People Over 35

[shopteacher]

redpowerd: don't be belittling Ol Butch with thinking he was inflicked with public education. He's prep school all the way.
     He's even thinking of going to Harrr-vard, then politics. Who knows maybe the White House.

[hiya]

Them were the good old days.
Richard

[Haytrader]

Hey Bib,

Maybe hand sprayin that DDT is what stunted yer growth.

[Ga_Boy]

When I was about five, I walked into the Farmers Mutual Exchange with my Momma and said "Hello Ralph".

My Momma, took to beat'n the #$&*#@$?">|}&^$#! out of me right there on the spot.  Nobody called the Police, I'm sure glad they didn't cause the Police probbly would have cut my momma a green switch for her to use to teach me right.  To this day I don't care how old you are, I say yes sir and no sir.

Have'n to go cut your own switch was the worst.  If it was too dry and broke too soon that only made it worse, cause then she would get the leather belt.  The block I lived on was a mile on each leg and we walked it or rode our bikes around it at least three times a week during the summer.  My first bike was one I built from spare parts.  My closest friend lived about six miles away and we would meet in the middle when we palyed.

My daughter; shes seven; is starting to understand why I cut her a path through the woods to her firends house.  I tell her if you want to play that bad you'll walk, if not, go find something to do.

I do miss being a kid.  I freely admit that I am a Georgia Redneck, that is what I grew up as and still am to this day. I am glad that I have found a bunch of other rednecks from all over this great land that shared similar childhoods and have a love for the outdoors and wood.

[EZ]

Ya I remember the, go get me a switch. The one time my dad told my brother and I to go get a switch and he got a switch and I brought in a log about 4 inch in dia, about 3 foot long. We new dad wanted to laugh but he held it back. The switchin wasnt to bad that day.
EZ

[SwampDonkey]

We never had a switch, just a ear rubbin once in awhile for not finishing eatin supper. One time we spread margarine all over the couch and shoulda had one I 'spose, but we was only 4 or 5.   Then the time we built forts in trees and I made a blunt projectile which was to be fired like an arrow. Well, I fired blindly into a spruce thicket at my brother and well.......the JOS LOIS chocolate cake he was enjoyin didn't get finished being ate. ermm :-/ he survived, no permanent injuries, just some screechin and blat'n.    Then for birthday presents we got new fishin poles and had to try'm out in the stream. There was a newly installed culvert in the stream with loose gravel around it and my brother was standing in front of me. Well, ermm my foot slipped in the gravel and struck his foot. He went out and landed in the pool on his back, glomming, paw'in, and splash'in for shore. The more he cried and snibbled the more dad and I laughed, the angrier he got. He was always fallin in brooks or brush piles when we went fishing, then he gave up on the sport. I gave up on it later in life, too expensive

[CHARLIE]

Tom and I used to use sticks as guns after watching the Saturday Cowboy movie. The whole neighborhood was our playground. Kick the can, hide and seek, Tag, baseball, football, rollerskating, marbles, bow and arrow fights (bows and arrows made from bamboo), BB gun wars, swinging on the big rope swing out of a tree or off the roof of the garage, climbing trees......etc, etc.  When we ran mom threadbare she would tell us to go pick two switches off the surinam cherry bush. Why two?  Two just in case one broke, she would have another.  DanG those things stung! We started fishing real young and would ride our bikes over to the Indian River (salt water) by ourselves to fish all day. We got our first shotguns at 14 and spent many a time shooting at Mourning Doves. Wonderful childhood spent outside because there were no TV until the mid 50s and then it was only on at night.  No computer games.....just playing outside.

[etat]

Did any of yall ever get one of them little steel rings off of the hub of an old wooden wagon wheel, and take a stick of wood with a piece nailed on the bottom cross ways to roll that little steel ring about a million miles!!!  

Or take a small piece of wood and whittle it out with some notches on the top, fasten a propeller on the end and another stick to rub across the notches.  Called it a 'whoopee stick' cause you could yell whoopee and make the propeller start turning in a different direction.  (the trick was the angle that you rubbed the notches)


Or whittle whistles out of a section of cane!!!

