I have discharged a gun inside my parents' house. A squirrel climbed in their dryer vent and chewed his way out into their laundry room. He ate most of the trim off the windows before I finally showed up to kill him. I figured .22 shorts inside a brick house was safe enough but it was, in fact, against the law.

Apparently I'm the only one on this thread who hasn't discharged a firearm inside a home or building! Wow this surprises me! Guess I just don't have any Ellie Mae in me except for loving critters!:D

Come on Pokie, try it you'll like it, everyones doing it.:D

You are not alone Pokie. I've never discharged a gun inside a building. It appears we are the smart two here.

I remember as a kid the troopers would put on an indoor gun exhibit at the state fair. The shooter would fire his revolver and slice a card in two, pop balloons, shoot backwards using a mirror, and all sorts of stuff that is probably illegal nowadays.

Yeah, it was a common sight to see pickup drivers with long guns on a rack in their rear window. I'm not sure why we dont see that much these days. I wouldnt do it just because I'd worry someone would break into my truck and steal it. Maybe we'd see a renaissance if someone came out with a window rack that locked the gun securely. BTW Pie, what sort of gun were you shootin at the matches with? I could see ya doin that with a .22 rifle, but if ya can do it with a .410 shotgun ya just impressed the hell out of me!

Al it was most definitely the .22 because you had to be able to shot that coon between the eyes in the dark. It was good pratice. The .410 was first squirrel gun. Then I went to a .16 guage the on up. Old saying first crawl then walk, but I loved every minute. I have done every kind of hunting and fishing around this part. I use to kill a rabbit then go to the lake, clean it , build a fire, put some sticks up, a little salt and pepper then roast it over open fire. So good it would make you want to slap your mama.

LOL, you're my kind of gal, Pie. Talk about self-sufficiency! Give her a gun and a knife and she could live off the land! One time when we were kids, my younger brother, a few of his friends and myself went campin in the area behind Curtis Elementary...must've been 26 or 27 years ago. When mornin came, we hadn't brought any food along with us, so my brother took a few regular old blackbirds with his .22, cleaned em, roasted em on a spit over an open fire, and although I was a bit apprehensive about it, we ate em. And I'll tell ya, I dont know if we were just hungry or what, but they sure tasted great. Hell, Pie, I bet ya could even make a fire without matches, lighters or a magnesium bar. Which reminds me of another childhood memory...I'd get the magnifyin glass from my dad's desk and go lay out on the sidewalk, burnin ants or whatever hapless insect happened to catch my eye. Or I'd get some tissue or notebook paper and set it afire with the glass. Got to be pretty good at it. These days, I carry a small Bausch & Lomb Tri-Lense multipower pocket magnifyin glass in my manpurse, which is about the size of a large marble ...just in case. If you're really smart and ya dont mind partin with about $70, Victorinox makes a Swiss Army Knife called "The Champ", and among other useful tools, it has a magnifyin glass. A nice lil investment that just might save your life one of these days. I carried one in my army days, but the damned thing grew some legs and I never saw it again.

Whe I was probably 7 we use to camp out on Black Lake. We didn't have tents, it was a mosquito bar with cots under it. Then dad built a camp with a screened it cook shed seperate for fish frying. I use to get in the alumiun boat and paddle down the channel fishing. Kept the baby brim for the drop hooks and trot lines, when I would get too far away dad would come in another boat and pull us back closer to the camp. Damn if I still don't prefer an alumium boat over a big rig to this day My dad has a bass rig and he tells me to drive it but I say no because I can get into places with the littler boat that the bass boat can't. My brother went out in his ski boat one time while I was fishing in the alumium boat. His boat quit and I pulled him back to shore with nothing but a trolling motor. Another time I was out fishing and vetured too far for the trolling motor because the battery died so I started paddling. Damn if I didn't get caught in a rain storm and all I could do was laugh, it was so funny. Got wet but I laugh.:laugh::laugh:

Back in the day, putting a shotgun or rifle in the rear window rack was no beig deal. Other popular items for the pickup rear window included fishing poles, leather bull whips, and cattle prods if you came from way out in the country...

The worst thing I ever saw was called the "Cowboy Cuspidore" manufactured by Hodges Enterprises here in Shreveport. It was a mod for your pickup truck. Basically it was a spitoon for tobacco chewers with a drainage tube so you never had to empty it! LOL, do they still make Red Man!?

Man...your mention of "Red Man" brings back some good memories! I chewed Red Man Wintergreen for years...finally had to give it up. Just a whiff of it'll take me back.

I can proudly say that I never had a chew of Red Man.. I tried once, but I just couldn't do it. But I did dip snuff once or twice as a young'n... Or maybe I snorted it! :D

Yeah, I used to dip "Hawken" wintergreen...more memories. Yeah, theres that ultra-fine ground snuff powder for snortin...I could never get into that.

