# As kids our generation was tough!



## Aunt Marg (Jun 19, 2021)

Just finished posting a reply on an older thread topic related to summer heat and how we coped as kids... found here

https://www.seniorforums.com/threads/summer-days-prior-to-air-conditioning.43653/page-2#post-1768958

Anyhow, the wonderful topic got me to thinking about other kid related things specific to weather, and so here it is.

Aside from summers being hot, winters here in Canada were never, and have never been for sissies, and sissies we weren't. Our winter gear... jackets, waterproof snow pants, mitts and gloves, and the insides of our boots would be soaked, and it was all my mom could do was convince us to wait until our winter stuff dried enough before we headed back outside to build snow forts, snowmen, have snowball fights, toboggan, and just have fun.

Kids today wouldn't have the slightest what we lived through, but one such memory I have that dates back to when I was a young child, was having plastic bread bags pulled over my feet before putting on my winter boots, because the insides of my boots would still be damp, sometimes wet, but play was all that was on my mind, so out came a couple of plastic bread bags, my feet were bagged, boots followed, and out I went! Baby siblings and neighbourhood kids all got the same treatment. No slowing us down.

Unlike today, we walked to a from school, uphill both ways. Rain, sunshine, snow, sleet, fog, we weathered whatever Mother Nature could throw at us, and we conquered. I remember some days being so cold where we walked to school backwards with hoods pulled over our toque topped heads, because walking backwards kept the bitter cold wind and blowing snow from burning at our faces and necks. Even then it was a frigid walk.

When I got older, when I wanted to visit friends on the other end of town, I hopped on my bicycle, caught the bus (if I had the money), or walked, and I never complained, neither did any of my friends. Walking everywhere was a fact of life, everyone did it.

Gosh, the good old days... what great memories they are.


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## SmoothSeas (Jun 19, 2021)

pretty similar experience here.  I grew up in Chicago where winters were long and interminable.  But, with the resilience of youth, we persevered.


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## Verisure (Jun 20, 2021)

People are forever talking about nostalgia. There was a time when I did too but now I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in place or time than where I am right now. I used to listen to "oldies" and thought, _"Man! Those were the days!"_ Today when I listen to those tunes or think of life in general "back then" I get really depressed. I think it's because I knew so little and what I did know was untrue. I was taught to appreciate romance and honesty and then I grew up (still growing up today) to discover that the majority of the world's population are cheaters - in both senses of the word. Have I become a cynic? Yes, I suppose that I have and I guess that's a negative thing but it means that I appreciate the life I have now today. That's not a bad thing, is it?


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## Gaer (Jun 20, 2021)

If I try to tell my children about walking home two miles from school everyday, even in 40 below weather, they  just laugh and say, "Oh yeah, Right Mom!" Then they bust out laughing!
and YES, They still had school when it was 40 below, back then!
We girls had to wear dresses to school, so we wore jeans under the dresses and took them off when we got to school.
Some days, I had to run ice cold water over my hands and feet when i got home because they hurt so much from the cold.
Geez!  That was so long ago it seems like another lifetime!


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## Fyrefox (Jun 20, 2021)

My mother used to regale us with stories of how bad winters were in Buffalo, N.Y.  I supposedly was born during a snow storm.  My mother used her outdoor clothesline in the winter even though she had an electric clothes dryer.  The clothes would dry rigidly hard with icicles on them where they dripped, but my mother claimed they were softer and smelled better than those done in the dryer.  I thought it was freaky that frozen jeans could literally stand up by themselves!


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## Aunt Marg (Jun 20, 2021)

Verisure said:


> People are forever talking about nostalgia. There was a time when I did too but now I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in place or time than where I am right now. I used to listen to "oldies" and thought, _"Man! Those were the days!"_ Today when I listen to those tunes or think of life in general "back then" I get really depressed. I think it's because I knew so little and what I did know was untrue. I was taught to appreciate romance and honesty and then I grew up (still growing up today) to discover that the majority of the world's population are cheaters - in both senses of the word. Have I become a cynic? Yes, I suppose that I have and I guess that's a negative thing but it means that I appreciate the life I have now today. That's not a bad thing, is it?


