Things You Did As A Kid

[KG4CGC]

I'll think of them as they come to me but one of things we did was ride our bicycles on dirt trails and jump ramps because it was the age of Evel Knievel.
As time went on we also modded our bikes.

[N7YA]

I would take junk bikes, grab a hacksaw and cut the front forks off, then stick them over the forks of my heavy, yellow Schwinn Scrambler and duct tape them. Then put the wheel back on and ride my dangerously unstable new chopper around the neighborhood like i did something special.

[KG4CGC]

LOL! I did that once! ONCE!

What was the name of that game where you would closeline your opponents?
Red Rover?

[N7YA]

I dont remember that one, but we played deathsack...it involved a deathwish, psychosis and a hackeysack. It was a combination of hackeysack, rugby, hockey, MMA and assholery. In an open parking lot or field, someone would kick the sack as high as possible, then everyone would run to it to be the first to kick it back up as high as possible. Lots of people got injured.

[KG4CGC]

That's when you were older, I'm guessing. Teen years?

Red Rover we were 5 and 6 years old.

There was another one, like Stoplight Greenlight except it was also kind of creepy like weeping angels.
One kid would stand on one end of a field and the other kids would be down field about 50 feet or more, side by side, 5 to 10 kids wide.
The one kid that stood alone would turn their back and the other kids would have to advance forward until, the one kid would turn back around. When the one kid turned back around, if they saw you moving you'd be out. So you'd have to advance forward without being seen when the one kid turned back around. The kid that advanced the furthest without being seen moving and tagged the one kid would win.

[N8YX]

Built bicycle choppers. Built the first MTB-esque contraptions from steel-framed road bicycles. Built motorized go-karts, mini-bikes.

I fashioned my own bows and fletched my own arrows; made hunting and field points for them. Fished, hunted, hiked.

Built a LOT of electronic and electrical stuff. I was the go-to for the entire neighborhood for times when something needed fixed, modded or designed.

[kb2crk]

Building ramps at the bottom of large hills and jumping bicycles for distance. Cracked more than one frame doing that. We also plated kill the guy with the ball. A football was tossed up and everyone went after it. How ever got it tried to run and stay up as everyone else tired to tackle them. When they went down the ball got thrown up again and it was on again. Rope swing of a tree at the top of a hill to see how far you could swing out and land without breaking any bones. Riding bicycles across thin ice on frozen ponds to see who would go the furthest. I cant remember now but sometimes I wonder how I am still alive...lmao

Almost forgot the 102" whip with the CB on the bicycle powered by a Motorcycle battery that was recharged by a 12 volt wheel generator.

[K4PIH]

Launch model rockets with no guide rail to see which way they would go. Built one into a PVC tube like a bazooka!

[WZ7U]

Almost forgot the 102" whip with the CB on the bicycle powered by a Motorcycle battery that was recharged by a 12 volt wheel generator.
Holy crap, I did that too! Johnson 123A silver face 23 channel. Boy, that was a long time ago...

[KG4CGC]

Launch model rockets with no guide rail to see which way they would go. Built one into a PVC tube like a bazooka!

Did some nutty things with model rockets including building one that looked like the Star Trek Enterprise straight from the kit. Last time I launched it, it went up then did 3 huge loops to the east at about 80 off the ground before it slammed into the ground. Just wasn't a good platform for a rocket by the 3rd flight.

[WZ7U]

Did ya ever have pop bottle rocket and roman candle wars? How we never put an eye out is beyond me.

[koØm]

Setup: My city is called, "The City with Seven Hills and Ten Thousand Valleys". This is about me and 3 of my friends (all brothers), years later I still laugh until tears roll out my eyes.

My street was on top of, the top of another hill; cars had to "Gun it" to get up those hills and slow down after they crested the hill.

Soooo, we get the idea to create a "body" using my hat, one guys shirt, another guys shoes and, the oldest brother's pants stuffed with straw; we placed it in the middle of the street on the blind side of the hill after dark.

Boy-oh-boy did you hear cars screening to a halt and pissed off / cursing drivers; each driver would cast the dummy aside and keep going, we would come out of hiding and put it back in place. This was big fun until it was their father's car that crowned that hill and locked up the brakes.

