thanks for putting a smile in my heart. I needed that.

Damn right.

Yeah. This poem reminds me of when I used to ride my bike all over the place, and drink water from the nearby river. Nowadays, you cannot drink from that river because it is either very dirty, or river is dry.

And you could stay out all night without your mother worrying about you and you'd complain when she called you in even though it was going on 11:00 O clock and well past your bedtime. The best games were hide 'n' go seek and you used the entire neighborhood. You had large heavy pointy lawn darts that you threw towards each other to get near the others goal, and everyone had either a home chemistry set or a wood burning kit, because back then you could be trusted not to knock out your friend or burn down your house. And if you were lucky and your family had a station wagon you could sit right at the back against the door with the window rolled down and you made faces at the people behind you and bugged your brothers (or they bugged you) and never even thought "Hmmm, this may not be so safe, I could fall out of this window." And so many other things that one could do, without the fear of the CFS on your parents backs telling you how to properly raise your child.

You know, I had a damn good childhood. I always knew it, but this put things in perspective. Thanks for the stroll Cindy, I enjoyed it.

I can't be certain but I think at one point I made Barbie and my brothers GI Joe make out. Now there's a memory that makes you go.... uh no way.

GI Joe and Barbie have tons of exceptional doll children wandering the planet... thanks to us. HAHA... I gave my Ken dolls to my dog SnowWhite as a chew toy, and I always stole GI Joe for Barbie, till my parents started getting me one of my own for Christmas. My brothers and I played outside till well after dark, ignoring my mother's cries between the screen door slamming.... "Time to come in!!!!!!" When we stepped on rusty nails or cut ourselves trying to put our bicycle chains back on she'd chase us relentlessly with merthiolate (we called it monkey blood)... whatever happened to that stuff?)

:D My favorite thing was fighting with my brothers over who got to ride laying on the "back dash" of the Chevelle or whatever we were riding in, and when my Daddy slammed on the brakes, whomever was there got pummelled either into the back of the front seat, or landed on.... well, my brothers, because I always won the fight to ride there. lol

The first new car we ever got WAS a station wagon... one of those ugly white ones with the wood paneling, (my parents were so proud of it, it was sickening) and we drove through 9 states in it on our first long vacation. (I really never knew boys farted that much until that trip) Kevin and I claimed the very back of it and kept our feet in the back window, occassionally popping up to make faces at people at red lights, and sang "Mr. Bogangles" way too loud till our parents told us to shut up The sad thing is that when we stopped for FUN, we stayed in a small leaky tent with a pan under the leak (it rained everywhere).... the main thing I remember about the trip was being "checked for ticks" haha.... and the funnest thing was staying in the one or two motels we could afford which were always "Howard Johnson's", and I insisted on breaking the rules and swimming in the pool after hours.
ALSO... the most major trouble we got into was while shooting dime store army men down with the bb guns, and when we got mad at each other... well, we shot at EACH other. hah. Good Times.

So glad somebody remembers and can relate. Whatever happened to screen doors, anyway? I think I want one put on my house before I have grandchildren someday, just for the sound of it slamming shut. :D

Oh yeah, Ken is easily disposed of in an Easy Bake Oven if you don't have a dog. :D

Wraith: It's never a good idea to drink from a downflowing stream, creek, river, etc.... even if otherwise clean, if there's a dead animal upstream in the water, you could get VERY sick. If you know the mouth of it, and have explored it recently, it should be ok.

Oh Lord, it's like we were seperated at birth, or had nearly the same kind of childhood growing up;

:D My favorite thing was fighting with my brothers over who got to ride laying on the "back dash" of the Chevelle or whatever we were riding in, and when my Daddy slammed on the brakes, whomever was there got pummelled either into the back of the front seat, or landed on.... well, my brothers, because I always won the fight to ride there. lol

Exactly, exactly. No double fiber over the top saftey seats or seat belts. The back seat WAS the treat of the car ride. You WAITED for those sudden stops because it was FUN to slam into the back door or into your siblings (or camping gear stashed to the brim in the back that you can barely squeeze space from) and on occasion you'd spit out the window just because, well you could.

The first new car we ever got WAS a station wagon... one of those ugly white ones with the wood paneling, (my parents were so proud of it, it was sickening) and we drove through 9 states in it on our first long vacation. (I really never knew boys farted that much until that trip) Kevin and I claimed the very back of it and kept our feet in the back window, occassionally popping up to make faces at people at red lights.

Are you sure your not talking about me? Too damn eerie. Yes, resting your feet out the window and letting the wind tickle the soles of your feet and just spazing and relaxing, even falling asleep at times and NEVER worrying you were going to lose one of them to an accident. Everyone did it, you couldn't pass by any car that had a family where you didn't see kids in the back seat taking advantage of a lowered window. (to be fair, I could equal my brothers in the fart categorie, did I just say that? LOL)

Whatever happened to screen doors, anyway? I think I want one put on my house before I have grandchildren someday, just for the sound of it slamming shut. :D

The closest thing these days are storm doors made of heavy wood or metal, but if you went to some antique or even junk shop I know you could find a nice screen door that needs just a little repair and a new screen. They made lovely ones in the day. When people took pride in their work.

Easy Bake Oven

I was going to mention mine but by the time I got through all my memories it would have taken half your space. X) But yes, had one (or the equivelant) used it and got too anxious to wait for the damn cakes to bake and ate them half raw with a large healty dosage of icing. Hey..... the manufacturers said it was safe.