Reading your post, Verisure, my heart aches for you. I do think many of us... most of us in fact, were raised with the ideas you were, and through growing and maturing we established our own vision of what life held for us. 

I also grew up with certain beliefs my parents instilled upon me, most good, but through life's lessons learned, I quickly realized life was different and would be different for me than what it was for my parents, but thinking back to those lost days that are so far behind me now, I still find comfort, happiness, and contentment in the past when I reflect upon it, more so than my life today.

I know we're all programmed differently, none of being the same, but I believe that's the key, to find happiness, contentment, comfort and peace at some point in time in ones life, and for some of us, that's now, and for those like me, it's in the past.


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## SmoothSeas (Jun 20, 2021)

One thing I'm realizing is that it was more fun being 20 in the 70's, than it is being 70 in the 20's...


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## MarkinPhx (Jun 20, 2021)

I don't know. Some of us may have had to walk in the bitter cold to get to school while others like me had to endure the heat at times but at least we were able to spend the time at school and after school with our friends. I give credit to the endurance the kids have had to put up with for the past year when socializing was limited and there were no activities such as Little League, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, school plays, etc to keep the kids busy and able to be with other kids.

And on a side note, I grew up as a kid in the 60's. My dad grew up as a kid in the 30's. He had it much tougher than I did growing  so though I might sometimes think of how much easier kids have it today (if we do leave out the COVID year), I certainly had it a lot easier than his generation did. But judging from the stories he would tell me about his childhood, he was just as happy being a kid in his times as I was in my times.


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## Aunt Marg (Jun 20, 2021)

Gaer said:


> If I try to tell my children about walking home two miles from school everyday, even in 40 below weather, they  just laugh and say, "Oh yeah, Right Mom!" Then they bust out laughing!
> and YES, They still had school when it was 40 below, back then!
> We girls had to wear dresses to school, so we wore jeans under the dresses and took them off when we got to school.
> Some days, I had to run ice cold water over my hands and feet when i got home because they hurt so much from the cold.
> Geez!  That was so long ago it seems like another lifetime!


I remember reading an entry from a member telling how schools would shut down when it was cold, and as a canuck I nearly fell off my rocker with laughter.

Here in Canada schools don't shut down because there's a wind-chill or temps plummet, that's what winter parkas, boots, toques, scarves, mitts and gloves are for.

I remember walking to and from school on days where it was raining so hard it would take longer to get too and from school, because I would mad-dash my way to and from school the entire way, reaching that favourite oak or maple tree in so-and-so's yard, and as soon as I caught my breath, I was off again, this time looking to make it to the wonderful church along the way that had a most perfect overhang at the front entrance, and there I would stand for a few more minutes in hopes of the downpour subsiding, then it was off to the next stop along the way.

In all the years I attended school, I was never chauffeured to and from as kids are today, and I recall there only being two times in all those years where school was cancelled due to extreme weather, with heavy snow accumulations being the reason both times.

I recall my brown paper lunch bag turning to mush part way to school on rainy or snowy days, and on those days I learned to bread bag my lunch for the trek.

We kids would walk in the tire tracks left behind in the snow to help ease the effort of trudging through and having to break trail through a foot or more of freshly fallen white stuff, and in our travels often looked for that perfect slide down a hill in our waterproof snow pants. Walking to and from school wasn't just about getting to and from school, it was about playtime, too, and believe me, we made the most of it.

It really does seem like a lifetime ago. That's the only part that makes me sad, wondering where did the time go.


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## Aunt Marg (Jun 20, 2021)

Fyrefox said:


> My mother used to regale us with stories of how bad winters were in Buffalo, N.Y.  I supposedly was born during a snow storm.  My mother used her outdoor clothesline in the winter even though she had an electric clothes dryer.  The clothes would dry rigidly hard with icicles on them where they dripped, but my mother claimed they were softer and smelled better than those done in the dryer.  I thought it was freaky that frozen jeans could literally stand up by themselves!


Gosh, that's one thing my mom never did, was hang washing on the outdoor line throughout winter, and being a staunch line-drier that I am, too, I have never hung washing in the winter, but do think about those who have. Have seen a few images of frozen clothing standing on it's own.


