Born 1930 - 1979

[CajunChristian]

Born summer of '53. I remember collecting coke bottles for money, we got 1 cent each, big bucks. 5 kids in the family, there was no money. We grew up poor and didn't know it. I was the second son, got all my big brothers hand me downs, didn't grow up with a complex, imagine that. I remember the butt whoopins. If we wanted something, we had to earn it. Killed my first duck at the ripe old age of 6. Had my own big bad .410 break barrel. That gun was defective, it never killed anyone.
Had my own used car paid for before I had a license. Parents divorced when I was 14, I went to school till 3 then flipped burgers at Burger Chef till 10:30 every night except Sunday, ran home, did homework and got ready for tomorrow. We didn't have time to get into much trouble. Had at least 2 jobs, sometimes 3 jobs since I got married at 18, in 1971. Never took a handout from anyone, I always figured I was responsible for me. Raised 2 daughters and a granddaughter. Oh, still with the same wonderful girl I married over 40 years ago, my how time flies when you're having fun. Wouldn't trade my life experiences for anything. I sure wouldn't want to be a teenager in today's world.
D

[Backwards Kid's Mom]

Loved reading these again...country girl of 71 here. A few of my memories: making bows and arrows out of switch cane, tire swings, stealing plums off my neighbors tree, making clubhouses in the woods out of whatever you could find, BB guns and shooting every bird, realizing you stepped in the sticker patch in bare feet, staying outside until mom rang the iron bell, catching minnows and crawfish in the ditch, riding bikes in the dirt, never ever rolling your eyes at the parents, planting gardens which needed picking and weeding, shucking corn and snapping beans, selling raffle tickets for school next to the store to strangers all alone, push mowing the grass, playing tackle football and baseball with no helmets with the boys, mom and dad having loaded pistols hanging on each bedpost, slip n slides out of plastic and dish soap, spending hours raking leaves in a huge pile just to jump in them, Banty roosters are mean, electric fences hurt, daddy's belt hurt worse, a homemade cake and tub of cheap of ice cream made the best birthdays ......I could go on forever. What a great time to live!

[MathGeek]

Originally Posted by Backwards Kid's Mom

Loved reading these again...country girl of 71 here. A few of my memories: making bows and arrows out of switch cane, tire swings, stealing plums off my neighbors tree, making clubhouses in the woods out of whatever you could find, BB guns and shooting every bird, realizing you stepped in the sticker patch in bare feet, staying outside until mom rang the iron bell, catching minnows and crawfish in the ditch, riding bikes in the dirt, never ever rolling your eyes at the parents, planting gardens which needed picking and weeding, shucking corn and snapping beans, selling raffle tickets for school next to the store to strangers all alone, push mowing the grass, playing tackle football and baseball with no helmets with the boys, mom and dad having loaded pistols hanging on each bedpost, slip n slides out of plastic and dish soap, spending hours raking leaves in a huge pile just to jump in them, Banty roosters are mean, electric fences hurt, daddy's belt hurt worse, a homemade cake and tub of cheap of ice cream made the best birthdays ......I could go on forever. What a great time to live!

Thanks for the post, it touched my heart.

[jetty jumper]

'67

Those were the days

[tboy]

Loving this thread.

1972 here, went to my nanny's in Church Point for a week and my cousins set me up. Asked me to go inside during the middle of the day for something or other. My nanny came around the corner, saw me, looked at me like I was crazy, asked if it was raining outside. I said no ma'am, she said I didn't think so, get your @$$ back out there.

[C-Bass2mouth]

1990. My first cell phone didn't have a camera... that's all I got..lol

[simplepeddler]

64 here........I remember not being able to touch the "Body of Christ" in chuch an having to kneel and stick you tounge out, and the alter boy held a gold dish under you chin in case you and the padre missed the timing......

my dad had a gas station, I remember pumping (no self serv)gas before and after school, eating the Wendesday night dinner after cadachisim with the men at the mechanic shop

I remember having to take tractors to get to the hunting camp because ATV's where non existant......

I remember bread bags on our feet to try and stay warm on the stand......

I remember riding bikes......on the shoulder of I-10..........to get to our duck holes

[mriguy]

1970, drank from the hose, played baseball and football every day. Mom wasn't worried when I rode my bike all over the big town of Mamou. Hunted the abandoned RR tracks and killed everything that moved.