Ken..... what a ...... wrong choice for Barbie. Wasn't going to say the word... nah-uh. My brother had the GI joe with the kung fu grip, I played with it more than him, and he'd be pissed and tell my mom and she'd tell me to give it back and I would, but he'd get bored and he'd be mine again, to do with as I please, bwahahahaha..... course I always had to be sure what he looked like unclo..... I mean, he was so much fun to play with.

When we stepped on rusty nails or cut ourselves trying to put our bicycle chains back on she'd chase us relentlessly with merthiolate (we called it monkey blood)... whatever happened to that stuff?)

Iodine, monkey blood. And we'd howl and wail and make a fuss (it really did hurt). But that toughened us up right? It got to the point that our skin was rough enough that it took a lot to penetrate the skin. And walking around barefeet all over the neighborhood, or gravel, dirt, not much broken glass about, ground clean for the most part. And with those tough feet you could even run on the gravel for a time, cause your feets could take it. Or climbing up trees (we had two huge trees, and all the kids played in our yard because we had the largest in the neighborhood)

And no, drinking from a creek or river is not a good idea, but I remember when you could lift your head up in a rainstorm and drink the water. It didn't taste bad at all. I wouldn't do that now.

*sigh* It's nice to reminisce but suddenly.... I feel old.

But nice to share similiar memories with you Cindy.

I love you, Barbara. Don't feel old. :) Feel..... (I was going to say "feel young", but nevermind that... just "feel it" :D We haven't had fireflies here for years because it's been too dry. I tried to sit still on my garden bench and relax the last few evenings, but... they were THERE... lightning bugs.

Don't gotta get old, baby. :)`

Maybe nostalgic is the better word to use. I swear though I still feel like I did then. I never really ever felt old. Maybe that's the key.

I only saw lightning bugs a few times, I don't think they like it much up here, but they're nice to look at. Don't they die in jars though? Ah well, I put live bees and flies and such in jars when I was a kid, there were always more to replace them :P

Member when board games were fun and you made the choise to watch tv or go outside and 9 times out of 10 you chose outside? No wonder we were always so fit and could take any injuries we got.

Yes, the lightning bugs die in the jars, but not usually till morning. (gotta poke holes in the lid, of course). You probably don't see them there because they like warm arid climates. Usually it's just too dry here for them.

(my brother Kevin loved playing Monopoly so much that he made up new rules to make it last longer... like instead of paying the bank, you put your money on free parking and if you landed there you got the pile hah) Eventually Clint and I would say, OK, that's it... no more... game OVER, anyway. :)

My feet are still that tough, I never wear shoes outside (at home or at the beach or on the lake). My nieces and nephew still enjoy playing outside more than doing anything else and I'm so thankful they are growing up the way they are... with the ranches and the pecan orchard and the plum thickets. It made my heart feel so light to watch them weave their way into the wild plum thicket (we're talking places only rabbits can go lol),[they managed to talk me into squeezing in, but I'm not sure how I did it] and come out with their shirts rolled up to their waist full of plums, grinning from ear to ear. The plums are bright crimson colored, and are little and sour, and they pop them in their mouths and see how far they can spit the seeds.

I wouldn't mind if you took up all the space in the world here with your memories, I like hearing about them. :)

Quote DBA: "Wraith: It's never a good idea to drink from a downflowing stream, creek, river, etc.... even if otherwise clean, if there's a dead animal upstream in the water, you could get VERY sick. If you know the mouth of it, and have explored it recently, it should be ok."

We live near the mountain Peaks. About a 40 min drive away. So it's mostly mountain fresh water. Or was at that time. The water was so crystal clear and refreshing, it was actually better tasting than the well water we had. It was a simpler time where man was one with the earth. For me anyways. When this river used to flow alot, we all used to get our tire tubes and float down stream to the next lil village. Nowadays we have construction almost everywhere that I can think of. And I hate ORANGE barrels! Everytime I see an Orange Barrel I want to get out of my truck and proceed to bash it and kick it. Orange Barrels are polluting my creativity! Driving me crazy. Seriously. Plus, the river I once knew, is now just a sorry little stream that will probably get your shoes a little damp. Too many people moving into my home town, too many businesses ( Casinos ), Trees getting sick probably because of the Local Lab Experiments of Los Alamos. Just everything is going down hill.

I remember back then, spring time actually had flowers blooming, Butterflies, all that spring time cheer. Now all we get is Moths, Stinks bugs, WEEDS! And this last spring was very very cold!

I know the type of area you're talking about... animals still fall to their death upstream in places like that, and if they are diseased, you can still get very sick.
Go out and sprinkle seeds of flowers that butterflies like. Make it happen. If you don't know the kind of wildflowers butterflies favor that grow well in your area, memo me with with the area you are in exactly and I'll tell you how to do it. Hey, Ladybird Johnson died this week. :( I think she was 94.

I'm not sure what the deal is with the orange barrels, but if it isn't private property and nobody's looking, get a sledge hammer and bash away if it makes you feel better. :D

Hehehhe.. Thanks DBA. But I think I can do without Butterflies. I was just making a point how things are getting worse. Although I do live next to I-25. So it would be kinda cool to see a cloud of butterflies near it. :D