Remember When

[desmobob]

Would any guy here admit to playing with dolls back then?

 

I was pretty happy with my talking G.I. Joe and cool accessories like a jeep that towed a howitzer that fired plastic rounds and would cause an included spring-loaded defensive wall to explode when hit.

 

Playing "war" was a common pastime and my buddy and I had some pretty cool toy guns.  I had an M16 that made a great machine gun sound... you pulled back the charging handle several times to wind an internal spring that powered the noise-making device.  My buddies M16 was powered by batteries and had different settings to make several battlefield noises.   But back then, batteries were carbon cells that had a very short lifespan and would corrode and ruin anything they were left inside for too long when dead.

[A-Jay]

25 minutes ago, desmobob said:

Would any guy here admit to playing with dolls back then?

 

I was pretty happy with my talking G.I. Joe and cool accessories like a jeep that towed a howitzer that fired plastic rounds and would cause an included spring-loaded defensive wall to explode when hit.

 

Playing "war" was a common pastime and my buddy and I had some pretty cool toy guns.  I had an M16 that made a great machine gun sound... you pulled back the charging handle several times to wind an internal spring that powered the noise-making device.  My buddies M16 was powered by batteries and had different settings to make several battlefield noises.   But back then, batteries were carbon cells that had a very short lifespan and would corrode and ruin anything they were left inside for too long when dead.

Guilty as charged.

Life like hair and Kung Fu Grip.

Not real sure either of them helped win the Battle.

A-Jay

 

[MN Fisher]

35 minutes ago, desmobob said:

Would any guy here admit to playing with dolls back then?

 

I was pretty happy with my talking G.I. Joe and cool accessories like a jeep that towed a howitzer that fired plastic rounds and would cause an included spring-loaded defensive wall to explode when hit.

 

Playing "war" was a common pastime and my buddy and I had some pretty cool toy guns.  I had an M16 that made a great machine gun sound... you pulled back the charging handle several times to wind an internal spring that powered the noise-making device.  My buddies M16 was powered by batteries and had different settings to make several battlefield noises.   But back then, batteries were carbon cells that had a very short lifespan and would corrode and ruin anything they were left inside for too long when dead.

Not only did I have the G.I. Joe - also had a box full of those little army men.

[jbmaine]

party lines, when GE6 changed to 436 on our phone number. B&W TV. riding my bike down to the local hardware store and giving the guy 25 cents for a box of .22 shells. We always played war, or cowboys and indians. At least to me, everything seemed cleaner, brighter, simpler back then.

[HaydenS]

2 hours ago, desmobob said:

I had an M16 that made a great machine gun sound... you pulled back the charging handle several times to wind an internal spring that powered the noise-making device.

I had one of these!  It was the coolest thing ever!

[desmobob]

1 hour ago, HaydenS said:

I had one of these!  It was the coolest thing ever!

 

I'm thinking if you gave a kid one of those today, you'd risk his life, or you'd get arrested for some crazy charge...   

 

Growing up, I think I had every kind of slingshot, squirt gun, cap gun, dart gun, BB gun and pellet gun known to man.  ?

3 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

Not only did I have the G.I. Joe - also had a box full of those little army men.

 

One of my all-time favorite Christmas gifts was from my oldest sister and her new husband who was just out of the marine corps.  It was a huge assortment of green army men with jeeps, tanks, rolls of concertina wire, machine gun emplacements, trucks, etc.  It was the biggest and most complete set of those little army men and accessories I've ever seen before or since.  Probably cost five or ten bucks but it was a lot of fun and a lifetime memory.

[MN Fisher]

5 minutes ago, desmobob said:

 

I'm thinking if you gave a kid one of those today, you'd risk his life, or you'd get arrested for some crazy charge...   

 

Growing up, I think I had every kind of slingshot, squirt gun, cap gun, dart gun, BB gun and pellet gun known to man.  ?

