rows of chairs. Grades 1-8 and our teacher was Mrs. Harris. I remember the out-house until I returned from the Army. I remember our first phone # = 207W2. I remember trapping Muskrats and putting in the mailbox, mailman was fur buyer. I remember 17 cents/Gal. gas and a whole lot more good stuff.

Larry

[jaysouth]

I vividly remember the smell of an outhouse in July. I also remember picking cotton when the cotton plants were taller than me and the row went for miles and miles. $3 was good day for a 7 year old.

Your best day is tomorrow.

[MaryB]

Yes the hot summer days stacking bales... I always got stuck in the loft because I wasn't strong enough to toss from the wagon to the conveyor. When they got to the top I dragged them to where they needed to be then lifted them up.

Walked a lot of bean fields pulling weeds, farmers paid us well and I had my own crew at 12 so I got 50 cents an hour extra. Farmers liked us even though we were all way younger than the typical 16 year old workers because we did not screw around as much and got stuff done a lot faster. We also got paid more for it! I was a slave driver, we started at 5Am and were done at noon so we could go swim and play!

[AZ-JIM]

I'm not old enough to have lived most of it, but remember just about all of it being talked about at one time or another. I remember how Johnny Carson used to make my dad laugh as Carnac. I remember dad telling me about him and his buddy riding their 10 speeds, and carrying their .22's across town to go shoot in the quarry. Can you imagine the flood of 911 calls from soccer mom's seeing a kid with a rifle riding his bike down the road today? I remember dad making me get up early on Saturdays to help him work on the vehicles when they needed it, I hated it. I wanted to play with my friends, and now I look back and I know how to do alot of things that they have to pay someone to do. Shooting, casting and reloading at a very early age.

az-jim

[jcwit]

We still have Amish kids biking around with rifles & shotguns & bows, especially during hunting season.

[AZ-JIM]

We still have Amish kids biking around with rifles & shotguns & bows, especially during hunting season.

Not in the "big city" I bet

az-jim

[starmac]

yep we still have kids walking or riding with rifles or fishing rods. I see it a few times a year, but most have four wheelers.

I can remember my pickup breaking down and hitch hiking with my shotgun and got a ride, even after dark. Try that these days. lol

Someone mentioned picking cotton, I got in on the last year of it in west Texas, before strippers took over. Mom sewed a half size cotton sack, because I wasn't big enough to drag a full one.

[jcwit]

Not in the "big city" I bet

az-jim

Don't see many Amish in the "Big City". LOL

[kfarm]

Ten hour days on a 2 cyl John Deere for $0.50 hour. Best days of my life, well at least I thought so.

[castalott]

I wasn't old enough to pick up a hay bale but could steer the tractor and wagon in the lowest gear. The guy I was working for would throw the bales on the wagon and point the direction to drive next. I worked all afternoon and got 2 boxes of 22lr for my pains. I WAS RICH!!!!!

I wanted a Crossman pellet rifle and dad said to chop the corn out of the beans in a 30 acre field. I worked on it 3 or 4 days- not near done and dad said "pretty good" ...I got my pellet rifle...

Dad and I would fly fish from a boat at a nearby lake almost every evening. Funny how dad could work long hours at heavy construction and still hunt,fish, and raise a garden that wouldn't fit in 4 basketball courts.... he built his own buildings and resoled our boots. He hand built the welding table, vise, power hacksaw, and air jack I still have and use...And what mom could do with gardens, canning, quilting and clothes put us to shame....

I wasn't too old when dad showed me how to maintain the mower and use it. He said, "When you think that I think the yard needs mowed, mow it. I don't want to ever tell you again." He never had to tell me again. I miss that whole generation....Love you all.....Dale

[10x]

I remember when you could drop a $20 bill accidentally and someone would pick it up, hand it to you and say
"you dropped this..."

[doc1876]

I remember the first 10 speed i got in 4th grade. I tried to show my grandson how I used to do wheelies on a full sized Schwinn 10 speed the other day, and he got such a laugh..........I remember I used to do them well, and not land on my, well, you know the rest.
I guess i will just ride the couch

[country gent]

Hopefully this winter Ill show my grandson How to use a scoop shovel for a sled LOL. I wasnt ever in the mow bailing my friend and I could stack a wagon with no need to tie down we were always on the wagon behind the bailer. Much better conditions there ussually a breeze sunny and outside. We would run up to 3500 bales a day depending on the fields. Great work for a couple high school kids. Alot of farm work around here kept us busy. I only cleared a laying house once and learned it wasnt worth the work and smell. Chicken houses are just plain nasty.

[10x]

Ah fond memories of putting up loose Alfalfa in early July. Walking up and down the rows of cured hay and carefully piling them up into haycocks to finish curing.
Then two to three weeks later we would hand fork the hay onto the rack, bring it home to the yard, and stack it in the hay coral.
There was an art to stacking a hay cock so that it would shed rain and only the top two inch or so would get wet.
There was also a bit of an art to cap a haystack so that the rain and snow would not wet any more than an inch or two of hay.

Now when I go into shop that has dried flowers I catch a scent that reminds me of riding on top of a wagon load of loose hay.
Wooden spoke wagons with steel rims were a rough and jarring ride. 8' to 10' of hay just softened that right out.
Riding on that hay I would think of the girls in town who would never know one of life's small pleasures.

My dad put up 70 to 100 acres of loose hay every year until there was money enough to buy a second hand baler.

