Childhood Memories

[amygdule]

I have memories of nearly drowning, concussions, kidnapping, Tasty Freeze.

Wiping Out on a Skateboard. What happened?

[Mark K]

I remember this big boob that made milk.


Oh wait, You said MEMORIES. Silly me.

[1dave]

There was a China berry Tree in our back yard



Every Summer when school let out, all the neighbor hood kids would gather and we had china bery fights.

[HankRocks]

We would use China berries with wire frame slingshots as the weapons of choice in our neighborhood wars. Usually about 6 to 8 kids in two teams. We had to add the ditch behind our property as a DMZ that kept the sides separated as close range was a bit too painful. Some controversy arose after I managed to notice a china berry tree growing next to a horse pen a few blocks away. The berries from that tree were about 25 to 30 % larger. They tended to fly straighter and hit harder. It took a few battles for anyone to figure it out. Everyone spent the next couple of weeks attempting to locate my source. No one ever did as the tree was in a tucked away area across the railroad tracks and next to an abandoned warehouse.

Who needed video games!!!

Henry

[whalecottagedesigns]

@hankrocks Reading about your slingshots made me think back too! "He said in a whispery tremulous voice, whilst letting out a sneaky baff.."

I grew up in southern Africa. Our fights I remember (not actual fights, like yours, play fights) were called "kleilat" which probably translates to clay stick. You broke off a nice long section, about 2 meters of wet stick from a Willow tree. It would just be one section with no side branches and whatnot, tapering from finger thick to quite thin at the end. Then you would wrap a golf ball bit of clay onto the end, and in almost a whipping way, cast it towards your target! Took much practice, but boy, that could fly and leave a red mark! :-)

[1dave]

My summers were spent running bare foot with 1/2 inch thick calluses on my feet to take the Texas heat. I remember popping tar bubbles with my toes on hot days, but my main time was spent as a killing machine. My two enemies were red ants and flies. I spent hundreds of hours flattening ants as their trail left our front yard to venture onto the hard concrete where I crushed them.



There were always flies around our garbage can in the alley out back. As soon as one landed, I would take aim, shoot, and only wings were left.

[1dave]

They built a new two story apartment building a block from our home and dumped a huge pile of sand next to it for the brick masons and concrete workers to use. We would climb on the roof after the workers left and jump off the roof top into the sand pile. over time the sand pile got lower and flatter until we had learned how to land on bare ground!

[rockjunquie]

Nov 5, 2024 9:10:27 GMT -5 1dave said:

My summers were spent running bare foot with 1/2 inch thick calluses on my feet to take the Texas heat. I remember popping tar bubbles with my toes on hot days, but my main time was spent as a killing machine. My two enemies were red ants and flies. I spent hundreds of hours flattening ants as their trail left our front yard to venture onto the hard concrete where I crushed them.



There were always flies around our garbage can in the alley out back. As soon as one landed, I would take aim, shoot, and only wings were left.

Dave, didn't you have a magnifying glass? Great ant killer.

[1dave]

Nov 5, 2024 10:06:16 GMT -5 rockjunquie said:

Nov 5, 2024 9:10:27 GMT -5 1dave said:

My summers were spent running bare foot with 1/2 inch thick calluses on my feet to take the Texas heat. I remember popping tar bubbles with my toes on hot days, but my main time was spent as a killing machine. My two enemies were red ants and flies. I spent hundreds of hours flattening ants as their trail left our front yard to venture onto the hard concrete where I crushed them.



There were always flies around our garbage can in the alley out back. As soon as one landed, I would take aim, shoot, and only wings were left.

Dave, didn't you have a magnifying glass? Great ant killer.

I did burn the ants with a magnifying glass, but it was too slow.
I wore that hammer down to a nub! all that was left was a handle and a metal nub at the end, no hammer head nor tines left for pulling nails.
I got good with that bee bee gun. 1 bee bee = 1 dead fly! Even the one that landed on Moms large mirror over the living room fire place! (I'll never know how Mom let me live)

[rockjunquie]

Nov 5, 2024 10:50:40 GMT -5 1dave said:

Nov 5, 2024 10:06:16 GMT -5 rockjunquie said:

Dave, didn't you have a magnifying glass? Great ant killer.

I did burn the ants with a magnifying glass, but it was too slow.
I wore that hammer down to a nub! all that was left was a handle and a metal nub at the end, no hammer head nor tines left for pulling nails.
I got good with that bee bee gun. 1 bee bee = 1 dead fly! Even the one that landed on Moms large mirror over the living room fire place! (I'll never know how Mom let me live)

You funny. My brother used to pull the wings off flies. EWW

[1dave]

Nov 5, 2024 12:17:56 GMT -5 rockjunquie said:

Nov 5, 2024 10:50:40 GMT -5 1dave said:

I did burn the ants with a magnifying glass, but it was too slow.
I wore that hammer down to a nub! all that was left was a handle and a metal nub at the end, no hammer head nor tines left for pulling nails.
I got good with that bee bee gun. 1 bee bee = 1 dead fly! Even the one that landed on Moms large mirror over the living room fire place! (I'll never know how Mom let me live)

You funny. My brother used to pull the wings off flies. EWW

Funny? Mom was a Saint to let me live, I made her life miserable!

For Halloween, we would pretend to be pulling on a rope across the street to trick or treat passing cars!