# dont be scared..show your age



## jamesngalveston

I am 60...I grew up with 3 channels of tv, a rotary phone and a attic fan.
I watched sky king, (penny)...real mccoys, gunsmoke and the rifleman.
I remember the big huge radios...
I remember bakelite.
I remember donna reed/ my three stones, and lassie.


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## bkisel

69
No TV. Radio was king. Remember Amos and Andy, Dragnet, Jack Benny and the Lone Ranger.
TV... Winky Dink. Hasn't been anything worth watching since that show went off the air.





Ice cream cup covers with Hopalong Cassidy et al.
Fruit box, 2x4 and skates made a scooter.
Skully/Skelly season, top season, Yoyo season, stickball seaseon, etc
Summers in cottage in CT... BB guns, inner tubes, hiking the brook, primitive archery, Schwinn bicycles, etc.

Wheff, my head hurts from all this remembering.





[ame="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xt2u1g_a-complete-winky-dink-show-from-the-1950s_shortfilms"]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xt2u1g_a-complete-winky-dink-show-from-the-1950s_shortfilms[/ame]


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## Hokapsig

52

Remembering hearing the KIAs and MIAs in a place called Viet Nam on the news, having a black and white TV and feeling like we were rich when we got a color floor model TV. Watching studio wrestling on Friday nights before the Brady bunch and the Partridge Family came on and being allowed to stay up late enough to watch Love American Style. Not seeing a computer until being a senior in high school and not being able to touch one until a sophomore in college. In Pittsburgh we ate at Winkys (because they were cheap), went to McDonalds for the first time on vacation in Erie (McDonalds had yellow, white and red straws and cost more than Winky's). I remember being called into the All Purpose room in third grade to watch a small black and white TV show us some guy walking on the moon (at the time, I was not impressed)


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## jamesngalveston

omg, i remember amos and andy, and red skeleton...i forgot in my old age.


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## Rocky

I turned 71 at the end of May this year. I enjoy this song by the Stattler Brothers and hope that you will too. I remember each and every one of the things they sing about, including wearing knickers to school!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXtR-CaK6p4[/ame]


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## Runningwolf

James I forgot all about the Real McCoys, we watched them all the time. At 57, Flipper, Gentle Ben, Highway Patrol, Sea Hunt, Patty Duke, Captain Kangaroo, Lost in Space. We had a separate tuner so you could get more than one UHF channel. Transister radio, tidally winks, jacks, pick up sticks, tinker toys and hop scotch. Taking hunting rifles to school for show and tell, playing war at recess and telling other kids you were going to kill them actually meant you might wrestle. Carrying a jack knife to school meant your might be a Boy Scout but it was very normal to have one.
Getting paddled or in trouble at school meant you were sick to your stomach the rest of the day knowing what was going to happen when Dad got home. Oh the list goes on...


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## Runningwolf

...and the POW bracelets people wore during the Viet Nam war and they weren't plastic.


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## winointraining

I'll be 62 in Feb, but remember talking to your girlfriend on the wall phone in the kitchen, roller derby, Quickdraw Mc Graw, Yogi Bear, Ruff and Reddy. I thought Annette Funicello was hot, she was beautiful in mouse ears!!


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## Hokapsig

Daktari with Cheetah the chimp, watching Bobby Kennedy's body come back via train, the Pirates moving into 3 Rivers, hearing about a concert in NY and seeing a helicopter view of woodstock, getting an autograph from Frenchy Fuqua of the 72 Steelers as my dad worked with his girlfriend. Having only 2, 4, 11 and 13 (and 52 on a good day) on the TV (but we had to put aluminum foil on the antenae). Having mom not know if they would make the $200 mortgage payment unless dad worked overtime....


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## Arne

Can't forget I love Lucy and the Honeymooners. Big TV with a little picture, RCA victor, and til I was 5 the outhouse. Thinking back, I wonder how much fun that was on a nite like tonite. Last time out it was 2 below and going down. Can you stick to a wood outhouse seat?? LOL, Arne.

Almost forgot, do you remember the Ed Sullivan show and the nite the Beetles showed up in the States??


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## sour_grapes

50. Just barely born when JFK was killed, and don't remember Bobby or MLKs assassinations, but remember Nixon being elected, Viet Nam (including POW bracelets, as others have mentioned), the British Invasion, the moon landing, My Lai, George Wallace's shooting, Watergate, Nixon resigning, Hurricane Agnes, Elvis dying, eating my fill of welfare cheese, Gilligan's Island, the Brady Bunch, the Partridge Family, Love, American Style, Laugh-In, The Smothers Brothers, (all in prime time), bars and restaurants that advertised "Air Conditioning" in letters resembling ice cubes, "Unsafe at Any Speed," the fall of Saigon, SALT, Midgetman, Whip Inflation Now.... The list goes on!


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## rob

As of now the average age is 59.8


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## iVivid

I'll bring it down a bit; 42...
I remember my Dad's Armstrong Sidley Sapphire, and carless days in the fuel shortage.
B&W TV for sure; (not much of a tv fan here).
Buying bread and milk for small coins from the dairy.
Getting 10 lollies for 1 cent! WOW!


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## Fabiola

Here 46, I from Justin Bieber's generation


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## GaDawg

I'm 66 I lived through the 60's so I don't remember anything


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## wpt-me

I am just a little older than Rocky, i can remember the outhouse in winter real well. How about shoveling out the clotheslines in the
winter. Remember the first TV show, it was Big Top on Sunday night.


Bill


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## vernsgal

52, lost in space, partridge family, batman and robin,Starsky and Hutch. And I thought Erik Estrada on Chips was hot (until Welcome Back Kotter, then John Travolta won my heart).I was 10 when we got our 1st colored tv.And had to walk to school.lol


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## jpike01

My list would include a good bit of what has been posted plus Tarzan.
51


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## vernsgal

jpike01 said:


> My list would include a good bit of what has been posted plus Tarzan.
> 51



with Johnny!


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## seth8530

Wow, I must be the youngest fella on this forum by nearly 40 years lol.


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## jamesngalveston

dang, i thought annette funicello was hot too.
and gigi, and doris day...
wow you guys bring back lots of memories.
seth....imagine, if you buy some really good port and keep it till you 60 how much it would be worth, and how good it would be.


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## jamesngalveston

we could carry a pocket knive to school, but no switch blades..
and when in high school i kept my shotgun and my 308 in my truck gun rack...
be arrested for both now. the world has become a soft society.


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## olusteebus

69. We had outhouses at home and school when I first started school.


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## Fabiola

Thank you guys for sharing those memories, some day the present will be something like a time capsule, this reminds me when my son was 8 yrs. old (15 years ago) we were in a coffee shop in Albuquerque that displays some antiques, among them one of those old Corona typewriters, then my son says: "Look mom, those use to be the old printers", I laughed but then I realized he didn't have another way to described it, since he had never seen a typewriter before...


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## Fabiola

46 years old, grew up in a farm in Mexico, with an outhouse, no electricity, in the winter every child used to take a wood log to school to heat the classroom, we spent nights gathering in other houses playing cards under an oil lamp, and later watching b/w cartoons at the only neighbor house with electricity and tv. We spent days doing farm chores, making cheese, chorizo, sausage, canning, drying meat, making our cleaning supplies, soap, candles, etc. (which I still do), when I was 10 we moved to the city to attend school and college and I used to watch American shows translated to Spanish: Hawaii 5-0, Magnum PI, Bonanza, Dukes of Hazard, Mission Impossible, Fantasy Island, Beretta, Kojak, and my favorite, Knight Rider...


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## bkisel

Do any of you remember the cards that used to come in Nabisco Shredded Wheat? They'd have all kinds of neat stuff on them like how to make a lean to shelter and such.


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## reefman

Wow, great thread. 66, going on 18.
For me, growing up in the Philadelphia area, it was Willy the Worm, Sally Starr Show, Howdy Doody show, Loved Micky Mouse Club, except on Thursdays.
I also rember the Race Riots in Phila. in the mid 60's. I was a student at Temple University, took the Red Arrow Trolley, to 69th street, and then the Elevated train, and the Broad street subway to the Temple Campus.


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## jamesngalveston

we had trolleys also when i was a kid...could go all day and anywhere for a dime, and the movie theater was 10 cents with two dr pepper bottles.
so for 35 cent i could have movie,bus,eats,drink....