[blackthorn]

My Dad farmed with horses right up to about 1948. Then he got a tractor. The problem then was that the old horse drawn machinery would not stand up to the power generated by the tractor. One season of that and Dad quit farming and leased the land to a neighbor on a share basis. We kept some pasture and hay land and Dad cut, raked and stacked for several years. I learned to build loads and stacks from him. Dad took some rope and made a "sling" that lay in the bottom of the rack (hay wagon) and designed one side of the rack to drop away. We loaded the rack, drove it to the hay yard and lined it up where we wanted the stack. Then we unhooked the horses, tossed a rope over the load, hooked the end to a ring on the middle of the sling, hooked the other end of the rope to the team and rolled the whole load off onto the ground. We could go 2 loads high and then, when we had the stack as long as we wanted, we would finish by building a rounded top the same as discussed above in another post. My Dad was a top notch horseman, and he trained is team to be driven by voice commands alone. He could tie-off the reins and stand away from the team and voice-guide them wherever he wanted them to go.

[slim1836]

I remember feeding the horses they used for chariot races at the Olympics.:kidding:

Slim

[BrentD]

blackthorn, I'd pay money to see horses handled like that. I bet that was a heck of a lot of fun to watch.

Now, my horses.... They paint. ;)

[doc1876]

slim1836, if that was you, then it had to be you that I saw them fed to the lions the next day.

[nvbirdman]

"Feed him Dr. Ross dog food and do him a favor. It's got more meat and it's got more flavor"
I remember when my parents bought a car that had turn signals.
I remember eating a hot turkey sandwich at the lunch counter in the dime store.

[MaryB]

Those who know the old ways may just be in demand in the near future... Any number of things piling up that could see this country in turmoil... I never learned to sew and I really should... most I can do is a button or fix a hem.

[TXGunNut]

My grand-dad had horses until he quit farming in the 40's. I remember stories about them, seems they would out-pull his neighbors' big draft horses and he took pride in that until the day he died. Like blackthorn's dad he kept farming with horses long after his neighbors switched to tractors. From what I can gather he took good care of his horses and they did whatever he asked them to do. His favorite story was how he encountered his neighbor stuck on the road somewhere and his neighbor's prized Morgans were unable to get the wagon moving again. My grand-dad offered to help, neighbor accepted. My grand-dad unhooked his team and led them over to the stuck wagon. Neighbor started to hitch them on in front of his Morgans. My grand-dad told him to unhitch the Morgans. He hitched his "little" team to the wagon and they handily pulled it out.
I don't know how many times I heard that story growing up, he even told it the week before he went to bed and never woke up.
I don't want to talk about the things I remember seeing growing up, feeling a bit old and creaky today.

[starmac]

TXGunNut
I haven't been there in years, so don't know if it is still there, but in the Erath county courthouse in Stephenville, there was a picture of my great grandad with 180 teams hooked to a building moving it from one location to another.

[starmac]

Ten hour days on a 2 cyl John Deere for $0.50 hour. Best days of my life, well at least I thought so.

That old popping johnny beat sitting on an old u moline or case back then. lol
I never ran them, but my uncle ran 2 old popping johnnys at a time rigged with furrow guides, I'm thinking it made a day last forever.

[TXGunNut]

Wow, that's a lot of rigging. My time in Erath county is generally spent whizzing by on the highway so I wouldn't know if it's still there. Will look for next time thru if you'll tell me where to look. Erath and Johnson county got hammered by nine tornadoes a few nights ago.

[starmac]

I was just a kid when I saw it, but iirc it was in the courthouse, and it was in the town sqaure. The last time I went through Stephenville it had grown so much, it was nothing like the small town it was when we would visit my grandparents.
My great grandfather was long gone way before I came along, but he was supposedly a large land owner/ farmer/rancher/contractor, and supplied the mules for all his farmer tennants.
He raised 13 kids. The youngest of which was a late in life son several years behind the others and was my grandfather. Supposedly when he reached 13 years of age, the old man rode of on a horse and was never heard from again. lol

[opos]

Read all the talk about those that farmed with horses...My Grandad (mentioned earlier he was my idol) was one of the real old timers...when he died he was injured at the Denver stockyards...got thrown off a "yard horse" he used...it shied from a steam locomotive whistle...he was yelling "gee and haw" to his team in his last few minutes before he died..If you don't know what gee and haw mean it was the way to tell a team to go right or left...

138535...the picture is of his Belgians back when my Aunt was a young girl...she's long gone and I'm 77 ...

[tommag]

I haven't read the entire thread, so someone else may have mentioned it, but I remember 22 shorts costing less than 22 longs, and 22 lr costing more than the rest. I used to buy canadian ammo (cil and imperial) because it was 5 cents less than winchester or remington.
Dynamite and blasting caps were available at the farmers union store without a permit.
Asking permission to hunt was considered a nice thing to do, not a requirement. Boy, how things have changed!

[Hardcast416taylor]

Wearing my Dad`s heavy red and black squared wool mackinaw coat and pants along with the "Elmer Fudd" style hat the first year I was allowed to legally go deer hunting way back when.Robert

[castalott]

I remember talking to a man from a nearby town in the 80's. He was a paratrooper during the Cuban missile crisis and he told me his entire division was ready to go. He sat outside a loaded plane wearing a parachute for 24 hours. He said he 'knew' war would start and he would be one of the first in it. But it didn't happen ,of course...

[country gent]

One of my oldest memories is in the fall riding with Dad to the elevator with a couple wagons of ear corn. Going into the scale house after dumping and getting one of those little bottles of coke and eating roasted peanuts still in the shells While we waited for Dads load to be processed and the slip pprinted out. WAs a much slower time and and things just were more friendly

[snowwolfe]

I remember going to show and tell in the 4th grade and taking in my .22 bolt action rifle. Didn't raise an eyebrow and teacher could of cared less.