When I was about 7 or 8 I went squirrel hunting with grandads ole double barrel.  (I've still got the gun, later in life he gave it to me).  Saw a squirrel up in a big ole pine tree and decided it'd be better to just go ahead and cock both hammers!!   When I pulled one of the triggers, both barrels went off and once.  Turned me for a backflip!!!!!!  

Got my first pocket knife when I was about 6.  Still got a scar where I cut my finger to the bone.  Mother like to had a conniption cause I bandaged it up myself with some old rags and kept playing!!!!  

Rather get out at night and chase fireflies!!!  TV weren't worth watching anyhow.  Mostly watching snow and interference with them rabbit ears!!!  

When we did get an outside antenna so it would come in better I'd get mad cause sometimes it'd say a movie was going to be in COLOR, and Danged if they didn't lie cause it was in black and white!!!!!

I never could make a bow and arrow that shoot an arrow far enough to make it worthwhile before the bow'd give out.
Sure had a lot of fun trying though!!!!  


In 1964 mom and dad built a new house and we had, seriously, RUNNING WATER, AND AN INSIDE TOILET AND FLOORS THAT YOU COULDN'T SEE THE GROUND THROUGH THE CRACKS!!!!!!!!!

[Norm]

When I turned 7 we moved to a new farm that my folks had bought. It was previously owned by a bachelor farmer that had commited suicide. Rumor had it he still haunted the place. Out back a couple of hundred yards was the local rural cemetary, it had the old limestone markers from the civil war still standing. Being I was the youngest of six my brothers and sisters took great fun in fueling all my childhood fears. You know the don't go in the woods after dark or the boogie man will get you, seems tame when you hear of the news now days.

Our nearest neighbor with kids my age were a mile away so most times you had to entertain youself. We had a small creek on the back forty that held a variety of fish, smallmouths, largemouths, catfish, carp and such. My mom was pretty understanding about hunting and fishing, the rule was you caught you cleaned it but she would always cook it up for supper. We had lots of woods were you could hunt with an old bolt action .22 stevens my grandpa had passed down to us kids. At ten I was given a single shot 4-10 shotgun. Learned to shot on the wing with it. Still have it. My dad was pretty harsh so punishment was more than a switch. You made sure to stay out of his way.

The neighbors sons that were my age had an old chevy pickup that we were allowed to drive in the fields. Top speed was probably under 50 so the most you could do was spin it around or get stuck in a mud hole, that wasn't all bad as you had to get the ac-wd tractor to pull it with. Had the hand clutch that we could barely reach or operate and you cranked it to start. Their dad broke a wrist on it when it back-fired on him once.

I didn't realize how poor we where at the time, some of the rich kids at school would give you a hard time cause of the hand me downs we wore but that usually got em a fat lip at recess. Can you imagine doing that now? Probably spend time at the local juvenille detention for it. Took me a lot of years to learn happiness isn't measured in dollars and cents.

[OneWithWood]

I have survived this long because my dad had one simple rule:

You know the difference between right and wrong.  If you get in trouble, don't call me.  You got yourself into it, get yourself out of it.

[isawlogs]

  I beleive that part of the problem with society today is that the children are thought to have the riding helmet on their head ,we on the other hand, where thought to have the helmet inside our head.....
 

[oldsaw-addict]

Another fellow who was talking to us said he thinks that today's parents have kids too regimented and programmed from an early age. The kids have very little unstructured free time, they mostly shuttle between school, soccer, dance class, tutoring, etc. I feel that using your imagination and gaining your independence is what has made the previous generations great. I employ young people around the farm part-time and I've found that the majority have been coddled so long they don't know how to think independently or take responsibilty for their actions. They also haven't learned that life isn't always fair or easy. Mom and Dad have done their best to "protect" them from the real world.

