Just did make the cut. Born in '79.
Ive lived in the country all my life. We stayed outside until it was nearly dark. Went in only to eat then back out again. My papaw drove a dump truck for the police jury and would bring home a load of dirt for us kids. "The Dirt Pile" was the place to be.
Matchbox and Hotwheels, GI Joe and He Man.
Fished with small limbs we cut and any kind of string we could come up with, usually crochet yarn. Dug our own worms. Got in trouble a few times for stealing fish hooks from my uncles or papaw. We would mostly go to the creek with crochet yarn and some ham to try to catch us some crawfish.
Our bikes were our means of transportation, if they broke down we walked, just not as far.
Our summer attire was a pair of shorts. No shirt, no shoes. Unless we were going to town.
Spent most of our days in the woods. There were no posted signs and few private property signs. We didnt go into other peoples yards. Pine cones were grenades and sticks were guns.
I got a hatchet for Christmas one year and no tree was safe. We built forts outta the trees we cut down. Most of the time we didnt even have anything to tie the trees with. Just used friction and luck. We never had any nails.
One year for my birthday I got an ammo can and a frog gig. Toted both, along with my BB gun and hatchet, everytime I went in the woods. Usually the ammo can contained some beef jerky, string, a few rocks and BBs.
My most prized possessions were my BB gun, my hatchet and a hook from a chain tied to a string.
I got my first Daisy BB gun when I was to young to even **** the thing. Had to put the barrel on my foot and push down on the lever.
We did have an Atari, but the adults played it and only had a few games for it.
We never had cable. Only time I would get to watch cable was on the rare vacation we got to go on. I didnt get satellite TV until I was grown and had a place of my own. We had an A/C unit, but never used it. We used an attic fan.
Our boat was a 15 foot aluminum Grumann canoe. The motor was us, using paddles. I was paddling a canoe before I could tie my own shoes.
Discipline was dished out with a fly swatter, leather belt, crepe myrtle limb, or my mamaws favorite, a peach tree switch. Every bit 10 foot long. That dang peach tree disciplined more kids than the Department of Corrections. Dogs too.
Our first go kart was a death trap with a 5 horse lawnmower engine. No throttle, no brakes. Dad would crank the thing and it would go. To stop we would have to reach back and find the kill switch.
I have been shooting guns nearly as long as I could walk. I have over a dozen. None have ever shot anyone. My dad had a loaded pistol under the bed and long guns standing in closets when I was growing up. None of those ever shot anyone either. We didnt play with real guns, we were taught what they were and we knew what they were for. Our toy guns didnt have orange plastic caps on the end of the barrels. We were smart enough to know the difference, even so, we didnt put toy guns to our head and pull the triggers anyway. Wouldnt even point a toy gun at someone unless we were playing and never dreamed of pointing one a cop!
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