The Good ol' Days

[midnight Target]

My Mom was a teacher at the grade school I attended. She would always walk over a little slower to break it up when I got into a schoolyard fight.  She would explain later that she just "wanted me to get in a few good ones". That would be scandalous today.

[Rich46yo]

It's amazing how close we all had it.  Rip's parachute story was HILARIOUS!

It was nothing to ride your bike 3 miles to the "penny candy store" with a few quarters in your pocket and come home with a bag full of kiddie crack.  Remember "The Monkees" trading cards and banana flavored gum?  How about "Green Berets" trading cards & gum?

I do remember when gas was 29.9 cents a gallon. 

Did anyone else have the "Man From UNCLE" sharpshooter rifle?



ROX

Nope but I had a Johnny Eagle safari rifle that shot real plastic bullets. http://users.rcn.com/ed.ma.ultranet/dr3.jpeg I stalked many a Buffalo and Lion with that thing. And I promised myself as a kid I'd go on an African safari. So far Ive been there 3 times and hope to make 1 or 2 more before I croak.

[Ripsnort]

My Mom was a teacher at the grade school I attended. She would always walk over a little slower to break it up when I got into a schoolyard fight.  She would explain later that she just "wanted me to get in a few good ones". That would be scandalous today.

I'm thinking you always got your butt handed to you back then, otherwise you'd be a republican today.....































j/k..

My mom was the Guidance Counselors secretary! I couldn't get away with anything until she quick her job and got divorced from my dad! Then it was drugs, sex and rock-n-roll baby! Until I pullled my head out 2 years later.

[midnight Target]

I'm thinking you always got your butt handed to you back then, otherwise you'd be a republican today.....

You think about my butt way too much.

[Jackal1]

Picture below is of our old barn I'd play in as a kid. We had hay bales going to the roof, and used to make hay forts.

Hehe. Hay forts when the hay got fed down to a workable level was a way of life for us.
One fort on one side of the barn. Another on the opposite side. Add a bucket of scavenged tennis balls.........and it was ON.
Dirt roads are one of my favorite memories from back in the day.
You could hit the dirt and not be bothered.
Shotguns and rifles could be brought to school and were on an every day basis.
I redid quite a few stocks and did some bluing in the Ag shop.
I can see that happening now. Holy Moly..call in the Ninjas.
Yaknow a lot of things were pretty good back then...........then we fixed them.

[MrBill]

What's mainly wrong with society today is that too many Dirt Roads have been paved.

There's not a problem in America today, crime, drugs, education, divorce, delinquency that wouldn't be remedied, if we just had more Dirt Roads, because Dirt Roads give character.

People that live at the end of Dirt Roads learn early on that life is a bumpy ride.

That it can jar you right down to your teeth sometimes, but it's worth it, if at the end is home...a loving spouse, happy kids and a dog.

We wouldn't have near the trouble with our educational system if our kids got their exercise walking a Dirt Road with other kids, from whom they learn how to get along.

There was less crime in our streets before they were paved.

Criminals didn't walk two dusty miles to rob or rape, if they knew they'd be welcomed by 5 barking dogs and a double barrel shotgun.

And there were no drive by shootings.

Our values were better when our roads were worse!

People did not worship their cars more than their kids, and motorists were more courteous, they didn't tailgate by riding the bumper or the guy in front would choke you with dust & bust your windshield with rocks.

Dirt Roads taught patience.

Dirt Roads were environmentally friendly, you didn't hop in your car for a quart of milk you walked to the barn for your milk.

For your mail, you walked to the mail box.

What if it rained and the Dirt Road got washed out? That was the best part, then you stayed home and had some family time, roasted marshmallows and popped popcorn and pony rode on Daddy's shoulders and learned how to make prettier quilts than anybody.

At the end of Dirt Roads, you soon learned that bad words tasted like soap.

Most paved roads lead to trouble, Dirt Roads more likely lead to a fishing creek or a swimming hole.

At the end of a Dirt Road, the only time we even locked our car was in August, because if we didn't some neighbor would fill it with too much zucchini.

At the end of a Dirt Road, there was always extra springtime income, from when city dudes would get stuck, you'd have to hitch up a team and pull them out.

Usually you got a dollar...always you got a new friend...at the end of a Dirt Road!