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## cdestroyer (Jun 20, 2021)

does it snow in montana? I remember also, walking to school thru the bitter cold wind, some kids got frost bite no buses so only the locals,


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## Aunt Marg (Jun 20, 2021)

MarkinPhx said:


> I don't know. Some of us may have had to walk in the bitter cold to get to school while others like me had to endure the heat at times but at least we were able to spend the time at school and after school with our friends. I give credit to the endurance the kids have had to put up with for the past year when socializing was limited and there were no activities such as Little League, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, school plays, etc to keep the kids busy and able to be with other kids.
> 
> And on a side note, I grew up as a kid in the 60's. My dad grew up as a kid in the 30's. He had it much tougher than I did growing  so though I might sometimes think of how much easier kids have it today (if we do leave out the COVID year), I certainly had it a lot easier than his generation did. But judging from the stories he would tell me about his childhood, he was just as happy being a kid in his times as I was in my times.


Growing up as a young child, my parents stories reflected much the same as mine, but where I started seeing change in relation to young and growing children and the freedoms we had in comparison to the freedoms kids today don't have, started in the 1990's.

Fully fenced yards, always being supervised, being chauffeured to and from school, to events, etc, property owners less tolerant of having neighbourhood children commandeer their yards as their personal playgrounds, and so on.

I don't recall ever being shooed by a homeowner for playing in their yard back in the day... boy, have times ever changed. Our playground was everyone's yards, and for blocks around, nothing was out of bounds.

Life today has become way too overly structured, and way too restrictive for kids as compared to childhood back in the 60's and 70's.


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## Pecos (Jun 20, 2021)

We lived in Northern Idaho until I was nine. We were snowed in multiple times. Those were the days when the basement was full of home canned goods and the coal bin was filled to the brim.


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## MarkinPhx (Jun 20, 2021)

Aunt Marg said:


> Growing up as a young child, my parents stories reflected much the same as mine, but where I started seeing change in relation to young and growing children and the freedoms we had in comparison to the freedoms kids today don't have, started in the 1990's.
> 
> Fully fenced yards, always being supervised, being chauffeured to and from school, to events, etc, property owners less tolerant of having neighbourhood children commandeer their yards as their personal playgrounds, and so on.
> 
> ...


We had that one neighbor that I think everyone had, the one who everyone was afraid of. If we hit a ball onto his lawn we would gingerly retrieve it and if it went into his backyard, forget it ! That ball was lost forever. There were stories that he would chase children off his lawn with his belt swinging. Of course no one saw anything close to that but all the kids were afraid of him and his house. Part of the neighborhood mystique I guess.


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## Aunt Marg (Jun 20, 2021)

cdestroyer said:


> View attachment 170070
> does it snow in montana? I remember also, walking to school thru the bitter cold wind, some kids got frost bite no buses so only the locals,


A lovely snap of history right there!

The snow banks and pathway leading to the front door is exactly how I remember it when I was a kid!

Snow banks so high, one struggled to toss the snow from their shovel up high enough for it to stay there.


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## Aunt Marg (Jun 20, 2021)

SmoothSeas said:


> One thing I'm realizing is that it was more fun being 20 in the 70's, than it is being 70 in the 20's...


Even though I'm not in my 70's, I can totally see that!


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## Aunt Marg (Jun 20, 2021)

Pecos said:


> We lived in Northern Idaho until I was nine. We were snowed in multiple times. Those were the days when the basement was full of home canned goods and the coal bin was filled to the brim.


Oh yes, our house, too (no coal bin though). 

My dad built a large shelving unit for mom out of 2x4's, and mom would fill that shelving unit to the brim with everything from canned beans, to pears and peaches, cherries, syrups, relishes, jams and jellies, there was a little bit of everything, and what a pleasure it was to be able to go downstairs and fetch a homemade jar of something or another when it was bitter cold outside with a foot or two of freshly fallen snow.


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## Pappy (Jun 20, 2021)

When us kids weren’t shooting our BB guns, we like to walk uphill to our patch of woods and use a twig, usually spruce, cut a point on it and place a crabapple on the point. Then, like throwing a baseball, fling the apple as far as we could. Those apples would really get some distance. We tried to hit our barn which was quite far away.