We immediately, "Sans Station" while the father kicked the dummy to the curb and continued down the street towards home.

Myself and the younger two brothers retrieved our items but we hide the oldest brother's pant; we told him that his father had thrown them over the wall into the bushes.

We kept him out there in his boxers for at least 15 minutes, scared to go in the house, couldn't find his pants until we gave them back.

He wanted to fight, we were too busy running away and laughing.

.

[kb2crk]

Holy crap, I did that too! Johnson 123A silver face 23 channel. Boy, that was a long time ago...

I had a SBE Formula D 23 channel to start with but switched to an SBE Brute 23 channel When my dad retired it for a 40 channel.

[kb2vxa]

My best friend across the street and I were the neighborhood terrorists with loud explosions and clouds of smoke by day, blue arcs and flashing lights by night. Victor Frankenstein was our hero and model; "Crazy am I? We'll SEE whether I'm crazy or not!" Yeah, the kids are crazy.

The loud explosions and clouds of smoke were our rockets, CO2 cartridges for powering BB and pellet guns, illegal but the cartridges weren't, filled very tediously with heads of book matches cut off with shop shears. The launch tubes were steel pipes held in wooden frames copied from Nike Hercules launchers, ignited by modified spark plugs energized by a furnace igniter transformer at the end of a 50 foot extension cord. We didn't want to be ANYWHERE near the launcher when the countdown reached zero! The reason was simple, occasionally one would explode and take the launcher with it.

One electric arc was by day, our recreation of Marconi's transatlantic S sent across town to a third SWL friend with his receiver tuned to dead air at 1710KHz that only came alive occasionally at night with the New Hampshire State Police, the last of the "calling all cars" statewide broadcasts. Once the phone rang telling us the S was heard it was our last, before neighbors caught wise who was causing all that racket on their radios and TVs. That led into CB, the training ground for transmitters, receivers, and antennas that led into Amateur Radio, the only part of the test I had to buckle down and study for was band assignments, and that led into computers via digital radio. As they say at Commencement, onward, upward, and inward!

1767617677

[KG4CGC]

Did ya ever have pop bottle rocket and roman candle wars? How we never put an eye out is beyond me.

Bottle rocket wars? Why YES! Yes we did!

[N7YA]

That's when you were older, I'm guessing. Teen years?



Oh yeah, i was about 18. The rest of the guys were adults, some were Vietnam vets and bikers, we were drunk and high on stuff. Pretty stupid idea, overall.

Back in the mid 70's, we had a long, steep hill in Riverside, CA. Me and the other kids got our Big Wheels out and raced down the hill, traffic be damned! The problem was stopping. We slammed on the peddles, but the wheels were cheap plastic, we just bore holes in them, then slammed into the curb.....you know, now that you brought this up, I did a lot of stupid shit when i was a kid. Its a wonder i'm even alive.

[KG4CGC]

I lived at the top of a big hill starting in 1972.
A couple of times I had to do some quick thinking when flying down the hill and my chain came off my bike.
Remember the old back pedal braking?
I was near the bottom with no brakes so I rode along the curb, rubbing the tires until I could slow down enough to jump off into a yard.
Tuck and roll!

[K4PIH]

Did some nutty things with model rockets including building one that looked like the Star Trek Enterprise straight from the kit. Last time I launched it, it went up then did 3 huge loops to the east at about 80 off the ground before it slammed into the ground. Just wasn't a good platform for a rocket by the 3rd flight.

I built a rocket with huge fins, thinking it didn't need a guide rail once it took off. Problem was I didn't have the electric igniter to set if t off. I convinced my fellow criminal to do a belly crawl and put a fire cracker fuse up the engine and light it with a match. He dutifully carried out my wish but after lighting the fuse he spun around to belly crawl away and of course the rocket took off and headed directly for his butt crack!

I thought I'd never outrun him!

[kb2crk]

I lived at the top of a big hill starting in 1972.
A couple of times I had to do some quick thinking when flying down the hill and my chain came off my bike.
Remember the old back pedal braking?
I was near the bottom with no brakes so I rode along the curb, rubbing the tires until I could slow down enough to jump off into a yard.
Tuck and roll!

Brakes? we dont need no stinking brakes... ride it is out up the hill on the other side. Thats we we did in north jersey.