~Paul Harvey~

[Shamus]

Well there is hope for the Detroit area, a large percentage of our roads are reverting to dirt.

shamus

[AKIron]

Well there is hope for the Detroit area, a large percentage of our roads are reverting to dirt.

shamus

 

[bj229r]

Was I the only one here who assumed that a Batman cape enabled me to leap off the porch unscathed?

[panzerr]

That brought back some memories. That "two pump" rule always seemed to go out the window rather quikly.

Same here.  Someone would sneak in an extra pump or 2.  Little BB-sized blood blisters were the result.

[Hornet33]

One of my buddies growing up (Scott) got hit in the ankle one time and the BB lodged just under the skin. We were all freaking out because if our parents found out all of us would have gotten a beating. My other friend Steve had an idea that if we got a big enough magnet and held it over the BB it would come out the same hole it went into. SCORE!!!!!! Dad had a big magnet stuck to the side of his toolbox in the garage, so we all head over to my house. So there we are, six kids in the garage, one bleeding, the rest holding him down while Steve and I try to get this dang BB out of Scotts leg. Took a couple of minutes but damned if it didn't work. About the time we got a band aid on the hole my mom pulled into the drive way coming home from work. She was an ER nurse When she saw the blood she started asking questions about what happened. We told her Scott cut his ankle while we were riding our bikes. I don't think she totally belived us, but she probably figured correctly that she really didn't want to know the truth either.

[Rich46yo]

Liberalism destroyed this country. If your 40yo or older you probably remember a more God Fearing country where people respected the Laws and others. If there was a fire in my neighborhood, be it 0400 in the middle of January, all the fathers would be out on the street helping the firemen with their hoses.

Back then folks stayed married, raised their kids, and society didn't enable every dirtbag with an exuse. If you fought the cops back then the cops would give the bad guy a beat down, the judge would throw away the key, and the neighborhood would clap. It never even occurred to people back then to blame the gun and not the career criminal who just robbed the liquor store with it. Such a concept didnt even exist.

Newspapers reported the news instead of creating it out of fear they will lose money. People thought on their own, acted in a way they felt was right, and couldnt care less if the herd was running the other way. Soldiers weren't spit on they were thanked and given preference for jobs. Teachers weren't afraid of their classes like they are today. Folks coached sports, volunteered at their churches, watched out for every ones kids, knew their neighbors, and were just plain to proud to beg for handouts. If someone was on welfare they got off it quickly, after spending 10 hours a day looking for a job.

It was a Hell of a country at one time.

[Jackal1]

Was I the only one here who assumed that a Batman cape enabled me to leap off the porch unscathed?

Had a friend when I was real young who saved up his cereal box lids to send in for a Superman cape.
He got it, tried it out......spent the summer with his leg in a cast.

[Shamus]

Had a friend when I was real young who saved up his cereal box lids to send in for a Superman cape.
He got it, tried it out......spent the summer with his leg in a cast.

And we call the youth of today dumb

shamus

[SIK1]

My first plane ride was in a DC-6. My first GA plane ride was in my dads' Tri-Pacer. I remember seeing my first 747, a Pan Am, wow was I impressed. I Remember the first time I saw the Concorde, I was disapointed that it was so small.

I grew up in both big cities, and small towns. The late sixties were spent in TX. Houston and Fort Worth. The early seventies were spent in Las Vegas NV. The mid seventies were spent in Tehran Iran. The late seventies back to LV. Then the eighties in Redding CA. That's way NorCal for those that don't know.

I remember having BB gun fights, in particular I remember my best friend Mike, shooting me in the hand cocking his BB gun and shooting nothing but air (his gun was empty) him turning to run and me hitting him four times before he got out of range.

I remember having to be home when the street lights came on, and I remember playing hide and seek and the police chopper (Hughes 300) spotlighting us out in front of my house and me hiding under a car.

I remember riding my bike every where, and no one worried. I remember my mom making me go back down to the small mom and pop convenience store and apologize because I stole a piece of penny bubble gum.(probably why I don't steal)

I remember buying cigarettes with a note from my mom, but they were really for me. I also remember having a smoking area in my high school.
 
Gas was sixty nine cents a gallon when I first started driving. I remember going to the drive-in when they charged by the person, and hiding in the trunk. I remember making out at the drive-in in the back of my pickup.

I remember a simpler time when the world moved more slowly.