When I was 14, not long after moving from the east coast to northern MN, dad bought me a .22 rifle so I could go rabbit and squirrel hunting with my new friends. Following year he got me a 12 gauge semi-auto shotgun so I could join them grouse hunting.

 

Now-days, giving a rifle and shotgun to a teenage kid can get you in all sorts of trouble.

[HaydenS]

9 minutes ago, desmobob said:

I'm thinking if you gave a kid one of those today, you'd risk his life, or you'd get arrested for some crazy charge...   

 

Growing up, I think I had every kind of slingshot, squirt gun, cap gun, dart gun, BB gun and pellet gun known to man.  ?

I've got a couple pellet guns and a BB gun and an airsoft gun.  Shooting is one my favorite things to do.   My grandpa just finished building me an AR15.  He order two, and since they had really close serial number, I got 16 and he got 18, he built both of them.  

 

18 minutes ago, desmobob said:

One of my all-time favorite Christmas gifts was from my oldest sister and her new husband who was just out of the marine corps.  It was a huge assortment of green army men with jeeps, tanks, rolls of concertina wire, machine gun emplacements, trucks, etc.  It was the biggest and most complete set of those little army men and accessories I've ever seen before or since.  Probably cost five or ten bucks but it was a lot of fun and a lifetime memory.

I had a lot of fun with the little green men, and these guys...

[Columbia Craw]

Audio visual team.  They brought the 16 mm projector in and set it up so the science class could watch the film .  My science teacher would leave the room and step outside to smoke his pipe.

 

My high school had a smoking dock for the students and teachers would sometimes have a Winston with the students.

 

Hot lunch was 35 cents and an extra milk a nickel.  
 

We had text books.  My parents bought us an encyclopedia set which was big money!  We received polio vaccine on a sugar cube at school when I was in kindergarten. 

[Log Catcher]

I had several types of cap guns and BB guns. I enjoyed them but I had more fun with my old Lionel train sets. Believe it or not I still have them. Don't have a clue if they still work.

[Crankin4Bass]

On 9/17/2021 at 9:44 AM, J Francho said:

I'm so sure I want to reminisce and wax poetic about the 70s.  They sucked.

It wasn't all bad. We had skateboarding, BMX, Van Halen and Charlie's Angels.

[king fisher]

I was born in 1963 and grew up in a small farming town of around 500 people.  I took my girl friend now wife there a few years ago to visit.  She couldn't believe it when I walked in to the bank, and took some money out of my savings account, and the teller didn't even ask for my ID, she asked my name and I told her, she replied I must be Camille's son that lives in Mexico now and how long was I going to be town for.  My Mom didn't ever lock the house and I always left the car unlocked with the key in the ignition.   My wife was in shock, she thought we had entered a time machine.

       It is always nice to go back there and see how little has changed.  The star quarterback on the high school football team last name is Bluemenshien, everyone still has a shotgun, in the gunrack on their pick up( unless it is deer season, then it's a rifle.),  I can go in to any store, buy something and say put it on my Moms bill, the best way to find some one isn't the internet, just ask some one at the store where so and so is, the key to the lock on the gate going down to my favorite fishing whole is still hid under the same rock, and the bass still hit a Hula Popper if cast properly to the rock pile on the opposite bank( much easier to do with gear I have now). It is still a small farming town of 500 people, only thing that has changed is peoples first names, and the walk to the river is a lot longer now.  Some times I wonder why I ever left.

 

[GreenPig]

-Pickups with gun racks in the back windows with real loaded guns which unfortunately had to go away when they quit punishing criminals. 

-Carrying a knife to school and not being arrested. 

-Only bank robbers wore a mask while carrying a gun into a bank, now they force me to wear a mask while carrying a gun into a bank.

-Dialing 4 digits to make local calls on a rotary phone.

-Riding in the back of the truck as a kid. Can't recall the last time I saw that happen.