[kb2crk]

Did ya ever have pop bottle rocket and roman candle wars? How we never put an eye out is beyond me.

roman candle and bottle rocket wars were the shit until the cops showed up

[KG4CGC]

Brakes? we dont need no stinking brakes... ride it is out up the hill on the other side. Thats we we did in north jersey.

STOP sign was next. Cul-de-sac was next. House was next. Wasn't no uphilling it! It was jump or die!

[kb2crk]

STOP sign was next. Cul-de-sac was next. House was next. Wasn't no uphilling it! It was jump or die!

Well to uphill it you had to blow through three stop signs. Luckily the house was across the street at the top of the other hill. we just had to watch for the bus traffic and pray at everyone of the stop signs
.

[N8YX]

17677
One of my area ham buddies went to school with Cassandra and remains friends with her.

[kb2vxa]

The Left Coast had her out of La La Land, home of real life Hollyweird vampires and ghouls. She also had an out of character cameo in the closing scene of Cheech Marin's movie Born In East L. A. sitting on the back of the front seat of a pink Cadillac convertible. The Right Coast counterpart was John Zacherle, professionally Zacherle (pron. zak-er-lee) The Cool Ghoul host of Chiller Theatre on WCAU TV 6 Philadelphia, WOR-TV channel 9 Secaucus, NJ and later Disc-O-Teen, yet another American Bandstand clone on WNJU channel 47 licensed to Newark, both transmitting from The Gorilla Building in NYC. Dressed like Dracula with awful makeup he was extremely popular doing his Mystery Science Theater type bit with the engineer putting him as a cameo in classic horror movies when he wasn't live chatting with his unseen wife in a coffin and Gasport, a bouncing rag bag that made sounds like Cousin It before there was The Addams Family on TV. I have a rare clip of his Disc-O-Teen show and two parody song albums, Dinner With Drac and Spook Along With Zacherle on the Cameo-Parkway label in my CRYPTic archives. Oh, we can't forget his stint as a DJ on WPLJ Rock Radio 95.5 FM NYC, the call letters taken from Frank Zappa's much better remake of WPLJ (White Port & Lemon Juice) by The 4 Deuces in 1956. Hover your mouse pointer over the image for a chuckle.

17680

The greatest prank Kevin and I ever pulled was The Invisible Rope Trick one night under the only streetlight next to a small woods across from a small county park on a small island in small Rahway, NJ where we grew up. When an occasional car came we crouched down on opposite sides of the road, when it got about 10 feet away we stood rearing back like we had a rope stretched across the road between us. Some drivers just kept going, some stopped looking around and went on their way, one panic stopped screeching to a halt up on the curb... THUMP! The driver enraged chased us into the dark woods we knew every inch of, he didn't. Behind us we herd him crashing into trees, tripping over roots and rocks doing face plants in the dirt, and we learned a few new words that night. I ran across the river on some large rocks, Kevin circled around behind him getting him to give chase where Kev ducked into a large concrete pipe, the storm sewer outlet under the bridge. I ran up across the river and watched the bloke chucking rocks into the pipe missing Kev in a square manhole chucking them back out at him. Oh no, that wasn't enough, I chucked the biggest rocks I could hitting him in the crossfire. That's when he skedaddled up onto the road, got in his car and high tailpiped it out of there tires squealing. We would have LOVED to have been flies on the wall when he got home and his wife asked how he got all bruised, wet, and muddy clothes all torn. That's ONE bloke who learned that road rage can have its consequences. (;->)

[N8YX]

The greatest prank Kevin and I ever pulled was The Invisible Rope Trick...

Not too far from where I live is the Ohio-Erie Canal. It's now a national park and has a very well-maintained walking/biking path, which itself was the old tow path - where horses and mules used to pull canal boats.

Growing up, the area was a little different. People actually lived on the strip of land between the canal and the Tuscarawas River, and sections of the tow path were cordoned off - by poles supporting large diameter wire rope. Since no 4-wheeled vehicles could easily get into the area it was a natural magnet for those of us who had dirt bikes, mini bikes, pedal bikes, guns, fishing rods and girlfriends.