You dont have to tell me that, I've seen it myself all too often, if you want your kids to be normal now you have to practically live in the rural areas where drug dealers and gangs dont go. I lived in a nice small town in my younger years, those were fun times, the only problem was there were no kids around so I learned how to fix cars with my dad in the garage. I'm pretty normal other than having "junique" and being a HIGHLY skilled guy with a wrench. There just isnt enough good old fashioned fun anymore, now its all the terrible "rap" music, drugs, sex, gangs, fights for whatever, crime and pretty much nothing else anymore. I tell ya society is goin down the pipes like a rock off  a cliff, straight DOWN with no stops on the way.I say we just take our kids and move to the country where the influences of druglords and gangs dont exist, then we'll have normal kids that  had fun for a change, not shooting up the kwikie mart for money. the current state of the world says corruption, chaos and insanity are the order of the day for years and years to come. I hope I didnt offend anyone here.

[EZ]

I no where you are coming from Norm. The switch was a, well I guess you were'nt that bad, thing. My dad drank all his life so that should tell all. He was pretty ruff on me and my oldest sister. When I was in my late 20's, me and dad was sitting in a beer joint and I ask him way he was so ruff on me. He didnt answer me so I ask him again and his answer was, WELL YOUR STILL ALIVE, AINT YA. I didnt go any farther than that. The last ten yrs of his life was pretty good for me. Dam I miss him.
EZ

[Patty]

When our boys were very young, we decided it was high time to get them out of the city. We lived in a middle class neighborhood, but you couldn't even let them play in the back yard without watching them. And if you were in the back yard, you better have the front door locked, cause they'd rob your house while you were sitting out back! That was no way to live, and we knew it was definitely no place to raise kids.
We moved to the country and didn't allow the tv to be turned on until after supper, and I made sure I was home for the summers so they could stay home and play all day.Our boys really enjoyed all the animals we had. When we hatched ducklings in an incubator, our youngest son would lead them around to the mud puddles, they followed him all over the place! As the ducks got older, and not so attached to him, he spent his days trying to lasso them. I'm still not sure what his plans were if he ever caught one. We had pet pigs that slept in the doghouse, and the boys would ride them around the yard. Or they would take the dogs to the creek to go swimming.
My point is that parents need to learn that making huge amounts of money to buy the kids neat things isn't the answer, making sure the kids grow up in a healthy environment is the answer. Kinda like the childhoods you guys describe.

[oldsaw-addict]

Patty, You couldnt be any more right, $ is not the solution for making a happy childhood, a good fun and happy/healthy environment is the solution. I wont argue how important a healthy happy environment is for ANY kid under 17 years old. If you want to have stupid acting kids with a rap sheet that takes up 4 whole 7x24' storage units, then by all means live in the middle of the ghetto, BUT if you wanna have good kids that have a bright future free of illegal activities and drugs, come on out to the rural country side like we did. I miss the fresh air and lack of constant traffic on the road, the beuatiful scenery, and the friendly neighbors I had up in maine. If I had the choice, I'd have kept my life as it is, just NEVER moving from the most eastern state one can be in before the ocean.

What all children need is good friends, lots of fresh air to play in, a strong imagination, good parents that actually care about their kids ( these sorts of parents dont exist in my area of FL), a large area to play in, possibly a shooting range to visit, a junker truck to play around in the field with, and most important of ALL the things mentioned above, PROPER DISCIPLINE when needed. Trust me the kids I was in HS with are in DESPARATE need of many serious whoopins from there parents, whats worse is they most likely never even got the proper punishment when they deserved it if they even were punished, at all. It dont help much that the kids were mostly rich kids from a really stuck up neighborhood either, and I was a redneck kid going to school with them, I hated the way they all acted and treated rednecks then, If they was my kids the words of the day would be " I'm gonna open up a can of whoop *** on your rear boy! git back here, I'm talkin to you!"  You guys and myself included all lived in a better era when a parent could give a smack on the face for saying something obscene and not get arrested for simply giving their child some discipline when they needed it. now you can hardly send a kid to timeout without getting arrested for abuse! DanG government had to get into family matters, I wish they'd butt out and let parents do what needs to be done.

I'm sorry if I offended anyone with this post but its just how I feel.

[EZ]

I know my dad love me. One of his famous sayings to me was, I'm not your friend, I'm your teacher.
EZ