[Scott F]

I was born in ‘55. I am constantly amazed at how technology has evolved during my lifetime. From 9” black and white tv’s and 3 stations where my dad would make me get up to change the channel for him to 75” high-def with 250 channels and on demand so you can watch nearly anything that’s ever been broadcast anytime you want. Cameras had film that you had to take to the drugstore and wait a week to get printed only to find you had your finger over the lens. Now, you not only get to see your photos instantly, you get high definition videos you can watch on your phone. Back in the day, we had 45’s and LP’s you had to take care of and not scratch up. Or your music came from small, tinny, transistor radios tuned to an AM station where you heard the same top 40 songs over and over again. Today, nearly every song ever recorded is available in a little device in your pocket. 
I remember pouring over the Christmas catalogs and circling the toys I wanted from Santa. 
Collecting soda bottles and returning them to the corner store for the 2 cents a piece and buying penny candy. 
 Nostalgia is fine and fun to think about but I sure do appreciate how much easier life is in the modern world.

[N Florida Mike]

Born in 60.  I remember: Kiddy pool in the back yard. 

No streetlights until I was 8-9.

Deep Woods were 100 yards from the house  then.

Fireflies in July

 The car had no Ac .

We played baseball year round, except a month or two off playing football.

We had lots of war games. 

       • Cowboys and Indians

       •  Rebels and yankees ( nobody wanted to be the yanks, so we made all the little kids be them.)

        • Playing ww2 navy men.  The platform on the swing set was our machine gun nest…

Army men wars

Red white and blue footballs.

Baseball Cards !

 I was the TV channel changer of our 4 stations…

 Listening to Braves games on the radio at night.

Getting spankings at school and another one at home…

Eating meals together, and watching Tv together before bed.

Working in our yard and garden EVERY saturday, then watching the baseball “ Game of the week “ or going fishing.

Leaving after breakfast in the summer to go play with all my friends at the preacher’s down the road  and staying all day except for lunch.

Church every sunday unless you had a fever or visibly threw up - same for school- NO EXCEPTIONS…

 

Drinking water out of a hose.

No bike helmets

Never used seatbelts.

Learning to drive a stick with a 3 speed cub tractor, and an old 3 on a tree farm truck…

First Real Date: Susan Archer. Was so nervous I couldn’t say anything. It didnt go well…

Fishing , swimming etc. all day at the lake I now live on.

 

8 track players

Buying chew and alcohol nearly anywhere after I was 15. Not saying that was a good thing…

 You could pull over and hunt pretty much anywhere without anyone caring, and usually never seeing anyone anyway.

I could go on and on indefinitely…

 

 

 

[flatcreek]

Going fishing with Daddy in his 49 Chrysler New Yorker.

Going to opening night in Atlanta Fulton County Stadium in 1966, I was 10.The Braves had just moved here from Milwaukee.Tony Cloninger pitched a strong 13 innings but we lost to the Pirates when Willie Stargill hit a 2 out 2 run homer in the top of the 13th.Braves catcher Joe Torre hit his second homer in the bottom of the 13th but it wasn’t enough, Pirates held on to win 3-2.

I remember the day our phone rang and my Daddy fell to his knees upon receiving the tragic news that his best friend had fallen to his death while carving the Confederate Memorial of Lee, Jackson and Davis.

I remember the oil trucks spraying the dirt road in front of our house in the hot dry Summers.

I remember using the hand held paper fans to cool off in church and hoping the long winded preacher would finally get to the benediction.

[Bassin' Brad]

Man, I'm only 25 and ya'll older gents are giving me a bad case of second hand nostalgia, and I ain't even kidding. 

 

Ya'll are making me feel like I was there. 

[Holetail]

HS kids in the muzzle loader club bringing their completed rifles home on the bus at the end of the year. No big deal since everyone had at least a shotgun in their vehicle. 
Building bike ramps out of bricks, blocks, and a piece of plywood and launching ourselves as high and far as possible. Numerous crashes without helmets yet we all survived somehow. 
Two farmers kids getting in to a fight in the hall freshman year. One pulled a pocket knife and the other said no fair so the kid tossed him his knife and pulled another. No bloodshed and no one was expelled.