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## Runningwolf

My Favorite Martian, Rin Tin Tin and there was another show I think Sky King. Twiggy, Tiny Tim, Rowan & Martin. Adam 12, Man from Uncle, Gomer Pyle, My Mother the Car, and Rat Patrol. When we were much younger we never played army, we played cowboys and Indians (or yeah F-Troop).


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## Simpsini

Only 62. I grew up a military brat. Lived in Germany in the late 50’s. Had to boil our drinking water. I remember a lot of war damage to the cities.. Lived in Pittsburgh in the early 60’s and saw my first baseball game .. the Pirates with Roberto Clemente against the Milwaukee Braves. In college it was frat parties & gas was 25 cents a gallon. I’m always amazed at how far we’ve come in the last 62 years.


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## cimbaliw

At age 52 one of my earliest memories is the Beatles on TV, maybe Ed Sullivan. I just remember my Father saying "They need a haircut." Most of my early childhood memories revolve around pop music. I remember so many great albums coming into the house; Johnny Cash Live at Folsum Prison, Rolling Stone's Hot Rocks, Alice Cooper Killer, Zeppelin II, The Beatles White Album. Herb Albert's Whipped Cream. Man, that was a fertile decade for some great music. 

Anyone for a bowl of Quisp or Quake?
Bill C.


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## olusteebus

Fabiola said:


> 46 years old, grew up in a farm in Mexico, with an outhouse, no electricity, in the winter every child used to take a wood log to school to heat the classroom, we spent nights gathering in other houses playing cards under an oil lamp, and later watching b/w cartoons at the only neighbor house with electricity and tv. We spent days doing farm chores, making cheese, chorizo, sausage, canning, drying meat, making our cleaning supplies, soap, candles, etc. (which I still do), when I was 10 we moved to the city to attend school and college and I used to watch American shows translated to Spanish: Hawaii 5-0, Magnum PI, Bonanza, Dukes of Hazard, Mission Impossible, Fantasy Island, Beretta, Kojak, and my favorite, Knight Rider...



That was pretty much like our parents or grandparents lived during the depression. I am sure you have some great memories of that and you have come a long way.


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## s0615353

I'm 26, and it seems like myself and Seth are the two youngest members here. I remember I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, The Andy Griffith Show, The Love Boat, and Match Game from reruns on TV Land. It really gives you an appreciation for what TV was like before everything became reality TV shows.


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## Fabiola

cimbaliw said:


> At age 52 one of my earliest memories is the Beatles on TV, maybe Ed Sullivan. I just remember my Father saying "They need a haircut." Most of my early childhood memories revolve around pop music. I remember so many great albums coming into the house; Johnny Cash Live at Folsum Prison, Rolling Stone's Hot Rocks, Alice Cooper Killer, Zeppelin II, The Beatles White Album. Herb Albert's Whipped Cream. Man, that was a fertile decade for some great music.
> 
> Anyone for a bowl of Quisp or Quake?
> Bill C.



I went to every single concert of these rock bands, I still have all my vinyl records, concert tickets and concert shirts...


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## sour_grapes

Thanks, Seth. We love you, too. (Sotto voce: "Goldurn whippersnapper!")


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## seth8530

jamesngalveston said:


> dang, i thought annette funicello was hot too.
> and gigi, and doris day...
> wow you guys bring back lots of memories.
> seth....imagine, if you buy some really good port and keep it till you 60 how much it would be worth, and how good it would be.



Now, that is not a bad investment plan, buy up maybe 7 cases of an excellent vintage port from an important year and then sit on it until I am about to die or ready to retire ( most likely the same)... Or perhaps I would just drink them to spite the port collectors.



sour_grapes said:


> Thanks, Seth. We love you, too. (Sotto voce: "Goldurn whippersnapper!")



Rofl, if I only knew what Sotto was... must be some game yall old folks play. (;


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## the_rayway

Lol, I'm a few years ahead of the 'whippersnappers', at 31.

I remember having a party line on our rotary phone, wood stove heat, Transformers, Thundercats, and Dallas on TV. Walking 'downtown' with Dad in our bare feet to go to the hardware store. Getting homemade chocolates and toffees for Halloween, and they were the most coveted items to get. Summers on the farm swimming naked in the river and jumping out of the hayloft; and the only check-in requirement was to come home in time for bed.


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## reefman

Rayway
You're still younger than my kids!..by alot!


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## geek

Just turned 47 yesterday...


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## Rocky

Ray, I have socks that are older than you!

A couple people have touched on the price of movies. I remember when it was 17 cents at the Rowland Theatre in Wilkinsburg, PA for 2 feature movies, two shorts and 18 cartoons. We would get 50 cents from our parents, 17 for the movie, 20 for streetcar fare and 13 for food. Of course, we would "thumb" into Wilkinsburg and save the 20 cents for carfare. There was an Isaly's right next to the theatre and a banana split was 20 cents! Yummo!

I also remember listening to a number of radio shows that became TV shows, e.g. _Dragnet, Sky King, The Lone Ranger, Superman, The Shadow_ (Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of man? The Shadow knows.) Looking back, I think that radio shows were great because we had to conjure in out minds what a person looked like and what was happening on the show. TV has us just lie back like the couch potatoes we are and it pours the show over us.

Does anyone remember "Rocky King, Detective" starring Roscoe Karns which was on Sunday night? ("Yes, Mabel, the case is closed and I'm coming home. Yes, we got him....") The vivid memory that I have of that show is that he used a _cap gun_ as his service revolver. You could actually see the roll of spent caps coming out the top when he fired it. He also had the "misfires" that we all suffered so it was something like, "Bang, bang, click, bang, click, click, bang."

Speaking of guns used in movies at the time, it always amazed me the number of shots that one could get from a "six shooter" without reloading. And, in an early manifestation of Murphy's Law, they only ran out of ammo at the worst possible time. And then, the guy would throw the gun at his pursuer and run. Why not keep the gun, run and try to reload as you ran or when you put some distance between you and the pursuer?! That always baffled me.

The major event of my early childhood was World War II so war movies were my favorites. I grew up thinking that the Japanese and Germans were really nasty people and the Italians were just "misled" by Mussolini. As a matter of fact, I did not even realize that the Italians were involved in the war until the early 1950's when a young classmate from England (his father worked for Westinghouse and they were in the Country for a three year assignment) told me that, "Every night, _your_ bombers would come over and bomb us." I remember thinking, 'why was the US bombing England?' Being of Italian decent, our parents neglected to tell us the whole story about the war. The movies kind of bore out that the Italians were deep down, good people just looking for somewhere to surrender. As the years have gone by, we have come to realize (through Hollywood) that everyone was misled by either Hitler, Tojo or Mussolini and the whole thing could have been avoided had we just better understood one another.


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## chrisjw

57. Too young to go to Woodstock but I certainly remember the day JFK was killed, and I remember seeing RFK campaigning for senator of NY on the bandstand in our small local park. Did anyone mention the Andy Griffith Show or **** Van Dyke?

I remember going out to play and organizing baseball, basketball, and football games without adult supervision. What a concept! And we used to dig a network of tunnels in big mounds of snow. We had lots of snow in upstate NY back then. Fun ended when mom blew the whistle. Time to go home where we were forced to eat overcooked carrots, or canned peas, or beets, and that really bad chipped beef on toast. Seemed like we had chipped beef at least once a week. Other than that, she was a great cook. Miss her much as well as my father who passed away a couple of weeks ago at 88. Love and miss them both.

updated: but now we live in the age where a person's name gets asterisked out. glad that my first name is not **** but writing "The Richard Van Dyke Show" is just wrong.


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## Elmer

I am older than some of you, younger than most.

I am 39.
40 in 4 months.
I look 10 years younger than I actually am, but act 10 years older (sacrificed my childhood for a good cause).

I refuse to tell anyone in my office my age or my birthday, there for everyone in the office (average age is late 40s) treats me like I am 25 even though I have been there for 12 years!


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## jamesngalveston

I am 60 and look every bit of it...rode hard put away wet...bunch of times.
that dont sound good...ive had share of good times thats is true.
I feel 40 and act 20.....and refuse to date a woman over 40....
It has been a glorious 60 years and would not change any part of it.


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## Boatboy24

44 and can't believe I've made it this far!!!


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## jamesngalveston

me either...boat boy
once when guiding a duck hunt my shooter set off his 12 guage close enough to bristle my hair......i removed him form my hunters list...


