[DCD327]

We all know what kids nowdays are doing. Sitting in the house in front of a game or cell phone. But what did all of us "OLD TIMERS do before the invention of TV cable, cell phones and nintendo games? To the new generations, it must seem unfathomable.

We used to sled ride on dangerous steel runner sleds, We would have demolition derby races off the hill trying to crash each other. 1st one to make it to the bottom wins. OH, and dont forget to duck when you went under the barb wire cattle fence then just spin out BEFORE you crossed the road. And the reason we rode sleds in the cow pasture, cause it was too darn steep for anything else. A few tree's here and there,, no problem. I only ever remember hitting one. I clipped one and it spun me sideways, My legs got the next tree and i couldnt walk for 2 days,, but no problem, I still got to sit in the window, drink real Hersheys hot cocoa, and watch. The worst was wiping out and hitting a frozen cow pie. Them darn things hurt! They would leave a good black and blue mark. .
And ice skate and play hockey, , ( YES ! on a lake even,,)
Or grab a football and go out into 2 feet of snow in the yard at night and play smear the #####.. That meant if you had the football, you were odd man out and you better be able to run REALLY fast, cause everyone was trying to tackle you and smear and mash your face into the snow thus making "Gorilla cookies." ( Your facial imprint) .

And lets not forget, take the 1 old arctic cat snowmobile we had out on the lake and tow each other around on ice skates,,, 70 MPH. It was like water skiing,, ONLY BETTER! The guy on the skates hung on to the rear of the seat, and he steered. So if he crashed, the snowmobile went spinning like a top out of control. We also would tie an old 50s bubble car hood on the back of the arctic cat with a bull rope, and haul corn out several miles feeding the deer. And the other kids rode on the hood with the corn,, sharp edges and all.
Or dig huge caves in the snow piles and have snowball fights til midnight on Friday & Saturday night when it was zero out.

Have a huge blizzzard? To cold & bad to go to school ? COOL, we were outside all day. Especially cool if it was deer season. We may have only been 12 or 13, but hey,, grab Paps old Winchester 32spl, & Dads 1903 Springfield 30-06,, and head to the woods.. see ya after dark. And it was ALL the neighborhood boys. Winchester 94's were a big thing then. One friend had a 35 rem, one had a 32-20, one a 32-40 and one a 30-40 krag. Only the 30-06 and 30-40 had safety's. I still wonder how we never managed to spend daylight til dark marching around the woods and not murder anyone.

Our parents had to drag us in the house at night kicking and screaming. Why the hell would you want to be in the house with the old people and 1 fuzzy TV channel? On a good reception Saturday night, you might be able to watch HeeHaw with Dad and catch a glimpse of Nurse Good Body, that is, if Mom wasnt paying too much attention. But that was about it for inside recreation. .
Parents were worried about silly stuff like frostbite , not drugs. . I mean really? We were only outside soaking wet for about 12 hours unsuppervised. What was the problem? Considering it was the early 1970's, I dont know how we even survived?

What kinda old fashioned fun did you have?

 

[bwinters]

How did we survive.

 

[White Squirrel]

Only the "rich" kids had real sleds with runners and snowmobiles didn't exist where I was from. But, take an old truck or tractor inner tube and air that sucker up and it would FLY down a hill.

Of course, you had no control and it was very easy to go airborne. The hard part was landing! Never sure exactly how it was going to come back to earth.

And there was no cattle fence at the bottom of the hill, just a creek. That would stop you one way or the other!

Didn't have a rifle to deer hunt with, rifles were illegal in Indiana for deer hunting anyway. Only shotguns with slugs. Either the Mossberg 16ga bolt action (two shot mag and one in the chamber) or the 12ga break action single shot.

Snowball fights were the best, especially if you took the snowballs, dipped them in water and let them refreeze into ice balls.

How in the world did we survive into old age?

 

[greg5857]

One winter me and some buddies took an old pickup hood, flipped it upside down, and welded a 3rd seat out an old suburban onto it.
Then we pulled it around the farm with a 4x4, grand cheap fun!!