Junior high bus driver let one of us jump off the bus and run to a corner store to buy soda and candy with pooled money. Had to make it to the next stop before the bus or it would be a long walk home. Only remember one time a kid didn’t make it. 
Would be arrested for sure doing any of these things today. Simpler times for sure and it’s fun to reminisce. 

[MN Fisher]

6 hours ago, Holetail said:

HS kids in the muzzle loader club bringing their completed rifles home on the bus at the end of the year. No big deal since everyone had at least a shotgun in their vehicle. 

I was in the Junior Smallbore Rifle Club that was held at the local Armory twice a month. Used my own gun.

Toted the gun in it's case to school, kept it in my locker...otherwise I would have had to go 1 mile north, then 2 miles south to get the gun and get to the Armory.

Principal knew, teachers knew...everyone knew...no big deal.

I wasn't the only one...two others in the Club did the same thing.

[HaydenS]

I wish I grew up with you guys, sounds like a lot more fun.  I would love a gun club, that sounds like the most fun ever!

I'm sure the Liberal Arts High School I go to would love a gun club.  95% of the students and teachers probably wouldn't even show up to school grounds if there was one...  But less knuckleheads to deal with! ?

I don't think the cops in the school even carry guns, just pepper spray.  And we have to go through metal detector every morning.  

[Hammer 4]

I sorta feel bad for younger kids that grew up in the 80's, 90's and 2000's. So many restrictions in place. Not to get into the political stuff. But growing up in the 50's and being a teen in the 60's is something I wish kids these days could experience.

[N Florida Mike]

17 hours ago, Holetail said:

No big deal since everyone had at least a shotgun in their vehicle. 

I remember those days. You didn’t want to miss a chance at a deer or hog on the way to or from school.

We had numerous bad fistfights but don’t remember anyone pulling a knife. Police were never called. 

We did have a stranger walking around one day in our high school. Our dean of students, Dr McCall, ( who was a descendant of Osceola the seminole cheif) confronted the stranger. He was in his late 50s, and the stranger in his 30s.The man told him he could go anywhere he wanted in the school because as a taxpayer he paid Dr McCall’s salary.

Dr McCall invited him off school property for a fistfight ( he loved his students and was trying to get him off school property ) The man agreed and they went across the road, jumped the barbwire fence , and it was on. Many of the students heard about it and went out to watch, including teachers.

In a little while the man was seen limping away with his head down at an angle taking him as far from the school as possible . Dr McCall came in without a scratch, smiled at us , and went back to work. Police were not called. Problem taken care of…

[flatcreek]

Those wooden paddles that the principals and coaches kept in their desk drawers meant business.You got outta line they would blister your hide before school was out and the majority of the parents were in favor of the paddle.

[MN Fisher]

5 hours ago, Hammer 4 said:

Not to get into the political stuff. But growing up in the 50's and being a teen in the 60's is something I wish kids these days could experience.

Or even a decade later...kid in the 60s, teen in the 70s myself...still lots more 'freedom' than in later years.

[Holetail]

11 hours ago, HaydenS said:

I wish I grew up with you guys, sounds like a lot more fun.  I would love a gun club, that sounds like the most fun ever!

I'm sure the Liberal Arts High School I go to would love a gun club.  95% of the students and teachers probably wouldn't even show up to school grounds if there was one...  But less knuckleheads to deal with! ?

I don't think the cops in the school even carry guns, just pepper spray.  And we have to go through metal detector every morning.  

I truly feel bad for kids these days. I have two in elementary school now and wish they could have the freedom I did at their age. Although with those freedoms, you had to be tougher and more self reliant which are good things. Bullying is a big topic at my kids school. I have to constantly remind them of what real bullying is, not just one nasty word or not playing with you at recess. In my day the only way to stop a bully was to stand up and defend yourself. A good fistfight whether you won or lost usually solved the issue. Now kids don’t fight like that and resort to shooting other kids over trivial stuff. Unfortunately, there is no going back to simpler times.