[rancher1913]

I remember buying my first pistol, 2nd hand and private party when I was less than 18. found out I could not buy ammo as I was not 21, also found out I could buy brass, powder, primers, and bullets when under 21 so thus my reloading days started, and life lessons about end runs around gun laws.

[rockrat]

I remember so many of the things posted. I will add that I remember the Cold War. Dad was AF and on alert most of the time, and in his flight suit when at home (base wasn't far away). Remember when soda tasted really good (real sugar there) and the sweet smell of leaded gas. The early muscle cars and the first Mustangs. Leaving home in the morning and being gone all day (I was 7) and nobody thought the worse of mom for letting me go. Just had to be back by dinnertime.
Buying a case of 22's at the high price of 69cents a box (I hauled alot of hay for that!!). Speaking of hay, no bale wagons to pick up and stack the hay, all done by hand. Still have my hay hook somewhere.

[mold maker]

I remember the itch you got gathering okra, cucumbers, and tomatoes, before the dew had dried. The smell after a good summer rain. Taking off your school clothes before chores and play. Catching fireflies, and putting them in a jar. Spending Saturday at the movie with a hotdog, drink and popcorn for a quarter, and having change left over.
I remember Sunday dinner at Grandmas with fried chicken, taters and gravy, with cathead biscuits. The pie safe on the porch that always held something sweet. The post next to the door that had a record of my growth with dates by each line. The time they broke a 3' ice cycle off the roof and gave it to me to play with.
I remember taking a slingshot and a pocket of pebbles for a days grand adventure. My first BB gun and a nickel tube of BBs were enough to satisfy a boy and his dog. Or if money was tight they had small cellophane packs for a penny.
I remember when "The Goat Man" came through. He had a small covered wagon pulled by goats, and just traveled the country side camping along the way. He always had a tale to tell and post cards for sale.
I remember when the flood washed away the whole bottom field of watermelons, and we took a boat and pitch forks to catch what we could for us and the hogs.
I remember when my Uncle (ABC Officer) took me with him to blow up a still.
I fondly remember when some Fridays Dad would bring me an Orange Crush and a Moon Pie.
I remember when the train wrecked at Newton, and they said the ambulance got there before the wheels stopped turning. The wreck was behind the Funeral Home, and they used the hearse as an ambulance also.
I remember snow 2' deep and Dad having to leave the car at work, and walking home with groceries.
I remember catching snakes, and popping their heads off like cracking a whip.
I remember going to a Local Pro baseball game and getting a cracked bat from my favorite player.
I used to spend all Friday evening catching minnows and crawfish to use for bate, fishing all night.
I remember my Grand Dad (barber) talking politics and who was related. If you were waiting your turn for a hair cut it may take a long time.
It just came to mind that our first phone # was 734, and Uncle's was 663. The phone weighed about 4 +lbs and sat on a special little table in the hall.
It was a party line and the neighbor listened to every call. Then she would call her gossip friends and repeat every thing we said. One day she sneezed while listening, and I called her a nosey old fig. She told dad, and I got an extra piece of pie.
I remember our first car. A 37 Chevy with finders so rusty they looked like lace.
When we moved back home from Oak Ridge Tenn (1945) there was an ice storm and a truck had jackknifed at the bottom of a mountain. We sat just passed the crest, and the emergency brakes wouldn't hold. Dad and Mom had to take turns holding a foot on the breaks for over 3 hrs.
I was in the back seat wrapped in blankets between the sewing machine and several suitcases. We couldn't keep the motor running for heat because we were almost out of gas. Every little bit somebody would tire or relax, and their car would slide. One slid into us knocking us into the ditch, than another hit behind and our car bounced back onto the road. At the time I was only 3 and thought it was all great fun.
Old folks may not remember everything, but they have lots more memories.

[castalott]

Dad was in the occupation army in Germany. He went thru a factory and hand assembled a pistol that he carried over there. As a matter of fact, he had a barracks bag of pistols- stuff you would drool over today. He carried it on the ship and was told that if there was a general inspection, it would take an additional few weeks to process all his stuff. Figuring these guys wanted it and he wanted to go home, he picked out the top piece ( Walther p38) and thru the rest of the bag over the side. There never was an inspection....

He told me he carried a Mauser Hsc in 32acp in his boot the whole time he was there. He loved that pistol but some guy offered him $30 for it. That was a month's pay! He took it!

My buddy Pat (rest his Soul) sang a song he learned from a WW1 vet. It was about the 'big' money they were making on the front line....the only part I can remember went ..." $18 a day..once a month..."


Dale

[kfarm]

Who remembers mom yelling "hide here comes the Watkins Man".

[Love Life]

I remember quite a few things. Some good, some bad, some terrible. I tend to look towards tomorrow, instead of looking back at yesterday.

[WILCO]

I tend to look towards tomorrow, instead of looking back at yesterday.

Can't change what you had for breakfast.

[rush1886]

Mom loved the Watkins guy. It was the Fuller Brush guy she would not tolerate.


Who remembers mom yelling "hide here comes the Watkins Man".

[ClydeK]

Buster Brown and his dog Tag

[ClydeK]

I remember paying the kid on the farm next door $20 for a 7mm Mauser and when dad saw it he made me take it back and trade it for a 36 cal cap and ball Navy Arms that I carried from the age of 13 or 14 (dad thought black powder wasn't a real gun). It was around the year 1970 and you could buy old Mauser rifles for $20 all day long. We'd bake the creosote out of the stocks, hammer out the bolts into spoon handles, replace the safety with a sport safety, polish and jewel the bolts, sometimes it even worked out so you had a nice shooting rifle cheap for deer hunting. We'd go down to the river with a fist full of sharpened dowels and shoot them at carp with our black powder rifles. Bear and Hill were my heroes and no one ever heard of a compound bow.