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## sour_grapes

jamesngalveston said:


> me either...boat boy
> once when guiding a duck hunt my shooter set off his 12 guage close enough to bristle my hair......i removed him form my hunters list...



Was it  Dlck Cheney?


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## Snafflebit

43 years old. I grew up watching Sesame Street, and still watch it occasionally to brush up on my alphabet.


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## jamesngalveston

ok snafflekid...your phone has the alphabet....and you can make big numbers too......lol


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## bakervinyard

57
Vacations were taking the bus to the beach. We had a family dinner every night and you weren't late or else. Big Sunday lunch and the whole family watched Lassie. Played with Matchbox cars. Pretended we were in the army and we all had toy guns. Stick ball in the street. Camping in the backyard, then sneaking out in the night to try a cigarette, or try smoking a pipe. Went to Catholic grade school and you better be at the 8:00 a.m. Mass and sit with your class. I could go on and on. Thanks James for reminding me of my childhood. Bakervinyard


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## Fordguy

Ray mentioned the party line on the telephone, my oh my we had some fun with that one.
53 years old here.
My dad always said "the older you get, the faster time goes".
Now that I am at that age, it really seems true. 
Seems like years don't even matter anymore, seasons just change.


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## jpike01

Oh, and The Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights.


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## jamesngalveston

yes yes yes....i learned a lot by that...i love tinker bell...lol


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## GaDawg

"swimming naked in the river"...In Georgia we called that skinny dipping


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## Rodnboro

52. Watching Gentle Ben, Flipper, Daniel Boone The Flip Wilson Show, Laugh In, The Jackie Gleason Show. Dirt roads inside the city limits, chasing the mosquito spraying truck and playing in the fog. (So that's what's wrong with me?)


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## tonyt

60 and I remember Fallout Shelters and duck and cover drills. But I cant remember what I had for lunch today.


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## Pumpkinman

47 this month, grew up in a very strict Sicilian family. I remember watching the Wonderful world of Disney (it is one of our favorite places now), playing with match boxes and baseball with all of the neighborhood kids on a makeshift baseball field in a backyard, riding our ten speeds past the "end if the road", that was the limit Mom put on us...lol...we would sneak away and ride all over town, If Mom or Dad called, you better high tail it home fast! Dinner every night together as a family, something that I still try to do with my kids.
Our town was and still is very small, maybe 1000 people including cats and dogs, everyone knew everyone else, parents all went to school together, very predominant Italian and Irish town in upstate NY, at one point there were approx. 120 Uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents living in or near that town, holidays were a blast!


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## jamesngalveston

dang i forgot about chasing the mosquito spray trucks...


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## Fabiola

Pumpkinman said:


> 47 this month, grew up in a very strict Sicilian family. I remember watching the Wonderful world of Disney (it is one of our favorite places now), playing with match boxes and baseball with all of the neighborhood kids on a makeshift baseball field in a backyard, riding our ten speeds past the "end if the road", that was the limit Mom put on us...lol...we would sneak away and ride all over town, If Mom or Dad called, you better high tail it home fast! Dinner every night together as a family, something that I still try to do with my kids.
> Our town was and still is very small, maybe 1000 people including cats and dogs, everyone knew everyone else, parents all went to school together, very predominant Italian and Irish town in upstate NY, at one point there were approx. 120 Uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents living in or near that town, holidays were a blast!



So cool, sound like my home town, where everyone is related to everyone...


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## tonyt

Elmer said:


> I am older than some of you, younger than most.
> 
> I am 39.
> 40 in 4 months.
> I look 10 years younger than I actually am, but act 10 years older (sacrificed my childhood for a good cause).
> 
> I refuse to tell anyone in my office my age or my birthday, there for everyone in the office (average age is late 40s) treats me like I am 25 even though I have been there for 12 years!


that sounds like the opening paragraph of a good novel.


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## Fabiola

jamesngalveston said:


> dang i forgot about chasing the mosquito spray trucks...



LOL mosquito spray trucks? I never seen one, in Mexico we used to chase the gas truck on Tuesdays, they were trucks delivering and exchanging propane gas tanks for homes, and everyone knew the truck was around because they played "La cucaracha" with their horns, a popular song, they are still around but not much since everybody uses natural gas...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo6WvPrOxZQ


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## Skycrestfarm

I remember running behind the Mosquito spray truck... Got my dose of DDT! 55 years old for me!


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## novalou

Born in the 70s, raised in the 80s.

A-Team, Knight Rider, Dukes of Hazzard!

Oh yeah, Baywatch was a great show for a teenage boy!


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## areader89

24, have a thing for wine so thought id start making my own


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## michael-s

Billions and billions of years.  minus 57.

Did anyone mention the "Tasmanian Devil"..... Bugs Bunny.

Run........ Run.......... Run for your lives.


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## Arne

snafflekid said:


> 43 years old. I grew up watching Sesame Street, and still watch it occasionally to brush up on my alphabet.


 
Forgot about that, when in the Navy in Puerto Rico, about the only thing on the TV in english was Sesame Street. The whole crew gathered around the television watching the kids show. but in our defense it was in english. I don't believe anybody has mentioned McHales Navy or Mash. Some of my favorite shows. Arne.


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## sour_grapes

michael-s said:


> Billions and billions of years.  minus 57.
> 
> Did anyone mention the "Tasmanian Devil"..... Bugs Bunny.
> 
> Run........ Run.......... Run for your lives.



How about this:


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## olusteebus

Rocky

I am 69 years old. We got our first tv when I was about 8. Before that, I do not remember ever listening to the radio at night. I suppose my family did it but I sure don't remember. I lived with my grandparents a lot then and my Grandfather was a farmer so he went to bed very early. My grandmother stayed up a while but to my knowledge never listened to the radio for those shows you mentioned. 

I do remember those tv shows that were formerly radio shows. Loved them all. Did you mention Arthur Godfrey?


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## Gwand

I'll turn 61 years young next month. I miss going to bed without having to lock the front door. Fond memories of the milkman delivering unhomogenized milk in glass bottles and the bread man delivering fresh bread to the doorstep. The world seemed simpler and sweeter. While the former may be true, the latter is just seeing the world through the eyes of the child.


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## jamesngalveston

dang...i remember the milk man also...and I think life was simpler/better.
not being a jerk, but think about this...
there was only a few obese kids in school, now look at the schools..3 out of 5 are.
we did not sit in front of the tv four hours, are computer, are x box, etc.
we played outside......exercised.


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## Fabiola

jamesngalveston said:


> dang...i remember the milk man also...and I think life was simpler/better.
> not being a jerk, but think about this...
> there was only a few obese kids in school, now look at the schools..3 out of 5 are.
> we did not sit in front of the tv four hours, are computer, are x box, etc.
> we played outside......exercised.



I think we all agree that old times were better and we miss them, but also we love and take advantage of advances than science and technology brought us over time, I wish there was a way to just take the best of both worlds...


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## Rocky

olusteebus said:


> Rocky
> 
> I am 69 years old. We got our first tv when I was about 8. Before that, I do not remember ever listening to the radio at night. I suppose my family did it but I sure don't remember. I lived with my grandparents a lot then and my Grandfather was a farmer so he went to bed very early. My grandmother stayed up a while but to my knowledge never listened to the radio for those shows you mentioned.
> 
> I do remember those tv shows that were formerly radio shows. Loved them all. Did you mention Arthur Godfrey?



Yes I do remember Arthur "Buy Them by the Carton" Godfrey and his show sponsored by Chesterfield cigarettes. I also remember the night he fired Julius La Rosa on the air just after La Rosa had finished a song.

A couple of funny incidents from my "radio days"...

During the Korean War, we used to pray for peace by reciting the Rosary every weekday night at 7:00 PM. We would kneel on our living room floor in front of the radio (a large console with record player) to do this. In the Summer the front door was open and I remember our childhood friends staring through the screen door at us and at this "strange" ritual. We were one of only two Catholic families on our street.

There was a morning radio show for kids and one of the things the host would do was to use his "magic telescope" to look at the radio audience to see if we had combed our hair, bushed our teeth, washed our hands, etc. We would sit in front of the radio and hold out our hands, show our teeth and our neatly combed hair. Daily, he would say something like, "Billy, you did not do a good enough job and you should go back and wash your hands again," or "Tommy, you need to comb your hair better." My brothers and I had "uncommon" first names and we were smug that we were never called out and we used to ponder whether he meant Billy or Tommy So-and-so who lived in the neighborhood.