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## Aunt Marg (Jun 20, 2021)

MarkinPhx said:


> We had that one neighbor that I think everyone had, the one who everyone was afraid of. If we hit a ball onto his lawn we would gingerly retrieve it and if it went into his backyard, forget it ! That ball was lost forever. There were stories that he would chase children off his lawn with his belt swinging. Of course no one saw anything close to that but all the kids were afraid of him and his house. Part of the neighborhood mystique I guess.


Now had such a neighbour been in our hood when I was growing up, he/she would have been the recipient of doorbell ring, with a special package waiting for them... a package the boys would set aflame to, a brown paper bag special filled with dog poop, and of course there was the lead-up to Halloween night. We referred to it as "_gate night_" when I was growing up, and if you were a no-good, you were mopping eggs off your deck and windows the morning after.


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## timoc (Jun 20, 2021)

Not forgetting the sleds we made from oven roasting tins, tin baths and us poor folk used odd bits of lino. Not much fun when we were hurtling down a slope at 90mph and a tree appeared from nowhere, I think that's how I flattened my nose.


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## Verisure (Jun 20, 2021)

Aunt Marg said:


> Reading your post, Verisure, my heart aches for you. I do think many of us... most of us in fact, were raised with the ideas you were, and through growing and maturing we established our own vision of what life held for us.
> 
> I also grew up with certain beliefs my parents instilled upon me, most good, but through life's lessons learned, I quickly realized life was different and would be different for me than what it was for my parents, but thinking back to those lost days that are so far behind me now, I still find comfort, happiness, and contentment in the past when I reflect upon it, more so than my life today.
> 
> I know we're all programmed differently, none of being the same, but I believe that's the key, to find happiness, contentment, comfort and peace at some point in time in ones life, and for some of us, that's now, and for those like me, it's in the past.


It's sort of funny (not 'ha-ha' funny) that I've left the past behind me and most of the pain I feel is when "looking back". I've done a lot of "leaving behind" in my life, picking up *everything* and travelling to the other end of the earth and starting afresh ... then doing it again, and again, and again. I suppose it makes sense being as I was forever finding very little that stacked up to my expectations. I am content now for the most part. I've done nearly everything I've ever wanted to do and if it worked, it worked and if it didn't, it didn't but I found out on my own terms and I can never criticize myself for not trying or for taking things "on faith". So, this thing about nostalgia ... I forgive everyone from the past and that includes myself but I wouldn't want to return to it, no Siree Bob!


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## Aunt Marg (Jun 20, 2021)

Pappy said:


> When us kids weren’t shooting our BB guns, we like to walk uphill to our patch of woods and use a twig, usually spruce, cut a point on it and place a crabapple on the point. Then, like throwing a baseball, fling the apple as far as we could. Those apples would really get some distance. We tried to hit our barn which was quite far away.


There was no shortage of things kids delved into back in the way.

My FIL used to tell us stories how he would cut out a portion of an old rubber inner tube to make a sling for catapulting rocks. He said he'd get the sling going above his head and once it achieved a speed of a hundred or so miles an hour, he'd let one side of the sling go and the rock would rocket out of the holding patch like a bullet out of a gun.






Homemade slingshots were norm back in the day when I was growing up. Boys who couldn't afford a store-bought version simply carved their own.






Also remember what fun we had with mountain ash berries. We'd cut a foot-long piece out of an old garden hose, and use the length like a blowgun, firing mountain ash berries out the end at the speed of a pellet gun.


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## Aunt Marg (Jun 20, 2021)

timoc said:


> Not forgetting the sleds we made from oven roasting tins, tin baths and us poor folk used odd bits of lino. Not much fun when we were hurtling down a slope at 90mph and a tree appeared from nowhere, I think that's how I flattened my nose.


That's the thing about past generations, we found out own fun, and most of the fun was frugal.

Myself, I remember hunting down the perfect cardboard box from my grandparents cellar, then walking to a neighboring gravel pit, climbing into the cardboard box, and sliding down the gravel banks. When the bottom of the box got a hole in it, I'd get a new cardboard box.