[WILCO]

http://imghumour.com/assets/Uploads/Lets-Bump.jpg

[Harter66]

I remember when the Copper girl and her puppy wasn't vulgar.

I remember when gasoline was an aromatic fuel,and Eythal was the same as 100-130 octane avgas.

I remember the 1st gallon of unleaded gas I pumped ,a 1977 Mercury Bobcat 3 door wagon and the last gallon of leaded gas I pumped, a 1969 Chrysler Newport coup .

[PULSARNC]

I remember the cold wetness of the first round of barning tobacco when it had rained the night before.Hand cranking a super A farmall tractor when the crappy 6 volt battery was half dead .,and paying 27 centa a gallon for gas for my first car .

[Echo]

I remember pumping gas, and I MEAN PUMPING gas, up into a large glass container on top of the pump. Pump up 5 gallons, as indicated by the indicator, then stick the hose widget into the filler, pull the trigger, and the gas flowed down by gravity. A dollar's worth...

[smokeywolf]

Throughout the mid to late '50s, about once a year, Dad would go up into the mountains North of the Sun Valley area of San Fernando Valley or into the Santa Monica Mountains and poach a doe (I think he did it in or close to season, but didn't pay much attention to other regulations). He'd do a quickie field dress and bring home the carcass while it was still pretty early in the morning. I think he favored Sundays for this. He'd hang the carcass in the car port and do most of the rest of the dressing and butchering.

We had a cat that would march around the tarp that had been stretched out on the concrete under the hanging carcass. The cat's tail would be stiff as all get-out and held straight up in the air. I swear you could have picked that cat up by it's tail and the cat's body would have remained at a right angle to her tail. She would also let out one long meow during the entire trip around the tarp. Every couple of minutes Dad would throw her a piece of scrap trimmings and she'd pounce on it and growl the whole time that she chewed it.

[waynem34]

Their was this first time. Someone gave me a big balloon.I was so happy., I killed every balloon after.

[JonnyReb]

I remember Dad waking me up way before first light and carrying me to the car..i was 3 maybe. He'd drive us down into PA and take a gravel road to a point on the susquehanna river. The fog would be so thick you couldn't see the water, you could just hear it. He'd build a fire on the rocks and smoke his pipe..i can almost smell the 2 kinds of smoke mixing in the air still. He'd bait my hook up with live worms and i'd struggle to hold the zebco 404 and fiberglass rod up..i'd catch sunnies and rock bass while he'd cast those old rubber worms with the orange beads and metal spinner for pike and pickeral. I never remember him catching a single one but when i talked to him recently about those trips in the early seventies thats what he said he was after. Those are my first fishing trips i remember.

[waynem34]

Thats great times.

[Harter66]

I remember the shear terror of learning that my 1st child was on the way . The sleepless nights of all infants. Holding them the 1st time . Freaking out at 530 practically running to the crib because they didn't wake me up at 315 for a change of britches and food.
My oldest son freaking out if we left town with less than a half tank of gas "Dad it's 75 miles to the gas station" , " Gene there 125 miles in the tank .." ,"Shurz is halfway. ......." .
Trying to figure out why the youngest daughter had a problem with the harvest but not the autopsy. ...... to this day ...... she's 27....

[Harter66]

My youngest son joining up and oldest daughter joining the Army and Navy . The relief when their 5 yr hitches were up . The 29 months 13 days 16 hours spent dreading every unexpected door nock ,every unfamiliar car and every uniform in town while my son was in Iraqastan. The relief when every call from them started with "hi dad I just called to call" and whatever it's called when they call to say "I'm Rucked up and boarding in an hour for hell again" or "Dad I'm spending 6 months on the Reagan ".
I remember my 1st wife fixing her schedule so I missed the last mulie hunt my Dad was able to make the walks and the last season I would be able to stand where I stood to kill my 1st deer with my Dad . How she conveniently wrecked her shoulder and the last Duck Camp with my Dad got canceled and the kids didn't get to have the campfire ducks ,taters and brandy . I spent weeks getting gear in order ,tieing up tumble weeds setting blinds up to stay warm .....poof gone, not just put off, gone .
The Friday morning after Thanksgiving when Purdy didn't come to meet me in the kitchen and I spent the morning to bury her instead of hunting with the kids.
Of course the same morning 13 years before she picked up 31 ducks , 4 cotton tail and ate my Hershey bar off the dash. Dang dogs really get under skin don't they?

[Harter66]

147719

I remember the 1st time my Dad bought this . 55 cents ,he was the definition of livid , " last weekend it was 35 cents in the pump !"

[MT Gianni]

I remember when Iran was known for being the largest exporter of Pistachio nuts. California had to dye theirs red to show they were not the originals we grew up on.

[woodbutcher]

:bigsmyl2: And NOW,Iran is just plain nuts.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[WILCO]

Their was this first time. Someone gave me a big balloon.I was so happy., I killed every balloon after.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/media/photo/2011-08/172757180-03075634.jpg

[Windwalker 45acp]

Having 4 channels on TV, B/W and they all signed off the national anthem every night.


Reading all these posts just makes me sad.... my how far we as a nation have fallen.

[Artful]

Anybody else remember the vending machines full of stuff that's now all bad for you.

Machine would give you Cigarettes for $0.25 a pack, 22LR on a card for $0.25,
All the $0.25 candy bars and the Penny candy machine

- I have to look hard now for things like Necco Wafers to use as targets.