Greg

 

[Sin Nombre]

When me and my brothers grew up we did not know we were poor. BUT, and this is a big but, we were outside all the time, there was a pond on the farm for skating, woods for hunting, snowshoes to get us around and we could run the milking machines off the JD when the power was out which was often. Dinner was everyone at the table-when does that happen anymore? It was a good life and I miss it. Boy I sound old but you know what? I don't care!

 

[Bozz48]

I remember as a kid wishing it would snow so we could play in it. It did snow once when I was in the fourth grade, but I had mumps and Mom wouldn't let me go outside.

 

[blackhawknj]

I lived in Vermont 1956-1959, have never had such good sledding since, the high school was on top of a good sized hill. Flying saucers were introduced then-made from aluminum, not these cheap plastic ones today. I also recall a "ski trooper's" sled, a contraption with a wide base upturned at the front, sort of like a ski, with a seat on it, ropes to hold on and steer with. I was in Grammar School at the time, some of the "older" kids got to ride on a toboggan, IIRC one well heeled family had a two man bob sled. I have three Flexible Flyers today.

 

[DCD327]

Money wise, we were all poor as church mice White squirrel. The runner sleds we had were our Dad/s & Uncles from the early 50's. The ones with the really sharp rails and no edge or rear rail protectors. Same with the ice skates,, all hand me downs. Im certain we traded firewood we cut and split for the arctic cat. That was about the only way we had to make money for stuff in winter. It was old when we got it, but being farm kids, we got the old girl running.
And everyone in rural central PA had a deer rifle. If might be 100 years old,, but you just had to have a deer rifle. That was a Statewide national holiday back then. That meat was needed to the point, that skipping school to deer hunt was considered ok. And if you went to school in thr morning, and ask to be left out at noon to go deer hunting, they let you go.
I remember getting hit in the head one night with an "iceball". It knocked me out cold. That was considered bad form to use ice balls in a snowball fight, and the rest of the neighborhood kids pounded the crap outta the culprit. And the next day, he got it again from me. He never did that again.

We may have not have had any wealthy people in the farming community, but we were all rich,, and maybe just didnt realize it at the time. I wouldnt go back and change a thing.

 

[DCD327]

I lived in Vermont 1956-1959, have never had such good sledding since, the high school was on top of a good sized hill. Flying saucers were introduced then-made from aluminum, not these cheap plastic ones today. I also recall a "ski trooper's" sled, a contraption with a wide base upturned at the front, sort of like a ski, with a seat on it, ropes to hold on and steer with. I was in Grammar School at the time, some of the "older" kids got to ride on a toboggan, IIRC one well heeled family had a two man bob sled. I have three Flexible Flyers today.

We had one of those silver saucers too. I kinda forgot about it til you mentioned them. From what i remember, ya couldnt steer it for crap and we didnt use it much. An old 50's Chevy truck hood was way more fun. Couldnt steer it either, but at least you had lottsa company when ya crashed.
But we also had and old wooded tobogon that would seat 4 or 5 kids. And you could steer it pretty good if everyone leaned together the right way. But, like the truck hood, it was a long heavy drag to the top of the hill. Both were hand me down stuff from Grams attic on the farm.
We did get new roll up plastic tobogans for Christmas one year. I think all the neigbor hood parents got in cahoots, cause it seemed like everyone had one. they worked great in the deep snow. But get a good hard freeze on with an icy crust, or get the sled run hard packed with the tobogans, and the runner sled came out. With the 4 and 500 foot drops off the roughly 1600 foot elevation hills around here, you could fly of the hills. Most good sledding runs here were probably close to 3 or 400 yards long, and pretty steep.

 

[Maddmax]

Back in the late 50's and 60's we would ride on the drawbar on the back of the tractor (NO side fenders and open wheels ). Drove tractors and farm equipment as soon as we were big enough to reach the peddles. Had snow forts and snowball fights. Used an old truck hood for a sled or over inflated tractor tubes. Ice skated on the ponds. Went ice fishing every chance we'd get. Had tree houses far enough off the ground the fall would have probably killed some one. Dirt clod fights and played war. Rope swing that went out over the river. Road our bikes everywhere. ...life was great and we all survived.

 

[brianinpa]

I look at what kids do today when it snows and I am glad to say I grew up in the 70's when it was fun!