I'm not sure of the circumstances but one of my cousins had a 12 year old friend who hit one of those wire ropes at high speed on his mini bike one evening - at dusk. The tow path was still coal and cinders back then (unlike today, where it's all crushed limestone) and the wire rope was dark and rusty without hazard signs attached. This rope was placed by the city - not by the land users/squatters.

The kid broke his neck and died. Needless to say it didn't go over well downtown, and any shenanigans involving things strung across throughways will IMMEDIATELY draw the ire of our local constabulary.

[kb2vxa]

Somehow I don't understand what you're driving at, sorry OM.What is the connection between shenanigans and public safety? What is the connection between steel rope cordoning off a canal towpath to prevent cars from running over pedestrians at dusk and empty air under a streetlight on a main road? We have several old canals with towpaths now walkways paved with spalls in county and state parks blocked off with wooden pilings unmarked and unlit. I've walked them during normal visitors hours of course, after dark they are quite dangerous. I don't understand the apples to oranges connection here, but be that as it may.

Speaking of kids racing where they aught not to be, back in the day I was an amateur rock and mineral collector, a "rock hound", and admittedly I with my father were trespassing in abandoned clay pits. Today there is a large shopping mall on the site. We were searching for marcasite aka white iron pyrite found in grey clay deposits. Nearby, kids were racing dirt bikes along the pit roads, one broke off from the group to climb a hill about 100ft high, from our angle we saw the other half was a cliff he didn't see. We thought we were about to witness his death plunge, we ran over just as he fell and the others noticing his absence ran to the direction they saw us running to. When we arrived we saw him swimming to shore, he landed in a pit filled with blue water clear as crystal about as deep as the hill was high. There at the bottom was this ant sized dirt bike, he was the only one not laughing hysterically.

[N8YX]

Somehow I don't understand what you're driving at, sorry OM.What is the connection between shenanigans and public safety? What is the connection between steel rope cordoning off a canal towpath to prevent cars from running over pedestrians at dusk and empty air under a streetlight on a main road?

Ropes and cables across streets in the area have caused...problems. Evidently, the city didn't want another lawsuit (justified or not) so playing that sort of game here gets the perps jammed up with a quickness.

[KG4CGC]

I remember discovering that you could fire bottle rockets into the creek or lake.
I loved listening to the sound they made, seeing the bubbles and watching the smoke come out of the bubbles before the muted little "thud" at the end.
That occupied a good hour that day as we experimented with angles and various firing solutions. I think for a while we stood on the bridge and dropped them over the side after we got bored blowing everything up under the bridge.

[kb2vxa]

"Evidently, the city didn't want another lawsuit (justified or not) so playing that sort of game here gets the perps jammed up with a quickness."
Proof that we now live in a country populated by snowflakes afraid of their own shadows. More proof right where the invisible rope trick was carried out here in the photo thanks to Google Maps Street View. The three posts and crossbeam used to block vehicular access to what was a dirt road paved with cinders, the bar was movable and locked so only city vehicles could pass to maintain a culvert where a creek goes under the road and empties into the river. As you can see it was narrowed and realigned around the posts, now an open foot/bike path (and shortcut for motorcycles). (;->)

17686

Bottle rockets are puny, there are better ways to go fishing with explosives short of using depth charges. Dad and his WW2 buddies in Italy went fishing with hand grenades. This gave me an idea, M80s float, but tied to rocks with rubber bands they sink. The afore mentioned river is clear to the bottom in deep pools here and there, one we swam in is behind that island host to the invisible rope trick. Occasionally some large carp including goldies, unwanted goldfish that grew up would migrate to the pool. They're curious and pretty much indestructible, they swam over to the sparking fuses, it looked like they were smelling them. They were THAT close when <bump> that's all an M80 sounds like under water, no reaction. They "sniffed" one after another until we ran out of M80s. I guess we'd have to use those yellow 1/4 stick of dynamite equivalent "blockbusters" but we only had 1 1/2" ladyfingers and M80s, oh well. Do carp laugh?

[KG4CGC]

When I was 8 or 9 I tied a giant peat moss bag to my arms and ran down a steep hill.
I didn't try the parachute thing though.

[kb2vxa]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhFUD2NmrGc

[KG4CGC]

Coming home from school (9th grade) and watching M*A*S*H from 3:30 to 4:30 every afternoon.
Speaking of which, I'm on season 3 on Hulu.