[Hick]

I remember my first marksmanship contest at 16 ( a loooong time ago). Took second place with my grandfather's 1907 Remington rolling block with a lyman tang sight (still have both). Got beat by a well-off young man using a great big heavy match rifle in 22LR.

[Area Man]

I will guard everything within the limits of my post and quit my post only when properly relieved.

They must have reworded it at some point. For me it was "To take charge of this post and all government property in view" and there was another one, #6 maybe? that dealt with passing standing orders on to the sentry that relieves me. #6 was the longest one and the one they had us try to recite in the tear gas chamber (which I will never forget).

Growing up a few blocks from the city swimming pool and ending the summer with bragging rights that I went every day the pool was open.

I remember "I'm going out to play" didn't entail parents knowing exactly where you were every second of the day. We'd just leave the house, go goof off for 12 hours or so in 15 different locations then just come home.

I remember M-80s and cherry bombs.

I remember bullets on the railroad tracks.

[woodbutcher]

:D Forget the Necco`s.Animal crackers work just as good.Plus,they make a little snack for the bugs and birds.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[flint45]

I remember when I used to find piles of lead wheel weights at the end of freeway exit ramps.
Yea me to people would give me the strangest look like what the heck is he picking up?

[Schrag4]

I'm relatively young, born in 78. Despite my relative youth, it's difficult to convey to my kids just how different life was those few decades ago. I remember:
- rotary phones
- no child seats in cars (not required yet, so we sure didn't have them)
- walking 6 blocks to and from school, parents being gone when I got up and when I returned
- helmets? elbow pads? don't remember those

A lot of what I remember revolves around how few safety measures there were and how little supervision my brothers and I had. Parents today wouldn't dream of giving their kids the kinds of freedoms that I enjoyed as a kid, in part because in many cases, the law would get involved, which is sad to say the least.

[Harter66]

As young as 11 or 12 I'd go to a friends 3-10 miles away on my bicycle. I probably wouldn't have let my kids do that in part because the hyways have changed so much . The 2 granddaughters I'm raising almost certainly won't get that chance.

There was a quarter coke machine not far down the road from me too.

[OS OK]

I remember 5 cent Cokes at the gas station and walking home from elementary school the first time it snowed in Houston. I remember thinking how the whole world looked so different. Had never seen snow before.
I remember getting in a fight at the wooden puzzle rack with Sammy and Danny Boone and had to face those twins after school at the buss and after the fight my mother made me go to their house and apologize and how we were friends after.
I remember riding my first used bicycle to elementary and feeling the freedom from the buss how exhilarating that was. Or when you would walk somewhere and people would stop to give you a ride without sticking your thumb out.
I remember spending all my summer vacations on a tiny island in the San Bernard River near the Gulf of Mexico with my Grandparents and how special and grown up I felt the first time Poppa James let me start using the skiff to go fishing by myself. How special I felt when I lucked out and brought home a load of Croakers and Drum.
I remember the 'duck and cover' drills on Fridays at noon when the sirens would go off.
I remember President Eisenhower talking on the Black and White.
I remember how freaked out everyone was because of 'Sputnik'. Then President Kennedy saying that we would go to the Moon in 10 years.
I remembered how everyone respected NASA back then.
I remember my first job sacking groceries for 50 cents/hour and how rich I was when the minimum wage was upped to 75 cents and I got a check for 12 dollars for the difference.
I remember making doll clothes for my 3 little sisters on my Great Grandmother Minnies foot pedaled Singer sewing machine and what a privilege that was to be allowed to use it.
I remember looking up an older girls blouse as I skooted her up to catch the first branch in the tree and how carefully I stood there telling her just which branch to go to next. I remember how my face got hot when she looked down and tucked her blouse into her jeans.
I remember the 'fogging truck' that came up and down all the streets to kill mosquitos. How the smoke would hang and spread out making everything look erie.
I remember how loud the lightning was when it hit a tree across the street as we sat by an open window taking in the hurricanes approach.
I remember pumping gas for 13.9 cents/gallon during gas wars and checking oil, tire pressure, wiping windows, how heavy those hoods were back then. A little later came the 'minnie skirts' and those pesky bug splats that took so much of my attention. The harder they were to scrub the more I liked them!
I remember when the wall speaker in my speech class came on and started announcing the assignation of our beloved President Kennedy and how I recognized who some of the women were wailing in the front office in the background. How guilty all us Texans felt because it happened in our State. I remember watching Jack Ruby shoot Oswald on TV.
I remember how special that Veterans were considered.
I remember questioning my father about WWII and asking him if he ever saw anybody get shot. All I knew was that he drove a landing craft in the Pacific theatre…Dad would not speak to me about the war, never did, that pissed me off for years before I understood.
I remember getting into High School and fast cars four on the floor with an 8 ball for a shifter, crazy stunts, pretty girls and the best music ever recorded, playing football and my first letter jacket.
After that things start blurring as the older I get the faster life and time flies and the less memories I have to reflect on…lots of hurry up and wait or struggle over something or other…it just ain't the same anymore…I really miss those days.

Thanks to whoever started this thread and made me stop to remember…I think I'll do this more often now.