Again, during the Korean War, we were listening to a news broadcast and the announcer said the US troops were "mangled" by the enemy. Well, my Mother had a mangle that she used for ironing our clothes and in my young mind I imagined our troops being run through a mangle.


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## Jericurl

I'm 38, a child of the late 70s and 80s.

I'm biracial. My mother and stepfather lived on a farm and my biological father/stepmother/grandmother lived in the city.
I remember butchering our own pigs and chickens, and mixing/stuffing sausage.

We were rarely allowed to watch television at either house, but on the rare occasion we did it was either The Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday night, or The Cosby Show on Thursdays. Other than Saturday morning cartoons, that's all I really ever remember watching.
Also, we were not allowed to even be in the room when the grandparents were watching "The Stories" (soap operas) because they were too scandalous and racy for young children.
Also, my parents watched Dynasty and Knot's Landing, again, we were sent out of the room.
The television in question was this huge solid rectangle with carved wood on the sides. It sat next to a huge stereo console with a turntable on the top and record storage on the bottom.


Our parents refused to buy us an Atari and my sister and I were heartbroken. They caved and bought us a Nintendo system in the late 80s/early 90s and we played that thing into the ground.

My first record was Michael Jackson's Thriller. 

I was going to grow up and either marry Bon Jovi or Ralph Macchio 

I was in 6th grade the first time I ever saw a computer. We used it to play Oregon Trail.
I really didn't get the significance. I thought it was just another cool gadget like Atari. I didn't touch another one until I was almost done with high school.
I still didn't really understand what they would be good for...
Now...between Manthing and I, we own 3 laptops and 3 PCs that we use regularly. How far we have come...

I remember following the ice cream truck when we lived in town....until the Atlanta Child Murders. That was the first time I ever really remember hearing anything about stranger danger.
Up until that point, you could play in the neighborhood all you wanted as long as your butt was on the front porch or inside the house by the time the first streetlight came on. (and lord help you if you weren't...)

eta:
I was in the 5th grade when the Challenger exploded. All of the teachers were upset and crying. I didn't understand why they were so sad since they didn't know anyone involved. After 9-11, I remembered my puzzlement and finally understood.


The Dark Crystal movie scared the crap out of me.

I also remember watching a gameshow, but all I can remember is "Big Money" and "No Whammy!"

I remember having book fairs at school

I remember having to use a pencil to wind loose cassette tapes.

Since I lived primarily on the farm, we didn't really get into the whole bike riding thing. Manthing grew up in the city and he went all over town on his bike.

My sister and I went rollerskating. I remember learning how to skate backwards and thought I was hot stuff. I can't even remember the last time I saw a rollerrink now.


----------



## michael-s

Lol, sour_grapes, that is he indeed. Was hesitant to reply in case he jumped 
out of the screen and attacked me.


----------



## GaDawg

I was in 6th grade the first time I ever saw a computer.
********************The first time I saw a computer it was programmed with punch cards.


----------



## jswordy

55 … and I remember when this girl was *HAWT!!!*





Listen…

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsxavPANO8s[/ame]


----------



## jamesngalveston

jswordy....she still is........


----------



## Dugger

64 .... I grew up in a small country village, we had no TV and I recall some radio but not a lot; I do remember the Shadow and Chicken Man on radio. Standard outhouse with last years' Sears and Eatons catalogues, no indoor plumbing and a spring on the hill. Sat. night was baked beans and then later bath time, taking turns in the round galvanized tub, hot water from the tank on the side of the stove. We were all squeaky clean for church Sun. morning, followed by lunch at Grammie and Grampies. When not in the little village school house, we would spend our time playing ball in the local field, hockey in the pond, swimming in the river and biking around getting into mischief. There was also .. fishing, rabbit snares, trapping muskrats, raiding apple orchards and gardens, cutting and splitting firewood, banking the house with sawdust for winter, hunting squirrels and racoons, snowball fights, on the double runners going down the icy hills at the speed of light, apple fights, chestnut fights (those were not always fun!), sliding down spruce/fir trees, tapping trees for maple sap, making bows and arrows and sling shots, maybe some new clothes for start of school, Dad giving me his small single shot 22 (I was 10), decorating the Christmas tree and wondering what we might get for a present (except for presents from an uncle in Ontario - always new pyjamas - sheesh!). No theaters around but we did have someone come maybe every 3-4 months and set up a projector at the hall and show us cartoons and that was a big hit with us.
So we didn't have much but we didn't feel poor and we had a lot of fun.


----------



## jamesngalveston

heres one i bet no one had.....
when a kid we lived in rural louisiana in a town of about 200....we lived out of town between cotton fileds and soy bean fields on dirt roads.
Every saturday the grocery bus would come down the highway about 2 miles from the house....it was a bus fitted with food,milk,butter, bread, etc and sweets.
my cousin and i would walk through the swamp during summer to get there before it did....all ready to spend our 10 cents on some sweets.


----------



## Runningwolf

Did anyone mention Pong!! I wish I still had mine.


----------



## jamesngalveston

dang, how many hours do i have under my belt with pong......glad you mentioned. it


----------



## REDRUM

32. I'm guessing I'm not going to impress too many people here with stories about when I was a wee lad...


----------



## wpt-me

The horse and wagon coming around to pick up rags, old pots and pans for scrap during W11. Hathaway bread trucks that had cans of brown bread. Cranking the cars motor over when too cold to with the battery.

Bill


----------



## Rocky

James, this is a great idea for a post! Funny how one person's memories sparks some in others. I was only 3 1/2 when WWII ended so I don't remember the scrap metal drives. I do remember the "rag man" coming around. I also remember these regular visitors to our house:

*The Milkman* - He would leave a few quarts of milk, butter and cottage cheese ("Get the best, get the best, get Sealtest")
*The Bread Man* - He used to open the door, say something that sounded like "Beck" which I assume was "Baker" and toss in a loaf of bread. Occasionally my Mom would ask him what kind of pastries he had on the truck and he would come back with a large (about 3' x 3') tray laden with goodies! It was Duquesne Baking Company for those of you in the Pittsburgh area.
*The Fuller Brush Man* - all types of brushes
*The Sharpening Man* - we would gather all the knives and scissors in the house for him to sharpen and we were fascinated by his use of the pedal driven sharpening wheel. 
*The Huckster* - fresh veggies and fruit. At Christmas time he even had trees.

In the days before Super Markets, we used to go from store to store shopping: 

*the poultry store* - fresh chickens that my Mom would designate for "execution" and we would watch as the head was chopped off and the chicken ran around the sawdust floor spurting blood.
*the meat market* - to stock up on steaks, roasts, ribs, chops. My most vivid memory was the fly paper strips covered with stuck flies. It is a wonder I am not a vegetarian. 
*the bakery* - where we would buy the "real" bread, not the "chewing gum" delivered in sliced loaves.
*the Italian market* - for Italian cheeses, meats, sausages, fish, olives, olive oil, etc.
*the fish**market *- where we would buy fish other than Baccala, Sardines and Anchovies. 

When wpt-me mentioned bread in cans, it reminded me of an experience I had in Basic Training in the Army. I guess the government was trying to use up excess rations and who better to feed it to than starving raw recruits? I was on KP and opening cans of bread and slicing it for the mess. I happened to notice the date on the can, "June 1941." I was going on 22 years of age at the time and that day I ate bread that was baked before I was born!

Keep the memories coming. Nostalgia is what it used to be.


----------



## Runningwolf

Thats funny you mention the Fuller Brush guy. Here I always thought that was just a local thing. We also had the bread and milk man, but today they have been replaced by the Pizza man. How did companies afford those guys in the old days but not today? We would buy cases of chickens and butcher them our selves, and buy a half a cow at a time and freeze.


----------



## jamesngalveston

Rocky, Our memories are just stored bits of info...Sometimes it is great to unload them...good are bad...
I just thought it was a way that we all could share something...And we have, that in itself is a memory...
I have so enjoyed reading everyones replies.

Running wolf we did the same, when we lived in the city..bout a cow are half a cow..