[Elbert Chamblee]

1953-rode a bike to school till I bought a 1966 Honda Super 90 at 14 yrs old. I guess I was lucky to survive that bike. First outboard was a 7.5 firestone or scott at water. Moved up big time with a 14' Yellowjacket wooden boat and a 25 hp 4 cyl Wizard with a slatted wooden floor. Remember going to mill creek and catching all the white perch you wanted till you ran out of shiners. Motor was always hard to crank and I had to hang on to Dads belt to let him crank the motor in gear and take off. Remember going to the beach in a 1958 ford wagon with Dad and my buddies in the neighbor hood and having some good times.
A gas price war off Lucas road in Beaumont and the Fiska station price was .19 cents a gallon.
Bought my first boat a 66 fleetform 16' with a 40 evinrude. $800. at 15 yrs old with grass cutting money. Went to work big time at Penningtons hamburger stand at .75 cents an hour. Would go to the bank on Friday and Saturday nights after closing with $1200 to $1500 on me on my Honda s90.

[Gerenemo]

Born in 1961, the 70's were great for Duck Hunters and Fishermen. I remember the 100 point system for ducks (10 duck limit if you shot 10 pointers and Pintails were 10 point ducks). Pirogues only for duck hunting (Mud boats were non existant), leased 640 acres in prime brackish water marsh for $80 (That's right Eighty Dollars a year) to Duck hunt, Fish, Frog, Trap, Deer Hunt, Gator Hunt and place a camp. McKenzies Bakery, K&B Drug Store, Schwegman's sold sporting goods, Nash Roberts and Hurricane Betsy.

[BuckingFastard]

http://youtu.be/xebEj0rV6m0?t=21s

[cajun bill]

Really enjoyed reading these memories of long ago. Let's see.......Saturday matinees for twelve cents, cokes for six cents in the machine that kept them semi-submersed in water to cool them, attic fans instead of air conditioners (but we still had to cover up at night), floor furnaces to keep us warm on a winter night (and don't make the mistake of walking on the grill on your way to the bathroom at night or your feet would carry the grill marks for a week), many whoopings with my dad's very large belt, our first TV was the size of a small sofa with a 9 inch screen (I was the remote control for my dad watching the Friday night fights), killing enough robins with my Red Ryder BB gun for a gumbo, catching 3 inch brim caught in the coulee out back (which my mom would then fry up to humor me), wax bottles of kool-aid that we would bite the top off to open them, Black Molly firecrackers, cutting lawns for spending money with a real "push mower", one where the wheels made the blades turn, marble games with my favorite "tar", learning to water ski behind a 14 ft. wooden hull powered by a 35 green/white Merc, etc.

[homerun]

How about trucks with the triangle windows on the doors that would force a big breeze in the truck when opened? that was because using air conditioning used to much gas????

[Reefman]

I remember building a go-cart with foot steering and foot brakes. We had no motor, however when dad would leave for work we would take the 4hp briggs and straton engine off his lawn mower and slap it on the go cart. Used a nylon string attached to the throttle for the accelerator. We really taxed our Guardian Angels with that go cart! Had to be sure to stick it back on before he returned for the day. He never could figure out why that lawn mower constantly needed repairs to the engine.

[marty f]

Hell I grew up in the Lake Tahoe area, in the bed of a pickup truck was the only way we got around. Born in 68, Going over Donner Pass and Mt Rose in the winter in the bed of a truck, 2 shirts long under ware and thick coat and 2/3 blankets............ Life was good in them there hills!! oh yeah swimming in Lake Tahoe, didn't matter if it was AUG that water was always ICE COLD! Hell I remember, as stated "being gone all day" we would go down to the Truckie River and hang out with the bums, its adult campin!! then we would go to our favorite spot to swing off a rope into the river, and swim like hell up river at an angle to get back to the rope, cause if you missed the opening you had to get out down river then hike back up to the rope, and or course we all had on our life vest.............NOT!! WTH was that? rreally!!

this was dads truck
(not original pic but this was it to a T, snow and all)

[netmkr]

and don't forget about the slingshots and china-ball fights

[netmkr]

Thanks pop stix we all remember