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## Paco Dennis (Jun 20, 2021)




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## horseless carriage (Jun 20, 2021)




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## Colleen (Jun 20, 2021)

I was born in 1946 and grew up in Michigan. We had a vacant lot kitty corner from our house that the fire department use to come and flood it every winter and put up a warming shed. My dad and I went ice skating a lot. My parents took me and some of my cousins in the winter to a resort called Silver Valley where we could taboggan and skate and ski and there was a wonderful horse drawn sleigh that took us for rides. We lived a couple blocks from Lake Huron so summers were spent at the beach. There was an amusement park there and we had picnics. We had many piers to go (perch) fishing from and, of course, there was boating. There were many marinas and almost everyone had a boat. It was great time to grow up. We had a real uptown with lots of stores to shop at. 

I think it's true that as you get older you think about the past and it's certainly true in my case. I didn't realize what a great time it really was. We never had to worry about being abducted while riding your bike. Church was a Sunday ritual where the women dressed in dresses and the men wore suits. Life was slower paced and simpler. "If I could turn back time....."


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## Aunt Marg (Jun 20, 2021)

Colleen said:


> I was born in 1946 and grew up in Michigan. We had a vacant lot kitty corner from our house that the fire department use to come and flood it every winter and put up a warming shed. My dad and I went ice skating a lot. My parents took me and some of my cousins in the winter to a resort called Silver Valley where we could taboggan and skate and ski and there was a wonderful horse drawn sleigh that took us for rides. We lived a couple blocks from Lake Huron so summers were spent at the beach. There was an amusement park there and we had picnics. We had many piers to go (perch) fishing from and, of course, there was boating. There were many marinas and almost everyone had a boat. It was great time to grow up. We had a real uptown with lots of stores to shop at.
> 
> I think it's true that as you get older you think about the past and it's certainly true in my case. I didn't realize what a great time it really was. We never had to worry about being abducted while riding your bike. Church was a Sunday ritual where the women dressed in dresses and the men wore suits. Life was slower paced and simpler. "If I could turn back time....."


Wonderful memories!

For years the guys at the fire hall would flood a portion of their parking lot for the kids to skate on, and the city still floods a local park turning the grounds into one big giant skating rink. What could be any better than skating outdoors and skating anytime you want, no time frames, no hours, no special days, just, whenever.

I was thinking about you mentioning "uptown", and how in my old childhood neighbourhood we referred to town as "downtown", because we travelled down hills to get there, but when we moved a few years later we were down from town so we'd say "uptown". Brings back great memories.

I still enjoy the sound of church bells ringing on Sunday mornings, because it reminds me of my childhood. We lived 3 blocks from the church we attended occasionally, and the bells were always clear as ever. Such warmness attached to those early memories, a warmness that today doesn't touch.

Some of the best adventures we went on as kids, was visiting the creek bed which started just one block from our house. It ran through the yards of all the residential areas and went for blocks and blocks, and being that it was at a much lower grade than the land, no one ever knew we were there, and it passed under to two streets which made navigating the creek a lot of fun.

Sometimes we'd pack a lunch and sit with our feet in the trickling water while eating a sandwich, and the water was never deep, just a few inches, so it made for a relatively safe place for young and growing minds to explore. We'd spend hours walking it and sitting on a rock just enjoying taking in the peace, the quiet, and the cool.

There was a hint of magic attached to my childhood years that words cannot describe, you truly had to live it, sleep it, and eat it. Kids today wouldn't even begin to understand. Whenever I reflect upon my childhood I feel so blessed that I got to enjoy living as a kid in the era I did. 

I'm totally with you, Colleen, if I could turn back time.


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## Aunt Marg (Jun 20, 2021)

Pecos said:


> We lived in Northern Idaho until I was nine. We were snowed in multiple times. Those were the days when the basement was full of home canned goods and the coal bin was filled to the brim.


Sometimes it takes me a bit to remember certain things about long-lost childhood memories, but your mention of the coal bin, Pecos, reminded me of one of my friends houses, where they had a small, all concrete room in the basement, and on the outside of their house was an iron door, but a big door, just large enough to allow for cut firewood to pass through it.

Anyhow, I remember my friends dad would toss the cut firewood in through the iron door, the firewood landing on the concrete floor of the wood room, and my friend and I would help stack it for him.