----------



## Rocky

Yep, me too! My Father bought half a pig and half a steer one time that I remember and we literally got half the animal! We were packing everything into a large chest freezer and there was this one package, wrapped in white butchers paper. When we opened it, it was half of the pig's head. One side looked like a pig in profile and the other side looked like something out of an anatomy book. We were wondering what in the heck to do with it an a German neighbor who happened to be there said she would love to have it if we did not want it. We were glad to get rid of it and she made a dish called "hog's head cheese" or "souse" from it. I remember thinking I would really have to be "soused" to try it!


----------



## the_rayway

Aha! That is a delicacy in my family (also German). We eat it with vinegar.


----------



## sour_grapes

Ah, yes, the milkman and the eggman. 

Before Easter, you could get baby chicks dyed different garish colors; I forget where, perhaps at Woolworth's. One year, we were allowed to get some. A week or so after Easter, when we came home from school, the chicks were gone. What happened to them, we asked? "Oh, we gave them to the eggman, he took them to the farm." In reality, my grandmother had drowned them and flushed them down the toilet to get rid of them. I don't suppose you would tell the kids that, though!


----------



## Rocky

Yes, Paul. I remember the chicks. They were dyed pastel color of pink, yellow, blue and green. We used to keep them for a while and then give them to my Aunt and Uncle who had a small farm. I don't know if they were roosters or chickens but I remember seeing them "grow out of their color" and turn white. Your Grammie buried them "at sea," did she? Come to think of it, we probably ate a few of them at my Aunt's and Uncle's place.

In the late 1940's my Father and his partner, Tony, bought a cheese company in Jasper, Arkansas that produced goat milk cheese (Caprino). Though we lived in Pittsburgh, I did spend some time in Jasper. A couple of memories from that time come back now: 

I remember riding with "Zip" (Italian and also from Pittsburgh) in a Dodge Power Wagon over the mountain roads to pick up the goat's milk from the farmers' stands. I also remember looking down over the side of the mountain (no guard rail) and being rather tense. 

In the town square was the Court House/Police Station/Jail. We could actually talk to the people in jail through the barred openings. They would toss us 15 cents to get them cigarettes from a machine at the General Store. Inside the cellophane of the pack along the side were three pennies (cigarettes were 12 cents a pack in the machine) and this was our "fee" for the service. We could get a good amount of candy with the money we made.

We must have been there over Easter one year because Dad's partner brought home a spring lamb. We thought it was a pet for us and played with it for a week or two. We had a name for it that I don't recall, something like "Fluffy." I remember when we sat down for Easter dinner, one of my brothers asked, "Has anyone seen Fluffy?" My father's partner (born in Italy on a farm) pointed to the roast in the middle of the table and said, "Fluffy? There's Fluffy!" We screamed and ran from the table. I remember my Father being were upset with Tony but it all passed. You just can't eat an animal that you have named.


----------



## jamesngalveston

my mom would make hogs head cheese also.....i love it.


----------



## knockabout

I'm 42. What fun it is to read through your memories made me recall Sunday nights with Disney when we were allowed to stay up late. Tv was a family activity then. We'd find enough soda bottles to return them and use the deposit to buy ourselves a new soda for free with our bottle deposit money. Couldn't believe people didn't save their bottles. Lol.


----------



## jpike01

We used to walk from school to my grandmothers flower shop, just 200 feet from the school. We would often be given a few cents so we could go to the little store next door to buy a coca cola and some penny candy. I can still smell the flower shop.


----------



## Boatboy24

Allright everyone. Who remembers watching Schoolhouse Rock on Saturday mornings?


----------



## Fabiola

Someone should come up with a trivia to test everyone's memory (not knowledge)...


----------



## jamesngalveston

american bandstand, red skeleton...


----------



## winointraining

I can remember there was a burger joint up on the highway and I would ride there on my bicycle and get a hamburger and a coke for a quarter. I can remember going rabbit hunting and walking all day long for maybe 1 scrnawy rabbit. All the fields we hunted are now stores , warehouses, a giant landfill. I can say we had bbgun wars in the hills around our subdivision. We dug forts (holes) in the farmers field and played war.


----------



## jamesngalveston

yea..but didnt that 1 scrawney rabbit taste good...mine always did.


----------



## JohnT

51. 

I remember how an erector set was the best thing ever. This was just scraps of metal, some nuts and bolts, and a small, cheap wrench. No limit (it seemed) to what you could build. 

Lost in space, the banana splits, (yes schoolhouse rock), wacky racers, and *DARK SHADOWS *which used to scare that hell out of all of us kids.

I remember the moon landing and how this thing call Watergate kept interrupting my favorite shows. I also remember the cold war and how communism was considered a feared scourge. 

I remember being able to get 2 pieces of bazooka bubble gum for a penny.


----------



## Jericurl

I remember playing with a spirograph. A couple of years ago, I went looking for the original spirograph on Ebay and they wanted a ridiculous amount of money for it.

We also watched American Bandstand on Saturdays.

I can remember seeing a few episodes of Solid Gold. My sister and I decided we were going to grow up and be solid gold dancers. One of the relatives (extremely religious family) chided mom and dad for letting us watch a show with such skimpy outfits and secular influence, and that was the end of that. 

OH, I just remembered this one....
When we would get home from daycare/school, there were a couple of shows on that we would get to watch before we had to do chores. Little House on the Prairie. I remember loving the show and all the characters as a kid. I rewatched probably all of them about 10 years ago. It was the only thing on tv during my lunch break at the time. Just about every.single.episode was sad and depressing! Amazing what we don't pick up on as children.
We also watched Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. They did NOT censor that show like they do with wildlife specials today.


----------



## jpike01

How can anyone forget Twister?


----------



## olusteebus

I do remember my father bringing home a bunch of grapes and my mother and grandmother smashing them with their feet. I guess it turned out ok. 

I was raised on a farm myself but it turned into only a chicken farm (eggs only) when I was young. My grandfather sold eggs and vegetables at a farmers market then so I started going into Birmingham often. 

Interesting story's we have here.


----------



## Scott

Jericurl said:


> We also watched Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. They did NOT censor that show like they do with wildlife specials today.


 


Oh yea good one, Hey everyone watch Jim jump into that hole with the wild animal! 49 years here


----------



## Rocky

Some more Arkansas memories:

We took the train from Pittsburgh to either Springfield, MO or Little Rock, AR. I remember on the train there was a woman with a child of about 2 or 3 years of age and she had a leather halter on him with a leash. I can still see this in my mind's eye. We really thought it was strange to have your kid on a leash like a dog.

Among our local playmates in Jasper was a large family that were part Native American. I only remember one child's name (Leon) but I really liked on of his sisters. They went around barefoot and we wanted to be like them. So, we "city slicker" took off our shoes and socks intending to emulate the locals. We got about 10 feet and decided it was not a good idea. I do remember one time when Leon cut his foot on a piece of glass that was on the dirt road and it bled profusely.

Anyone on the forum from Arkansas and know where Jasper is located? It is north central Arkansas on the Little Buffalo River. That river ran right behind our house and there was a suspension bridge across it about 100 yards west of our property. I would really like to travel back there and one of these days I will.


----------



## novalou

Did anyone mention mercury yet?

Play with it in (gasp) science class?

It's s miracle any of us are still alive.


----------



## sour_grapes

novalou said:


> Did anyone mention mercury yet?
> 
> Play with it in (gasp) science class?
> 
> It's s miracle any of us are still alive.



Science class? Jeez, my dad used to bring it home by the bottle full, as it was used in his work. We used to pour it out on the furniture and "chase" balls and puddles of it around with our fingers.


----------



## jamesngalveston

Rocky, I went back to the rural place in Louisiana where i spend most of my childhood this summer....
The place was burned down, the only remainder was our hand pump outside
by a big oak tree...I took the pump, are stole, it, I had no idea who owned the property....Oh well...
The roads were still dirt, and I walked the fence row,where we use to muscadines...They were still there.


----------



## JohnT

novalou said:


> Did anyone mention mercury yet?
> 
> Play with it in (gasp) science class?
> 
> It's s miracle any of us are still alive.


 
Oh yeah. Played with mercury and also made lead batteries (without the benefit of gloves). 

This was in the same day-and-age as "Jarts" (lawn darts). Talk about unsafe! It seemed that we had more common sense in those days. We knew enough to NOT use them to play catch!


----------



## jamesngalveston

anyone every play mummly pig with pocket knives, are chicken with a cigarette...lol...dang those were fun days.