 

[2ffat]

I remember when I was 7 and in the hospital to have my tonsils out. They wheeled in a girl about my age on a gurney. Her head was split open and blood was everywhere. She later died from those injuries. She had ridden a sled down our favorite sledding hill. She went so fast, the sled slid across the road next to the hill and hit a tree. We never went back to that hill. From then on was pulled our sleds and toboggans on the flat ground.

 

[DDelambre]

I was typically on two wheels riding around the neighborhood and school close by from sun up to sun down. If not it was kickball, baseball, basketball, climbing trees, playing in the mud, making forts etc. I was only allowed one hour of TV or Nintendo so I was outside the rest of the time, bht only after my homework was done! This was the late eighties/early nineties.

 

[Maser]

Oh how I used to love snowboarding! Odd that I did because I hate being cold! It never snowed in my hometown or in the town I'm in now so it was an all day event driving to the snow and then back.

 

[Planeguy]

My 3 years in Michigan as a kid ruined me. If I never saw snow again I'd be fine with that.

My dog just absolutely loves it though.

 

[Jlandis003]

We used to play with these all the time! (Never did poke our eye out!)

 

[grandpabear]

I remember when I was a kid, more than once I shoveled the whole backyard into a pile to make a fort. I've even done it for my kids when they were little. I love to shovel snow.

 

[Maddmax]

My 3 years in Michigan as a kid ruined me. If I never saw snow again I'd be fine with that.

My dog just absolutely loves it though.

Best thing about winter, NO BUGS !!!

 

[Sundown Thursday]

I grew up on a huge saltwater inlet, The Great Salt Pond in southern Rhode Island. We fished, dug quahogs, piss clams and raided oyster beds in the summer.

Sailing local built sailboats on the pond.

We also had skiffs and work boats with outboards we could bull rake quahogs from, aquaplane and water ski.

Eeling through the salt water ice in the winter and getting a penny apiece from the old Italian ladies.

Skip-jacking off the boatyard docks.

Duck hunting in the Fall in the marshes was a must for everyone child and adult.

Biking to the potato fields with single shot .22 across the handlebars and if and when a cop saw us the only thing he would say would be "be careful boys."

Walking the mile to school with K - 12 kids from the neighborhood.

Mowing a widow lady's lawn because we were expected to. Cookies and milk of lemonade was about all we expected. Shoveled her walk and driveway in the winter too.

Teacher's that could give you a whack if you got too far out of line and never tell your parents that it happened!

Parades celebrating the holidays down the Main Street with everybody in town either marching or watching! The thought still brings a chill of excitement.

A simpler time and the only stress was at the end of the school year wondering if you were going to pass to the next grade or 'stay back'! Summer schools didn't show up until I was in high school.

The obligation of going in the service of your country made you a local hero when you came home on your first leave!

Awesome! Glad I lived in those days!

 

[DCD327]

I grew up on a huge saltwater inlet, The Great Salt Pond in southern Rhode Island. We fished, dug quahogs, piss clams and raided oyster beds in the summer.

Sailing local built sailboats on the pond.

We also had skiffs and work boats with outboards we could bull rake quahogs from, aquaplane and water ski.

Eeling through the salt water ice in the winter and getting a penny apiece from the old Italian ladies.

Skip-jacking off the boatyard docks.

Duck hunting in the Fall in the marshes was a must for everyone child and adult.

Biking to the potato fields with single shot .22 across the handlebars and if and when a cop saw us the only thing he would say would be "be careful boys."

Walking the mile to school with K - 12 kids from the neighborhood.

Mowing a widow lady's lawn because we were expected to. Cookies and milk of lemonade was about all we expected. Shoveled her walk and driveway in the winter too.

Teacher's that could give you a whack if you got too far out of line and never tell your parents that it happened!

Parades celebrating the holidays down the Main Street with everybody in town either marching or watching! The thought still brings a chill of excitement.

A simpler time and the only stress was at the end of the school year wondering if you were going to pass to the next grade or 'stay back'! Summer schools didn't show up until I was in high school.

The obligation of going in the service of your country made you a local hero when you came home on your first leave!

Awesome! Glad I lived in those days!

Sounds like you had fun year round too.
but educate me,
What exactly is "Eeling" and what were the old italinan women doing with them?
I could guess, but I hate to assume.