Always thought having such a room for firewood was one of the neatest things ever.


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## Ruby Rose (Jun 20, 2021)

Aunt Marg said:


> Just finished posting a reply on an older thread topic related to summer heat and how we coped as kids... found here
> 
> https://www.seniorforums.com/threads/summer-days-prior-to-air-conditioning.43653/page-2#post-1768958
> 
> ...


Sounds like me in the good old days...we were not 'sissies'! Now living in Manitoba, their winters bring all those good memories back!


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## Ruby Rose (Jun 20, 2021)

Aunt Marg said:


> There was no shortage of things kids delved into back in the way.
> 
> My FIL used to tell us stories how he would cut out a portion of an old rubber inner tube to make a sling for catapulting rocks. He said he'd get the sling going above his head and once it achieved a speed of a hundred or so miles an hour, he'd let one side of the sling go and the rock would rocket out of the holding patch like a bullet out of a gun.
> 
> ...


When my grandson turned ten, I presented him with the coolest  home-made slingshot. Both my son-in-law and young daughter were 'horrified' at the sight and potential of it. My grandson's mouth hung open speechless!  Needless to say, I took it back in case they burned it in their fireplace. City people! I think they thought of it as a weapon of sorts. My siblings and I all had one when we were young and living on the farm. We had many trees. My Dad made them...I remember them well.


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## Gaer (Jun 20, 2021)

Cool thread, Marg!


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## Aunt Marg (Jun 20, 2021)

So lovely hearing from you, Ruby Rose!

Coming from Manitoba, I just know you experienced bone-chilling winters!

When an old rubber inner tube wasn't available, my dad would take baby brother to the drug store where dad would purchase a couple of feet of surgical tubing, which dad would use to outfit baby brothers slingshot with.

I do remember homemade slingshots... dad made a few, but we always had a store-bought one in the house, however, having a slingshot to ones name was king in those days whether it was store-bought or not.

Love all of the memories posted!

P.S. Thank you, Gaer!


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## Llynn (Jun 20, 2021)

I grew up fairly high up in the Cascade mountains. In those days, we got a lot of snow that came early and lasted 'til spring. The Company shut down the high camp during winter and we moved to the low camp for the duration.

I don't remember school ever being cancelled for weather. When it snowed, they just put chains on the buses and went on as usual. When the County plowed our roads they always left a cover of snow so chains could be used. There was one hill that, even with chains on, the buses couldn't climb. The kids who lived up there had to trudge to the bottom of their hill where the bus was waiting for them. 

On another topic in this thread, I wish I had a dollar for every slingshot I made during my growing up years. There was always a pile of blown out logging truck inner tubes around from which to cut the bands for our weapons. Sometimes we made them so powerful it was impossible for a kid to pull it back.


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## Lewkat (Jun 20, 2021)

I was born at the height of the depression, so you bet we were tough.  Not like we had a choice.  We all grew up with character and self esteem because we earned it.


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## Ruby Rose (Jun 20, 2021)

Aunt Marg said:


> Sometimes it takes me a bit to remember certain things about long-lost childhood memories, but your mention of the coal bin, Pecos, reminded me of one of my friends houses, where they had a small, all concrete room in the basement, and on the outside of their house was an iron door, but a big door, just large enough to allow for cut firewood to pass through it.
> 
> Anyhow, I remember my friends dad would toss the cut firewood in through the iron door, the firewood landing on the concrete floor of the wood room, and my friend and I would help stack it for him.
> 
> Always thought having such a room for firewood was one of the neatest things ever.


My siblings and I all loved that coal bin...the sight...the sound of it coming down the chute and the smell!


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## Remy (Jun 20, 2021)

I'm originally from the central coast of California. Pretty temperate climate.


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## Ruth n Jersey (Jun 20, 2021)

I remember those cold snowy days as I made way to school. My mom would make me wear pants under my dress and those rubber boots were impossible to get on over shoes and the damp smell of our cloak room as we called it back then.  
It seemed by the time I got out of all that stuff it was time to put it all on again and go back home.