----------



## Jericurl

Yeah....we weren't allowed to play Twister...


----------



## Kraffty

56 and loving this thread. Has anyone mentioned Doctor's house calls? I remember my brother and I coming down with measles and the doctor coming to check on us. After a while of being cooped up in our grandmother's guest room a bunch of cousins started showing up. It turned into a slumber party where the kids that hadn't had the measles yet got the measles. Another favorite was the helms bakery truck with fresh donuts and breads in the mornings though it may have been a california thing.
Mike


----------



## jamesngalveston

forgot about that...our family doctor was Dr. Custard...he use to come when any of us were sick with cold are flu,chicken pox, are measels.
what a change...


----------



## sour_grapes

jamesngalveston said:


> anyone every play mummly pig with pocket knives, are chicken with a cigarette...lol...dang those were fun days.



Yup, we used to play mumbly peg with pocket knives. I don't know how you play chicken with a cigarette, though. We also used to set fire to or blow up anything we could. A "friend" once shot me in the head with a (thankfully) dull field-tipped arrow from 200 yards away playing "war." (I don't think either group thought we could possibly actually hit the other group from that distance.) And to think the biggest thing I was worried about afterwards was getting in trouble for it.


----------



## jamesngalveston

very simple...you put your arm next to your buddies and dropped a lit cigartte between them.....who ever pulled away first was a chicken.lol
how bout this flying kites with razor blades on the tails to get the other kites...
man...kites were 10 cents, and if we didnt break the sticks, we would make another out of newspaper and flour glue.


----------



## Rodnboro

PF Fliers, My purple Spyder Bike equipped with banana seat, handle streamers, and cissy bar, Hang Ten Shirts, catching lightening bugs (fire flies) in mason jars while the grownups sat on the porch, Bellbottoms, Drive-in movies,taking trips in the family station wagon with the windows down, *REAL* Easter eggs. Dang, I could go on and on and on...


----------



## jack7

Wow I think I'm probobly the youngest of us all ahah 

Well hello all I'm jack I'm 16 and I'm from the uk I don't really have a big interesting story yet ahah but I am very new to the world of wine brewing and only decided to start after seeing my friends brother brewing so I have recently started brewing and am just finishing my first successful gallon, it is a white wine made from cartons of pure white grape juice and I have now stabilised it and it's at 14.4% ABV and my next job is to clear it (by adding finnings).
And I would like to say this forum has been very helpful so thank you to all the members and it's nice to meet you  

Thanks jack


----------



## jamesngalveston

well jack, just imagine bottling one of your wines now, and opening when you are old as dirt, (as us)....good luck with your wine, and any time ]
you get in trouble with it, come here for help....I think that between all
these good,smart,wine makers they can help..
and welcome.


----------



## Runningwolf

Dark Shadows was also our after school show to watch. Yes we played Pig with our jack knives also. Funny how I would have thought it was just a local thing. Twister and Spiral Graph, yup we had those along with sparkle paints and Creepy Crawlers. I loved it when me younger sisters would make me a cake in their easy bake oven. Thats when they weren't playing on their new horse "Marvel the Mustang". How about those huge chemistry sets we used to be able to buy?.


----------



## jamesngalveston

wow..i never thought this post would get so much attention.
it was posted in earnest, and I think everyone that has posted a reply.
we were all made in character by what we did young
even though we are all serious about our wine, its nice to half a thread where we can know each other better, and to realax a little.
thanks.


----------



## jack7

Hey thanks and I think I will keep a bottle good idea I never thought of that 

Thanks jack


----------



## zalai

I am 44 years old . I was born and raised in Hungary behind the "iron courtain " but I am not complaining


----------



## winointraining

James this thread brings back a flood of memories, things I haven't thought of for years. Thank you!


----------



## the_rayway

Yes, thank you for the trips down memory lane! It has been so nice to re-live some of these times. 

Here are a couple more for me: 
Making hand-churned ice cream on the farm from fresh milk, and all the cousins taking turns doing the churning.

Pic-a-Pop at Granny's house, she kept a case in the basement for when the great-grand kids came over. Also her German Shepherd/Wolf cross 'Silver'. We would crawl into his dog house and nap with him after a day of running around


----------



## jamesngalveston

just read the news today....a 6 year old boy was suspended from school for having an imagenary bow and shooting an imaginary arrow at his friend on the playground....he now has a weapons charge against him and was suspend for school for a day.....lawyers have now intervened, possibly costing the school district thousands if they win there case...
incredible......cowboys and indians were norm with cap guns and suction cup bows when i was a boy.


----------



## JohnT

Got lots more.. 

The "Smells of our youth".... 

The smell of white craft paste, 
The smell of clay,
The smell of wool mittens drying on the schoolroom radiator, 
The smell of silly putty, 
The smell of Pay Dough, 
The smell of Mimiograph Copies (always began a test with a sniff),
The smell of Campbel's Chicken Noodle Soup, 
The smell of the glue we used in putting together models.


(feel free to add)


Also.. 

remember those little rubber band powered balsawood airplanes? Cost as much as a candy bar and gave HOURS of fun playing with it.


----------



## novalou

jamesngalveston said:


> just read the news today....a 6 year old boy was suspended from school for having an imagenary bow and shooting an imaginary arrow at his friend on the playground....he now has a weapons charge against him and was suspend for school for a day.....lawyers have now intervened, possibly costing the school district thousands if they win there case... incredible......cowboys and indians were norm with cap guns and suction cup bows when i was a boy.



I've seen a similar story where a kid chewed a graham cracker into a shape of a gun.

Unbelievable.


----------



## Fabiola

jamesngalveston said:


> just read the news today....a 6 year old boy was suspended from school for having an imagenary bow and shooting an imaginary arrow at his friend on the playground....he now has a weapons charge against him and was suspend for school for a day.....lawyers have now intervened, possibly costing the school district thousands if they win there case...
> incredible......cowboys and indians were norm with cap guns and suction cup bows when i was a boy
> 
> As a former teacher in New Mexico, can tell you those were healthy games that every boy has played at some point in his lives, me and my son used to play cowboys and Indians too, and he played with plastic guns, but I think that nowadays schools became too panicked with those random shootings that happened around the country, that they became almost at a paranoid point where schools don't allow kids to be kids...


----------



## Rocky

I hate to hijack this excellent thread with a comment on these inane and ineffective restrictions being placed on children vis-à-vis pretending to have a gun, bow, knife, etc. I spent my career in "trouble shooting" problems and one thing that I learned is that the solution proposed must _demonstratively_ to lead to a solution. I fail to see how these restrictions and punishments will prevent mental defectives from entering a school, movie theater or mall and begin shooting. It is just another example of how completely unqualified people are in charge of our lives. 

Incidentally, if it were up to me, I would take a very long look at the violent video games, TV programs and movies that immerse children today.


----------



## Boatboy24

Rocky said:


> Incidentally, if it were up to me, I would take a very long look at the violent video games, TV programs and movies that immerse children today.



You make a very good point. And frankly, I'm not convinced we shouldn't also take a very long look at our food supply and the things our government allows in it. Farming and food manufacturing isn't what it used to be and I can't help but wonder if some of these "imbalanced" individuals aren't that way because of the things they eat. There's a lot of chemicals in the grocery store, and not just in the household cleaning aisle. Having said that, let me go downstairs and add some keiselsol, chitosan, potassium metabisulfite and metatartaric acid to my wine...

Rant over: back to the memories!

I remember riding my bike EVERYWHERE. I mean all over town. Miles and miles were covered and many adventures had.


----------



## Rocky

_I remember riding my bike EVERYWHERE. I mean all over town. Miles and miles were covered and many adventures had._ 

Jim, we used to go everywhere on our bikes (cards in the spokes, of course). We would leave in the morning and come back in the late afternoon. No one worried about us and I don't recall an incidence of trouble. My first non-hand me down bike was a Schwinn _Traveler_, 3 speed, hand brakes, speedometer/odometer, saddle bag, generator powered light that I bought myself with my newspaper delivery money ($75!). It was the bomb. We would pack a PB&J sandwich and an apple in the saddle bag and take off, usually without a specific plan. The freedom was great.


