O-o-o-ouch were they hot? I know we did not do that but>>>I am 100% sure there were equally stupid things we did:o We could spend hours trying to open a coconut from our trees, we would take turns smashing the thing on the road in order to get a crack in the outer shell, from there we could rip off all the shell and finally get to the middle..... And one time my Dad came home and found his saber saw laying in the carport floor, next to it was a grapefruit all hollowed out, out of sheer frustration and determiniation to eat the darn thing my baby brother broke out Dad's saw:D We also had an orange tree that we hung out under during the hottest summer days, once a limb blew off & we used that broken protuding piece of limb left on the trunk to smash the oranges on in order to get the orange peeling started. We ate fresh fruit all summer long, when we weren't being bad or stupid that is. And oh my goodness did we ever ride our bikes, they were some serious modes of transportation in those days. I would faint if my 9 yr old went the distances we went on ours! Plus be worried to death she'd get hit or nabbed by a bad person! We even walked over to a friends house one day who lived 40 miles away! And we thought nothing of it! That did get our parents a wee-bit mad:eek:

The black-top road WAS hot, Cath, but I wore denim shorts and tennis shoes and sat in such a way that only the shorts and sneakers touched to hot road. How dumb was that? What a past-time! ha!

Your tales sounds entertainingly familiar! Oh- those long bike rides! Dang! We used to roam the entire country-side and think nothing of it! SO different these days, though. It just ain't the same world, sadly... My niece and nephew almost always stay inside- or in the fenced yard. They pre-arrange going to friends' houses and my sister drives them to and from. No such thing as hiking across the field to the woods- or to the crick to fish all day long, anymore. We too used to ride our bikes to friends' homes 5 miles out in the country and back. No big deal! But not today...

FIL gave me two gallons of strawberries yesterday.
I am gonna wash them up today and pop them in the freezer. Next week Ill make him a couple batches of strawberry peach jam.

Janie you are already gearing up for the summer.."Damn the torpedoes & Full Speed Ahead!!!" You are one busy beaver all season long with all that you do! Wow


Kevin you sure got that RIGHT times have indeed changed! Like you we were free spirits and kept busy every day all day long each summer. We fished (man could you catch a mess of Brim on a cane pole with a small hook and white bread balls!), we boated, went swimming, played lots of Monopoly under the shade of the trees and of-course a whole tassle-full of fun & sun and my Mom never even gave it a second thought she just knew we would be OK and we always were! It is ashamed that this generation can not experience that kind of freedom.
Heck whan I was a teen I hitched rides and all the great hippie-types were especially generous and would give us lifts to the beach or just 'bout anywhere we wanted to go, I missed the hippie era by a few years, I was a young teen just as the "hippie-stage" was peaking so I did not get to go to Woodstock or anything that bold, but my cousin related all those tales to me:D She was a few years older and boy did she have some tales to tell. Those hippies were fun to be around> their conversations sprinkled with "Cool Man" "Right-On", and the unforgettable "FAR-OUT" I am glad I witnessed it from a distance and thru others, it would have wore me out being that wild!!! hee-hee

Fun story, Cath! Those were the days!