[sleeper1428]

I'll be turning 78 in just a few short months so I remember many of the things that others have already mentioned. However, as a retired anesthesiologist, I have a few memories that are likely to be fairly unique. Things like learning to give open drop ether anesthesia during my residency, something that hasn't been taught for nearly 40 years, and being thrilled to occasionally get to use the one mechanical ventilator available to our 10 operating room suite, freeing me from the necessity of manually ventilating the patient for the entire duration of operations that often went longer than 8 or more hours. Same with the one small ECG monitor, a tubular shaped machine that we called 'the bullet' that let you see one single ECG trace across its round 3" yellowish-green face. Anesthesia at that time was far more an Art as opposed to the Science it has evolved into over the past 40 years. Oh, and one other vivid memory, this one related to shooting, was being able to walk into the police station, ask for the key to the police rifle/pistol range and after signing your name, walk out with the key, unlock the gate leading to the watershed area and go shoot to your heart's content on the range that was just two blocks away from the last homes on our street. Today in that same town you have to join the one rifle/pistol club to use their ranges which are now several miles out of town and are still being investigated and sued by new homeowners who are far Left anti-gunners and anti-lead ammo enviros who want the ranges shut down. Fortunately, I'm FROM that town but no longer a resident and so I still have good memories of the 'good old days'.

sleeper1428

[Lead Freak]

I remember every spring, my Dad would spray DDT around the foundation of our house. Worked great and no one got sick.

[blackthorn]

Ahh yes! DDT---I remember when that first appeared around where I grew up in Manitoba. My Dad thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread! That is he did until one of the team of horses he raised from colts and trained himself died from the stuff. See, what he did was mix up a solution of DDT and water, which he then wiped onto the horses with a rag to keep the mosquitoes off. I guess that particular horse had thinner skin or was more sensitive to the DDT for some reason. The thing is that Dad mixed and used that stuff without gloves or any kind of protection. We were just lucky that stuff only killed that horse!

[smokeywolf]

I remember our Packard Bell B&W TV (screen was almost round).
I remember mom's '49 Olds with the rope that hung across the back of the front seat.
I remember buying 10 cent cokes from the machine behind the Standard station ("service station") and going back a half hour later to get 5 cents back for the bottle.
I remember when you really could buy things in a dime store for a dime.
I remember exactly where I was when it was announced that our President was dead. Unlike the schnook we have now, back then, even a Democrat President was still considered as "our President".
I remember Jack Benny and Rochester, Lawrence Welk, Sing Along with Mitch.

[Blackwater]

Wow! Lots of memories in all the posts. I remember a thousand things, at least, that once played significant roles in my life. My first recollection is being in the crib with Mom doing something with me, and hearing Dad come in the door with a lilt in his voide. He stuck his head around the door jam, and had a great big smile on his face, and that characteristic toothpick in his teeth, and he was wearing his Marine dress blues, with the white hat and stripe down the sides of the legs. I'd never seen him in his dress uniform before, and it must have made a big impression on me. That big grin of his was always his great hallmark.

I also remember when I was 3 or 4, we'd been out and Dad was in his civies, and on the way back home, we were on base when they played Taps. He stopped, as did everyone, and got out and stood at attention and put his Fedora over his heart as they took down the colors that evening. And as he opened the door to get back inside the car, I asked him why he always stopped and got out when they played "that music" and also why all those statues were on base. The questions caught him at a poignant moment, I guess, because they stopped him stock dead still in mid move to get in the car. I wasn't sure what I'd said or why he reacted as he did, but when he closed his door and opened the back door, I knew something - either good or bad - was about to happen. He squatted down so he was eye to eye level with me, and told me that he stopped and saluted as they took down the flag as a sign of respect and devotion to what that flag stood for. He told me that the red in that flag stood for the blood of the many, many men who'd fought and died to keep our nation and our little family safe and free, and so I and my brother wouldn't have to worry about someone coming and getting him or mom or us and taking us away, and so we could have 3 good meals on the table every day, and clothes to wear, and so we could make our own decisions in life without someone tellling us everything we had to do. He said the white in that flag stood for the purity and good will we always had in our intent and purposes, and the blue was for the fidelity and trust we had one for the other that we'd always be able to depend on each other in this country if and when enemies tried to overtake us and tell us what to do. Then he told me that those statues were put up there so that we would never forget the good men they stood for and represented, who mostly had died in getting and keeping our country and family as safe and secure and well provided for as one could want, and he said he hoped we'd all never forget those true heroes, some of them his friends, who'd lost their lives fighting to keep all the benefits and joys and privileges we had in our little place on the base. As he finished, I saw a couple of tears run down that old Marine's face, and I knew that I'd just been told something valuable, and that I'd never forget as long as I lived. I don't know how I knew it, but kids, I think, sense things like that. And to this day, I can still see Dad's face from over 60 years ago as he told me these things. it's a lecture and experience I will never forget, and hope I'll always honor.

So many things cited are endearing to me in so many ways, even the old privy out back when Dad first moved home, and discovered his old high school buddy was an alcoholic and had pretty well run down the whole farm. It cost him his life savings to that date, and he had to borrow some more money to get things like they should have been. Going to the old privy at age 7 in the winter was a little more adventure than I really wanted, but when those moments come when you need it, it was still appreciated. We got indoor plumbing pretty much the first thing, but one can never forget those old privys. I think it's where I got my fear of spiders?

I've often thought a good privy would make a good thing for a remote deer camp. It beats squatting on a cactus! Don't ask how I know about that one. I was awfully young then.

Yeah. Lots of memories, and each one has its special place in my mind. It really was a whole 'nother place and time, and set of people. I'll cherish their memories forever, along with the many quail hunts with my cousins and uncles when they'd come to visit and catch up on the family news and gossip. So many, many things! Truly, I've been a VERY blessed man!