----------



## jamesngalveston

learned behavior.......we learned how to play cops and robbers with dragnet,perry mason,and gunsmoke.
kids today learn via, internet,playstation,etc....

we never saw gaping holes, with blood spewing out.
they see , bowels,guts,heads blown apart, etc.
and pretty much the worst you can imagine.

we saw a girl on bandstand with short skirt
they see girls on stage in panties, playing with herself with a foam finger

there is a huge diffrence in the last 40 years, and it will get worst.


----------



## dangerdave

I've always been a denier of the "good old days" adage. It's an illusion, and a matter of perspective. Some things get worse while other things get better, never in exact proportions, nor at the same time. Things are no "better" or "worse" than the Good Old Days...just different.

Case in point: Like Rocky, my friends and I used to leave on all-day bike rides, over the hills and through the woods. My parents never seemed to worry about us, as long as we made it home before dark. No helmets, no pads, and no adult supervision. Rocky seems to imply that this does not happen anymore; that parents don't, won't, or shouldn't let their kids run off all day on their own. Something might happen! Someone might grab them! According to the FBI, rates for nearly all types of crimes are down anywhere from 10%-50% over the past decade alone. The only catagory that's gone up is burglery (up 1.7%). So, the feelings we may have that it's _less_ safe in society (in general) for our children or grandchildren than it was for us is false.

The question is: Why would we feel this way?

I am a step-father to five adult step-children. When they were growing up, and used to complain about all the rules they had to follow, I explained it like this: "We---the adults---are going to make darn sure you children do not get away with what we did at your age!"

Society is certainly different than it was when we were young. Some things better, some things worse. We also must accept that _we_ are also different. Our generation (and our parents) have made this country (and world) exactly what it is. If some things are "worse", then we must shoulder the blame. For things that are better, we can take the credit.

Persepctive.


----------



## jamesngalveston

I dont use goverment statistics at all....
I will say that watching the news in the 60s and 70s, you hardly saw anything about rapes,robberies,carjackings,muggings,shootings,etc.
I did however start seeing in the 80s, etc.
Today, its happening so much people hardly notice...
In houston yesterday, there were 14 armed robberies, 3 shootings,3 rapes, and have not idea about breaking and entering
Maybe the fbi left houston ,detroit,chicago,new orleans,miami out....


----------



## jamesngalveston

dave...here is an indepentend crime stat, Non Goverment.

crime is terribly up.

http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm


----------



## dangerdave

I think the news _is_ the problem. Too much. Too bad. They didn't have enough time in a half hour news cast in the 60s to show all the crimes that occurred. Now we have news 24/7. It would be foolish of us to believe that the new broadcasts are showing a direct proportion of good/bad news. Bad news is much more "sensational"!

I also take your point, James. The "government" may have their own reasons for fudging the numbers.


----------



## the_rayway

And this is why I don't have TV or the newspaper at our house...


----------



## LoneStarLori

When we moved from Houston last year to South Texas, I used to laugh at the Corpus Christi local news casts because they seemed to cover such petty things. (My CASA class being sworn in by the judge for example.) I always felt like they were missing some 'important' news. It took a long time to come to the realization that there just wasn't the Houston type of crime here. Now I feel privileged to have such a quiet life instead of always thinking I'm missing out on something.


----------



## Elmer

the_rayway said:


> And this is why I don't have TV or the newspaper at our house...



What do you play video games on?

What do you use to swat flys?


----------



## the_rayway

Elmer said:


> What do you play video games on?
> 
> What do you use to swat flys?



Wii, and a shoe...


----------



## JohnT

the_rayway said:


> And this is why I don't have TV or the newspaper at our house...


 
So you do not have a newspaper or tv, but you have a computer? 

The computer is much worse, what with its easy access porn and degenerate people who like to make their own wine


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## dangerdave

I remember my Grandma's silver mylar Xmas tree. It had a rotating light disc that shined on the tree and slowly changed colors. I remember lights on our real tree that were so hot you couldn't touch them. You could smell the tree roasting all season long. A wonder it took so long to realize those were dangerous!

Riding in cars as a child. Up front. No seat belts. No child seats.

I remember playing all day in a pile of dirt with a big bag of green plastic army men.


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## jamesngalveston

you would be arrested for those army men now..you would have to play indoors....they have guns.....


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## Rodnboro

dangerdave said:


> I remember my Grandma's silver mylar Xmas tree. It had a rotating light disc that shined on the tree and slowly changed colors. I remember lights on our real tree that were so hot you couldn't touch them. You could smell the tree roasting all season long. A wonder it took so long to realize those were dangerous!
> 
> Riding in cars as a child. Up front. No seat belts. No child seats.
> 
> I remember playing all day in a pile of dirt with a big bag of green plastic army men.


 

Our seat belts were our Dad's streched out arms at all sudden stops. (While we were standing up in the seat of course)


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## TahunaJR

The "Smells of our youth".... 
The smell of the glue we used in putting together models.

The glue we used was called Testors and was made in Rockford, IL. Actress Susan St. James' (McMillan and Wife, Kate and Allie) dad was president of the company and became very famous in the 60s for coming up with a way to prevent "sniffing". The solution was to add horseradish! 

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...00206_1_testor-charles-d-miller-glue-sniffing


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## Runningwolf

I hate to be the one to keep the news rant going but, I remember way way back when I was in just Jr High the teachers bitching about the news. A new crime has swept America because one person got an idea and the news spread the idea. It was the big break out of Hi-Jacking. Geesh didn't the same exact thing happen 40 years later with school shootings. What other ideas can we spread. I know we can't stop the news and I don't won't them to be it sure does lead to more repeat crimes.

Now back tot he news, oops I mean original thread. How many of you would leave your parents house to travel somewhere far an had to call home when you got there. You didn't talk you just rang the phone twice and hung up so you wouldn't occur a long distance phone call.


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## kryptonitewine

I'm 46 and grew up in NW indiana. We used to go to "Pepsi" shows. Take 7 Pepsi bottle caps to the movie theatre and get in free. Used to watch Starsky an Hutch, Love Boat, Donny and Marie. Oh favs were Carrol Burnett I never understood Laugh In as a kid but now think its awesome. That was funny stuff.


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## kryptonitewine

I remember in high school I had to do a demonstrative speech for an English class. Took my compound bow and broad head arrows to school to demonstrate bow hunting. Try and do that now and you'll be in jail.


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## GaDawg

dangerdave said:


> Riding in cars as a child. Up front. No seat belts. No child seats..


I remember my mom would hold out her arm a stop signs so I wouldn't slide off the seat but she did this into my 20


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## sour_grapes

We used to travel with 9 people in a VW bug: Dad driving, Mom in the passenger seat with child #4 on her lap, children #1, 2, and 3 in the rear seat along with my grandmother, and children #5 and 6 in the "well" between the seatback of the rear seat and the engine firewall.

On the topic of kids' freedom, it is my belief that both positions are true: I believe that "stranger danger," while real, is overblown, and that curtailing children's ability to roam and play freely is causing a significant developmental deficit.

However, I ALSO believe that crimes against children were severely underreported back in the day, and that the lack of basic safety measures caused many preventable accidents. We all thought we were safe then, but we weren't as safe as everyone assumed. Every single person that is alive to read this underwent "selection bias" by surviving all the unsafe activities chronicled above. The dead ones are not writing in to say how unsafe some of our former practices were.....


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## shoebiedoo

Boatboy24 said:


> Allright everyone. Who remembers watching Schoolhouse Rock on Saturday mornings?



Conjunction Function was the BEST EVER!!!!!!! and counting by 5's

To this day I don't know what we "Air Raid Sirens" are called anymore. I still hear them but I don't thinks we're being bombed. 

I remember hitch hiking to a town 50 miles away to work at a camp for the mentally retarded when I was 15. I didn't think anything of it. 

When I was in 4th grade I took the City bus (in MPLS) 1 hour for piano lessons. Or go down town to buy Hockey equipment or see "Live And Let Die"

One night,when I was very young, I remember lying in bed listening to "Angie" (rolling Stones) and hearing the lightening strikes through the radio. I starting crying because I though for sure we were getting bombed that night.

When I was in 5th grade these yellow buses showed (at school) up with Avery, Terry and other's from North Minneapolis. Didn't know why they came but Those 2 became pretty good friends. 2 years later, in Junior High, we had racial riots. I never did figure out why.