[kb2vxa]

I still can't get enough of The Three Stooges Columbia shorts. Unfortunately the movies with "Curly" Joe Di Rita suck like a Hoover and The Three Stooges The Movie that starts with them as kids in an orphanage is as lame as a three legged dog. I don't remember the name of the movie about their career but it's very good, so is the one about Laurel and Hardy, another of my favorite comedy teams. I remember well how my mother freaked out when she saw us doing one of their routines, didn't every kid play like a Stooge? No problem really, while she was chewing me out I suddenly gave her the eye poke, she jumped back, and I told her "There, that's how it's done, nobody gets hurt, now stop worrying.". That took care of that until she bopped me on the head, then our house had at least two Stooges.

[KG4CGC]

I think I actually slid down a grassy hill on a piece of cardboard when I was 6.

[N8YX]

Coming home from school (9th grade) and watching M*A*S*H from 3:30 to 4:30 every afternoon.
Speaking of which, I'm on season 3 on Hulu.
My high-school-years ham station started out as an HQ-100AC and a GSB-100. I built interfacing equipment to engage the transmitter's power when the receiver's clock timer turned the receiver on. I'd set them to activate 15 minutes before I hit the door (which was almost always 3:30) and everything would be warmed up enough to jump on the bands and go.

All that came to an end in April of my senior year, when I traded the entire lineup for a TS-520S. Suddenly, instant-on (comparatively speaking) intercontinental DX was at my fingertips.

[KG4CGC]

Intercontinental ballistic DX

[KC9ECI]

Launch model rockets with no guide rail to see which way they would go. Built one into a PVC tube like a bazooka!

Did that as well. Used to go to one of the local stores and buy bottles of black powder and pack them full. We also used to make pipe bombs. Still amazed that I never blew myself up.

[kb2vxa]

Pipe bombs, I made one and only ONE, the stupidest thing I ever did. A friend and I put it in the street in front of his house, lit the fuse and hid behind the house. Oh shit, here comes a car... no boom. <whew> Uh oh, the fuse must have gone out, no way were we going out there. About 5 minutes later BOOM! We looked and saw a big hole in the pavement, thank goodness it didn't go off under that car! As we were at the kitchen table having a snack we got our just deserts, (sic) his brother came home and drenched us with the garden hose through the open window. Then it was mad scramble with the mop and bucket before his parents showed up.

Then there was the second stupidest thing, a small fire out in the woods with a propane cylinder in it. We were smart enough to retreat to a safe distance avoiding shrapnel, dumb enough to not foresee what happened when the the thing exploded, burning twigs flying in every direction starting more fires that quickly got out of control. We high tailed it out of there before the FD showed up, and made solemn vows no more bombs of ANY sort. Back to home made rockets launched from my back yard ignited electrically while we were safely in my room watching out the window because occasionally one exploded on the launch pad like NASA's attempts to catch up to the Russians. I shot a rocket in the air, where it landed I know not where..............***

[KG4CGC]

dirt clod fights

[W3WN]

Pipe bombs, I made one and only ONE, the stupidest thing I ever did. A friend and I put it in the street in front of his house, lit the fuse and hid behind the house. Oh shit, here comes a car... no boom. <whew> Uh oh, the fuse must have gone out, no way were we going out there. About 5 minutes later BOOM! We looked and saw a big hole in the pavement, thank goodness it didn't go off under that car! As we were at the kitchen table having a snack we got our just deserts, (sic) his brother came home and drenched us with the garden hose through the open window. Then it was mad scramble with the mop and bucket before his parents showed up.

Then there was the second stupidest thing, a small fire out in the woods with a propane cylinder in it. We were smart enough to retreat to a safe distance avoiding shrapnel, dumb enough to not foresee what happened when the the thing exploded, burning twigs flying in every direction starting more fires that quickly got out of control. We high tailed it out of there before the FD showed up, and made solemn vows no more bombs of ANY sort. Back to home made rockets launched from my back yard ignited electrically while we were safely in my room watching out the window because occasionally one exploded on the launch pad like NASA's attempts to catch up to the Russians. I shot a rocket in the air, where it landed I know not where..............***
Explains a lot.