[Markbo]

I remember when going to the locql gunshop wasnt a big drmatic thing. Stopped by my favorite gun shop this morning just to browse a bit. I didn't have much money with me but I wasn't planning on buying anything anyway. Danged if they didn't have a .22 semi-auto pistol I've been looking for at a good price so I decided to buy it. Passed the background check, of course, then followed the nice lady over to the register. As I was getting ready to pay, she said "Strip down, facing me". I just assumed this was another one of OBama's executive orders and made a note to contact the NRA about it but I wanted the gun so I followed the lady's instructions. When the screaming died down and just before the police arrived I realized she was talking about swiping my credit card!

I've been requested to shop elsewhere. They need to make instructions a little more clear for us old guys!

[Nose Dive]

Hand made biscuits. Bacon gravy.

Leaving deer rifle at front gate of plant on Friday before opening day.

Flavor of Grandma's kisses.

Cloth diapers. (and aroma of used ones)

'glass' eye glasses.

Wooden rulers.

Sweet Nuns and grouchy Priests.

Leather belt on my ***.

Nose Dive

Cheap, Fast, Good. Kindly pick two.

[jcwit]

Having an unlimited expense acct and taking customers out on the town in New York.

Dealing with the peace niks in Washington DC, 1960's.

Two planes colliding over the Med. and nukes dropping.

Getting my first .22 at the age of 8, Christmas 1950.

Swimming in the ol' swimming hole when I was a kid. Water today likely contaminated.

[Point-Man]

I remember a lot of my 66 years. One of my best memories as a young kid was when we would ride the train from Mobile to Birmingham.

[castalott]

Grandma would dress up to watch Lawrence Welk. "If I can see him, he can see me!"

Dad and I would fish almost every evening it was warm. My job was to pull the boat thru the water with one paddle from the front seat. I fly fished while I was doing it too.

I can still smell the freshly tilled soil.... and the corn when it is pollinating in the hot part of summer... those 2 smells are so good and you will never forget....

I still remember squirrel and rabbit hunting with dad. He wouldn't hunt rabbits until there was a snow. Afraid of disease....

Dad always prided himself on his marksmanship. ( Army records say 'expert M1 Garand, M1 carbine, 45 pistol' ) The limit was 5 squirrels and he never took more than 5 shells. He did come home one time with 6 squirrels though....

Every supper was a feast! Fried squirrel ( or rabbit) with homemade milk gravy, mom's canned beets and pickles , perfect fried tators , and whatever out of dad's huge garden. It doesn't get any better...

Mom and dad both grew up poor in the Depression. Really poor. We had a garden about 1/2 the size of a football field. And 3 truck patches that altogether were more than the garden.

We went to the orchard to pick apples and peaches. At the top of the tree is the one perfect peach. I never could resist eating it. Got it all over me too as it was so juicy....

We picked berries or Hickory nuts for fun. I can still remember dad cracking and picking hickory nuts while watching our first TV. He couldn't just sit and watch tv. He had to be producing something....

There was some bad with it but an amazing amount of good...

I must say a heartfelt prayer... " Thank You Lord for such a Wonderful Childhood"''

[tim338]

Duck hunting with my dad every weekend. He would pack peanut butter and jelly sandwiches a thermos of coffee for him and hot chocolate for me. I had unlimited ammo for shooting and hunting. After school grabbing a rifle and and wondering for miles and never see a house or have to cross a road. Working with my Grandpa in his work shop. So many good memories.

[BNE]

I remember Dad putting his arms around me when I was 4 years old. He was helping me hold the Ruger .22 to shoot for the first time.

[stag15]

I remember the first knife my dad bought me when I was a boy was a Gerber, from the glass case in the Sandpoint surplus store.

[starbits]

I remember watching rocket launches in 1957/8 at White Sands, NM. Ten cent movies. I remember the first pair of boxers Mom bought me. I thought they were shorts and went and played all day in them and was mortified when she told me I had been playing outside in my underwear:mrgreen:. I was in Korea when Kennedy was killed and the first I heard of it was that a caddy had been hit in the head on a golf course and died. One year later to the day I shot my first and only pheasant. Lots of memories, to many to repeat.

[Ural Driver]

I remember the days that my babies were born................it don't get much better than that.

[AZBronco]

I LIKE IKE bumper stickers ...the im for nixon car bumper sticker i put on JFKs front door [1960's race]...33rd and O st. N.W. Washington D.C. ...small AM transister radios ...WEAM rock n role radio station in Wash.D.C. ....ran a news flash "the president has been shout " then keep playing R@R, ALL other stations went to 100% reporting on JFK shooting.

[Winger Ed.]

Next door to our Jr. High School was a Ford dealership.
The side new car parking lot was next to the school.

I remember drooling over and on four silver, brand new Shelby Cobra Mustangs parked side by side by side by side.




While stationed at Lakehurst, New Jersey, our classroom for Parachute Rigger School was in the building where they cut out and
sewed together the material & panels for the Navy's airships.

Across the street was Hanger One. It was where the Graff Zeppelin Hindenburg crashed and burned.
In front of it was the big field where we did our PT training.

I've held small, burned pieces of the Graf zeppelin- Hindenburg in my hand, looked at them,
and tossed them back on the ground.

[jaysouth]

As i try to remember the "good old days" I have very distinct memories of what an outhouse smells like in August. I do long for the smell of new levis which were purchased before school started, and Kiwi shoe polish.

[Tracy]

I remember the first car I ever bought: a 1977 Pontiac Trans Am. I also remember building a Philadelphia Derringer from a kit, working on it in high school shop class, and shooting it on a regular basis for years. In fact that derringer is within 5 feet of me right now.

[Walks]

I remember most of the things in this thread, or hearing about it from my folks.