I remember once, I could actually read the numbers of the North Star's jersey's when I was watching a game. WHAT A GREAT PICTURE!!!!. Last night I saw a bugger on the nose of a player. I guess I AM getting up there LOL

Remember the Jackson 5 cartoon on Saturday morning? In fact, remember Saturday morning cartoons??? the Beatles was one of my favorite cartoons.
Playing "Lunar" on the teletype in highhschool


OK I could go on and on


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## wpt-me

How about learning the times table to 12x12 ?? In the 2nd grade.

Bill


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## shoebiedoo

wpt-me said:


> How about learning the times table to 12x12 ?? In the 2nd grade.
> 
> Bill



Now, they have an APP for that


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## Enologo

Wow! This is quite a trip in the "Way Back Machine" Professor. Chronologically I'm 61, Mentally 17, Physically sometimes I feel like 100. Any body remember Amos and Andy and Our Miss Brooks with Ann Southern.


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## dangerdave

How about Edgar Bergen with Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd! My older brother was abudding ventriloquist back in the day. I used to think it a lost art, until Jeff Dunham came along. Great preformer!


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## winointraining

I remember Our Miss Brooks , Love That Bob, Dobie Gillis, and Ding Dong School. I remember going fishing in a pond that was more mud than water. That snow days in school were not called unless the buses could not move at all.


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## GaDawg

How 'bout Jimmy Durante.


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## jamesngalveston

ahh...the big nose guy..i remember that.
little rascals, the beave,dobie gillis, 
then old movies, spencers mountain,those galloways,mclintock...
just to name a few....cept they werent old the.


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## Boatboy24

"G'night Ma."

"Goodnight, John boy"


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## mangojack

66 we didn't get TV until 1956,listen to a lot of radio programs ,aimos and Andy,howdy doody,wsm grand old opery,on TV little rascals,bowery Boys,Roy Rodgers,Cisco Kid,Marshal Dillon,Big valley,so on.Ben making wine off and on around 13 or 14.


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## Runningwolf

Clap on, Clap off!


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## wpt-me

Tiddely Winks ??

Bill


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## mmadmikes1

I DREAMED of Jenny!~!!!!!!!!and so did everyone over 50 right now


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## novalou

mmadmikes1 said:


> I DREAMED of Jenny!~!!!!!!!!and so did everyone over 50 right now



So did I and I'm 35!


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## Rocky

Boatboy24 said:


> "G'night Ma."
> 
> "Goodnight, John boy"



"Goodnight, Chet"
"Goodnight, David"
"Goodnight, Goliath"


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## shoebiedoo

"yabba, dabba do"!!!!!!!!!!


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## Runningwolf

"And that's the way it is."

"And now for the rest of the story"


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## GaDawg

"Inka Dinka Doo"
"Good night, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are."


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## shoebiedoo

"Peace, Love, Bobby Sherman"

As signed in my 7th grade year book


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## JohnT

Same bat time, same bat channel.


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## winointraining

Veeeerrrrrrrryyyy intrreessttting!!


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## winointraining

how about the Jack Benny Show, Beany and Cecil, and Topper.


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## JohnT

"Missed me by that much"

and

"Oh Oscar, Oscar, Oscar"


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## Rocky

As long as we are doing quotes, who remembers these:

"What sort of day was it? A day like all days, filled with those events that alter and illuminate our times... all things are as they were then, and you were there."
"Look, up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! it's Superman!"
"Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of man? The Shadow knows!"
"Book 'im, Dano!"
"I'm back in the saddle again, out where a friend is a friend, where the longhorn cattle feed on the lowly jimsonweed. Back in the saddle again."
"Baby, you're the greatest!"
"Born on a mountain top in Tennessee..."

and, of course, 

"A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty Hi-yo Silver! The Lone Ranger. With his faithful Indian companion, Tonto, the daring and resourceful masked rider of the plains led the fight for law and order in the early western United States. Nowhere in the pages of history can one find a greater champion of justice. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. From out of the past come the thundering hoof beats of the great horse, Silver. The Lone Range rides again!"


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## olusteebus

In Alabama, Farm Bureau used to sponsor a scary show weekly. AT the very beginning, a door bell rings and a little girl opens the door and all you see is her face and she says, "Momma, it's the Farm Bureau Man" and she has a terrified look on her face. That is the way I remember it. It may have been the shadow knows.


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## Runningwolf

Who loves ya baby


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## olusteebus

Whadda ya mean "we" paleface.





Oh, wait a minute, that was not really on the show


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## Jericurl

de' plane! de' plane!

eta:
Oh, and remember the 70s bad acid trip counting song from Sesame Street?


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## jamesngalveston

whos your daddy....ooopppps/


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## jswordy

Who remembers pulling up to the gas pump on a cold, snowy or rainy day, waiting for the guy to come out and telling him you wanted $3 worth, then having him pump it, wash your windshield and check your oil and tires for you for free while you waited in the car? And it cost you no more for this service.

That guy coming out to pump your gas? It was probably me! I worked as a pump jockey and mechanic through high school and college.

TV quote: "Uh, there's just one more thing, sir..."


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## shoebiedoo

Not to mention how much gas you got for $3.00. It would almost fit my daughter's tanks at 13 gallons


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## Jericurl

I remember the first time I had to pay $15 for a tank of gas to fill up my 85 Ford Tempo.
I pitched a fit because I couldn't believe it had gone up that much.


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## GaDawg

jswordy said:


> Who remembers pulling up to the gas pump on a cold, snowy or rainy day, waiting for the guy to come out and telling him you wanted $3 worth, then having him pump it, wash your windshield and check your oil and tires for you for free while you waited in the car? And it cost you no more for this service.



That's why we called em *Service Stations*


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## pjd

Wow what a thread! I'm 56 and really have spent the last 40 years trying to erase the memories of being raised in a religious cult. I have enjoyed reading about "normal" childhood memories!


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## Rocky

One of my favorites and one of the very early TV series was "Captain Video and his Video Rangers" starring Al Hodge as Captain Video and Don Hastings as the chief Video Ranger. Special effects were very primitive at the time and I think the show was shot live. Even as a kid, I thought it was hokey. Some of the funny stuff I remember were:

The Blast Off (of take off, I guess). Captain Video would be holding the steering mechanism and simulating the vibration of taking off, shaking from head to toe. The Video Ranger, occasionally not paying close attention, would be looking in an opposite direction and not shaking at all. When Capt. Video noticed this, he would nudge the Video Ranger as if to say, "Shake, we are taking off," and the Ranger would then begin shaking. 

They used to fly from planet to planet as we would go from house to house in our neighborhood. For example, they would be on Mars for some reason and have to "pop over" to Jupiter. The trip would take about 20 seconds.

The inhabitants of the planets wore distinctive dress. For example, on Mars they were all dress like Roman soldiers. On Jupiter, they dressed in Toga like the ancient Greeks.

Their spaceship, "The Galaxy," looked like a German ME 163 without the wings. When it was shown flying, the "fire" coming out the tail would go up like a candle and burning ashes would drop down, instead of back as thrust would produce. A few years later, Ford came out with the Galaxy model. I often wondered if there were a connection.

And, how about this for another quote: "Remember the Code of the Secret Squadron, Justice through strength and courage."


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## jamesngalveston

secret spy ring....anyone ever have one...lol
i still have mine.


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## GaDawg

jamesngalveston said:


> secret spy ring....anyone ever have one...lol
> i still have mine.


I had a Captain Midnight Secret Decoder Ring


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## Ernest T Bass

Unless I missed it, "I Won". Started my 76th trip around the sun last Sept. and "never had more, needed less or felt better"
Semper Fi


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## spaniel

35, but probably a bit of an oddity growing up. Small town farm boy, B&W TV until I was 5 (I loved Lone Ranger and Rin Tin Tin), one-room country school through 6th grade. I was handing out milk there when Challenger blew up.

Biked everywhere...not sure I'd let my kids do that now even in the country, I run there and see too many cell phone distracted drivers swerving aroung.

Through 10th grade, you could bring in a shotgun to demonstrate cleaning for speech class and we always had them in the backseat so we could go pheasant hunting as soon as school was over. Now a questionably shaped pop tart gets you kicked out.

I went to great lengths to move into a small town where I hoped I could keep things as old school as possible for my kids, but now that they are getting into school I'm not sure I went far enough or that it is possible. It makes me sad.

But, like me, they still feel special when they get to pick out a candy bar when they go to the hardware store with daddy. Except instead of the local mom and pop hardware store the best I can do is Lowe's...


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