I vividly remember one incident. I was walking home from school in the snow with my bookbag and a few other things. I guess I didn't pull those darn pants all the way up and they slid down around my knees. 
There I stood, I couldn't move. I didn't want to put my bookbag and whatever else I was holding in the snow, I had mittens on so I probably couldn't fasten the pants anyway. 
From out of nowhere our neighbor came running out of the house and got my pants up. I remember she was the lady on out party line. She really saved the day.
My mom called her and thanked her.
My mom would always have my bunny slippers warming on the radiator to warm my feet when I got home from school.
I was an only child but I can't think of one time that I was bored. 
I loved playing with my paper dolls. When the tabs came off my mom taped on new ones. Sometime I would cut whole families out of our Montgomery Wards catalog. 
I'd love to relive some of those days as a child but not so much as an adult. There was a lot of work behind the scenes back then that I didn't realize.
All I knew was that I felt safe and loved.


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## Verisure (Jun 21, 2021)

Aunt Marg said:


> There was no shortage of things kids delved into back in the way.
> 
> My FIL used to tell us stories how he would cut out a portion of an old rubber inner tube to make a sling for catapulting rocks. He said he'd get the sling going above his head and once it achieved a speed of a hundred or so miles an hour, he'd let one side of the sling go and the rock would rocket out of the holding patch like a bullet out of a gun.
> 
> ...


That there is why Goliath left the Northern Territories to try his luck in the Holy Land instead.


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## fuzzybuddy (Jun 21, 2021)

Fyrefox said:


> My mother used to regale us with stories of how bad winters were in Buffalo, N.Y.  I supposedly was born during a snow storm.  My mother used her outdoor clothesline in the winter even though she had an electric clothes dryer.  The clothes would dry rigidly hard with icicles on them where they dripped, but my mother claimed they were softer and smelled better than those done in the dryer.  I thought it was freaky that frozen jeans could literally stand up by themselves!


OMG!!! My mom did the same. She hung the clothes out, but it was my job to get them, and put them in the dryer. The damn things were frozen to the clothes line. You had to break them off. Then you had to "break" them to get in the dryer door. Oh, the clothes smelled so  better, when my brother and I had to fight to get them off the line , and in the dryer. But after we moved out, the clothes didn't need all the wonderful aroma, and went straight into the dryer, I can't guess why.


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## Happyflowerlady (Jun 24, 2021)

Pecos said:


> We lived in Northern Idaho until I was nine. We were snowed in multiple times. Those were the days when the basement was full of home canned goods and the coal bin was filled to the brim.


I grew up in Sandpoint, in northern Idaho, and I remember that the snow was piled up so high that we could reach the eaves of the house and get the icesickles off of the roof (which we ate).
I remember walking to school every day, and that it was rarely (if ever) closed for snowstorms.  We did get really bad blizzards every now and then, which drifted the roads shut, so pretty much everything was shut down until the snowplows could get to the roads and plow them back open.
I loved riding my horse around after the blizzard !  The whole world was snowy white, almost blindingly white, and beautiful.  Dandy and I were the only moving things out in the street , and he seemed to enjoy the ride as much as I did.

This is me on top of the snow bank near our car in winter With my dog, Bonzo. You can see the roof of the garage behind me.


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## Pecos (Jun 24, 2021)

Happyflowerlady said:


> I grew up in Sandpoint, in northern Idaho, and I remember that the snow was piled up so high that we could reach the eaves of the house and get the icesickles off of the roof (which we ate).
> I remember walking to school every day, and that it was rarely (if ever) closed for snowstorms.  We did get really bad blizzards every now and then, which drifted the roads shut, so pretty much everything was shut down until the snowplows could get to the roads and plow them back open.
> I loved riding my horse around after the blizzard !  The whole world was snowy white, almost blindingly white, and beautiful.  Dandy and I were the only moving things out in the street , and he seemed to enjoy the ride as much as I did.
> 
> ...


Wow, My mother and I lived in Sandpoint with my Grandfather during most of WWII. My Grandfather had a English Spaniel named Mickey that looked a whole lot like the one in your picture. After the war ended, we lived in Pullman, Troy, and finally Pocatello before moving down to ElPaso. I always missed the beauty of Idaho and it took me quite a while to really see the beauty of the high desert.


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