I remember my first date.
We were 12yrs old. Her name was Janice Bronstein.
My DAD dropped me off at her house. We walked 3 blocks up the side street to Ventura Blvd. Caught the bus using our student bus passes. Rode down to the
LA Reina Theater. Saw a double feature with cartoon.
Had Soda's, Hot Dog's, Popcorn and Candy bar's each.
Took the Bus back and walked her home.
And My DAD just HAD to be sitting in his car right in front of her house. Still she Kissed me on the cheek.
I can't remember the movie's, but I remember the
Price tag; $4.60, and Never put your arm around a girl at the movies and leave it there for FIVE HOURS.

The next day at school She told all her friends what a Gentleman I was. The guys all wanted to know if I got
"some boob". I didn't answer either way. Big Mistake, some Big Mouth started a rumor that I had.
So ended my first romance.

[richhodg66]

I'm not quite as old as many on here, it seems, but something I remember and have been really missing and concerned about lately is American retailing. The little Shopko store nearby is having its last day today, we lost our last K-Mart in Kansas a few months ago, several Sears stores I know of. I still remember when the Goodwill store in town was a Montgomery Wards. All the Alco stores shut down a few years ago. Almost lost Gordman's as a chain, but then something happened and not only did it stay around, they put a new store in my town, so that's good. Wife likes to shop there and truthfully, so do I.

Seems like we've taken the human aspect out of everything. There's a grocery store here that used to have a video rental in one section that they closed out and remodeled. Everytime I have to go in there I remember when the kids were little and Friday evening rolled around we'd go out as a family for pizza or burgers and then let them pick out a movie for the weekend, it was fun. Now you can just stream whatever you want, whenever you want and never get off the couch.

Maybe some of it still exists, wife and I went into a Target store a while back, normally I wouldn't have but noticed Target still has a lunch counter like a lot of stores used to have, who'd have guessed? My oldest son and I had to make a trip to N.C. over Christmas where I was pleased to see the Rose's stores still going. They've changed somewhat, can't buy guns there now (I bought a Lee Enfield at the one in Aiken S.C. for about $60) but it really is still like an old school small town general store. Looking around in there, they were still selling little pocket sized transistor radios that looked exactly like the ones in the '60s and '70s, I had no idea such things were even still produced, but there they were and judging from the packaging, I'm pretty sure they weren't new old stock.

Maybe online shopping really has become the way, or maybe people are becoming less materialistic or both. It's just something that has been weighing on my mind lately.

[LUBEDUDE]

+The precursor to Wal-Mart in the 60s- early 70s was Fed-Mart, on Forest Lane in Dallas, TX. I gave the money to my Mom to buy my first 22 rifle, a Remington Auto. To this day I’m still kicking myself for not buying a 357 4 5/8 Ruger Blackhawk a few months later ( it was a 3-screw). At 14, I decided that the center fire Ammo was just too expensive. So I went down the street to Montgomery Wards in Northtown Mall with my Dad and picked up a 6 inch Ruger MK 22 instead.

I fed that Ruger an unbelievable amount of ammo for 7-8 years, even took it to college. When I was about 21 I dropped the pistol in the driveway and scuffed it up. I could not bear those blemishes, so I traded it for an Ithaca parkerized model 37 riot 12 gauge at Walnut Hill gun shop.

Later come to find out the gun shop commando, Ira, had the Ruger chromed and wore it in a shoulder rig around the shop. He told everyone that he took that pistol with him to Vietnam. Some things never change.

I had moved from Dallas by then, so I couldn’t go by that Gunshop and call Ira out.

[gwpercle]

Black and white TV , turned on - off with a small knob. Changed channels with a big rotary knob , there were two , one for VHF channels and one for UHF channels . Antenna was built into set , you stood it up and extended it. No remote controls .

Cost to watch that TV.... $0.00 What happened !

[shdwlkr]

I remember as a kid growing up being a runt and a neighbor that let me work on his dairy farm. Years passed and I as a teenage was now 5 foot 8 inches and 185 pounds no longer a runt. Getting up at 4:30 am to go get ready to feed and milk the cows was great, even in the winter when it was cold and lots of snow and school even closed a few times. When I went to college I was now 6 foot 4 inches and 265 pounds. Then there was the Army they didn't like my weight so they took me down to 176 pounds in just 8 weeks, best I have ever felt in my life.
I remember a snow drift in the front yard of my parents home that allowed us kids to be up in the power lines, stupid but we were kids and liked to play in the snow that was in the 1950's when it snowed in the winter and got really cold with lots of wind.
Yes we can all look back at the "good old days", but they may never return or they just might with all this tension in the world today. Then what we are much older, with aches and pains and things just take a lot longer to get done.

[Poseidonsfist]

As a child..

Conversion vans and no one caring about kids and seat belts.
8 track and vinyl records

As I turned into a man
Earning my Green Beret and joining the same group my father was in.
Being sent to Mogadishu, the first man I saw Die was a Sgt. who served with my dad. He was a wonderful man, died because he hesitated when the opponent turned out to be a boy of 12 with an AK.

[KCSO]

I remember RADIO, you know Programs...Art Linkletter, Arthur Godfrey, Kitchen Klatter, The Lone Ranger. One Christmas and aunt got us Mouse Ears, we had no TV and had no idea what they were for.

[Buzz Krumhunger]

I remember classrooms that weren’t air conditioned, with a big old Hunter oscillating fan on the teacher’s desk. I always looked forward to getting mimeographed assignments because the residual alcohol in the paper was so nice and cool from the fan blowing on it.

I remember getting sugar cubes with polio vaccine on them in the “cafetorium”. First time I had seen a sugar cube.

And PE in the cafetorium with a record player playing “Go You Chicken Fat Go”.