[K4PIH]

dirt clod fights

Yeah I had quite a few of those myself. For long range we took a piece of bamboo and cut between the knuckles, making a pocket for the dirt clod to sit in. Whip that thing over head and you get about 3 times the arm range.

[KG4CGC]

Yeah I had quite a few of those myself. For long range we took a piece of bamboo and cut between the knuckles, making a pocket for the dirt clod to sit in. Whip that thing over head and you get about 3 times the arm range.

Biblical weaponry! In the Old Testament it was all desert and they didn't have bamboo so that's why David used a sling against Goliath.

[K4PIH]

Biblical weaponry! In the Old Testament it was all desert and they didn't have bamboo so that's why David used a sling against Goliath.
I once had a sling but never got the knack of using it. Sometimes it went right into the ground and on more than one occasion straight up and lost in the sun. Lot of hands on the head duck and cover! I had an old style wooden sling shot with surgical tubing. Put a nice big rock in it and stretched it out for more power. Forgot to lower my aiming thumb, took a few weeks for my nail to grow back.

[NM5TF]

Bottle rocket wars? Why YES! Yes we did!

yup....even into my late 30s.....some people never grow up I guess....

[NM5TF]

dupe

[kb2crk]

Building ramps out of ice and snow at the bottom of hills to see how far we could jump our sled out onto the skating pond.

[KG4CGC]

I had the 45 of Joe Tex singing Disco Duck.

[edit]: Oops. That was "Aint Gonna Bump No More."
Rick Dees did Disco Duck. I had both 45's.

[kb2crk]

I had the 45 of Joe Tex singing Disco Duck.

[edit]: Oops. That was "Aint Gonna Bump No More."
Rick Dees did Disco Duck. I had both 45's.

I had Blondies eat to the beat album and the monkees greatest hits.

[KG4CGC]

I had Blondies eat to the beat album and the monkees greatest hits.

Reminds me of a McDonald's commercial (the idea of the title to the Blondie album) of the early 80's. Break dancing had just went mainstream and the commercial included a lot of repeat motion of people putting McNuggets in their mouths.
Suddenly there was a Max Headroom. Late night TV got um, interesting to say the least. I can't find the woman on Google who would show up in short clips doing odd bits. Tina Tanuta? Memory is a bit rusty on that.

[WZ7U]

Nina Blackwood maybe?

Fuzzy here too. Oh, sorry, ear.....

Tina Turner was introduced by Max, according to my limited Google-foo

[KG4CGC]

Ah, memory finally kicked in: Judy Tenuta. Look HERE (https://www.google.com/search?q=judy+tenuta&sxsrf=AOaemvIx8UbJg_4oJqp4y8aZxadt7PeCXw%3A1638573 554483&source=hp&ei=8qWqYfaME-yGwbkP7ZCV-Ac&iflsig=ALs-wAMAAAAAYaq0AoCN_1GmRy2aVjusqPXbAWVFsgWQ&gs_ssp=eJzj4tTP1TdIyS3OyTZg9OLOKk2pVChJzSstSQQAX4Y IHQ&oq=judy+ta&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAEYATIFCC4QgAQyBwguELEDEAoyBQg uEIAEMggIABCABBDJAzIFCC4QgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIFC AAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDoHCCMQ6gIQJzoHCC4Q6gIQJzo ECC4QJzoECCMQJzoLCAAQgAQQsQMQgwE6DgguEIAEELEDEMcBE KMCOg4ILhCABBCxAxDHARDRAzoICC4QgAQQsQM6CwguEIAEEMc BEK8BOggIABCxAxCDAToLCC4QsQMQxwEQowI6CAgAEIAEELEDO gcIABCABBAKOgcILhCABBAKOhEILhCABBCxAxCDARDHARCjAjo ICC4QsQMQgwE6CwguEIAEELEDEIMBSgUIPBIBM1CAG1jEV2C9d GgFcAB4AIAB5QGIAaILkgEFMS45LjGYAQCgAQGwAQo&sclient=gws-wiz).

[WZ7U]

That makes more sense

[KG4CGC]

Playing just about anywhere in the neighborhood.

[KG4CGC]

Hot Wheels tracks were cool because they could be taken outside.