I used to chew redman, or preferably beech nut. I still chew on long car trips. It keeps me awake. Drives the Mrs. nuts though.

When I was about 4 years old, my parents left me with an old lady babysitter who used to snort snuff... Very weird... I just went back to watching Star Trek and eating my delicious Swanson TV dinner.... Nothing wrong with being in your own world...

Okay Pie was your first pie a mud one? I can so remember sitting out under a big ole oak tree on my great grandmother's farm in Simsboro making those mud pies. It was fun getting dirty. We also went swimming in the pond and played in the barn in piles of hay and no telling what else. And yes I even fired a gun at some bottles and cans. The noise scared me to death though.
Ma bathed us at night in some kind of aluminum tub due to a shortage of well water. Thanks for jarring my memory on this thread! See I'm not a total city slicker...my mom's family were country folks!:)

Oh yeah, Beechnut was good too. Yeah, old ladies who snort snuff...thats kinda scary. Mmmm..Swanson TV Dinners...Yum...makin me hungry!

One of my fondest childhood memories was going to the grocery store and picking out my TV dinner. I usually went for the fried chicken with the cobbler that you had to leave covered until the end. Not so fond was waiting the 45 minutes to an hour for the damn thing to cook. As I got older I switched to the El Charrito Saltillo Platter. Ole!

I LOVE the El Charitto Saltillo Platter! I figured I was the only guy in the state that ate those damn things! Nice to meet a kindred spirit!:peace:

How about the NightHawk Western Charbroil? Yeah!

When I was 10 or so my friend and I were lounging about on the porch eating "push ups", you know, those orange sherbet ice creams in the cardboard tube with the plastic disc and handle. I remember finishing my push up and daydreaming about building a toy car from the plastic parts when my friend produced a can of Skoal bandits, which were conveniently packaged pinches of snuff inside a fine mesh bag so that the snuff didn't get all your mouth.

We both placed one "between the cheek and gums" and started on the 5-6 block walk to soccer practice at a local elementary school, spitting every other step whether we needed to or not. About halfway there I began to feel dizzy and discarded my "dip". My friend was able to hold his for maybe a few more strides, but then he was done too.

First on the agenda at soccer practice-LAPS! We both completed two laps and came back to take a knee. By now the field was spinning. I don't remember feeling sick, but soon enough my friend and I were on our hands and knees with a good square yard of orange foam between us!

:laugh: I knew I liked you Al. :D

Perhaps if we could persuade Joe to eat a saltillo platter, it might change his perspective.

LOL...I had a similar experience when I was about 13. I had tried my very first dip of Skoal...lil pinch tween the cheek & gum, just like ya said. Well I must've swallowed some of the juice, cuz minutes later I was on hands and knees, tossin up my lunch. Standin near by was a friend who was clearly enjoyin the spectacle...he goes "oh man, you ate the corn"?...(from the school lunch). My old man heard this this and laughed till tears rolled down his face...and he ribbed me about it till his dyin day. Isnt it strange how such a bad experience did absolutely nothin to discourage me from takin up the chaw? And the same with cigarettes...first time I smoked one and actually inhaled I felt like I was gonna die. But soon I was smokin a pack a day! Go figure.

Reckon the Saltillo Platter would do him some good! Joe's probably alot of laughs after he has a few beers under his belt to loosen him up. Oh, and the El Charrito Queso Dinner is also pretty tasty!

Morning and happy turkey day you early birds !! Time to shake a turkey leg or two :D

It seems I also had the same first experience with SKOAL!:laugh: I remember getting dizzy and puking:D I started chewing Levi Garrett, and eventually moved on to Marlboro- :peace:

When I was little, we used to camp out alot- by the time I was 10 or 11 we decided we would build our own cabin. So, with hatchet, axe, and saw, we started taking down small trees. We built a frame and then nailed the saplings as close together as we could. We then filled the cracks with mud, and gathered some old rusty barn tin for the roof. I remember my friend Joe was very particular about picking the right site for "the cabin", so we built it right next to a creek about 50 feet from flat river. we added a rope swing and some homemade benches around the fire area. My fondest childhood memories were made right there with good friends- two of wich died in high school. Here is a picture of "the cabin". circa '82-'83
I should have re-scanned that photo-:D

some good stories folks.
My 'childhood' memories all occurred while I lived in N.J.
In an absolutely freakin' incredible neighborhood. Lived at the top of this hill in a cul-de-sac.. house backed up to some federal forest land. deep into the forest was a lake. My parents knew absolutely everybody on the block, and they all had kids as well.. and I knew them all.

summers were spent playing stick-ball in the cul-de-sac, a few home runs went through MY living room window. Winters filled with playing football in some DEEP snow. And ice-skating on area lakes and swamps. we all rode skateboards down the hills, (during the FIRST wave of skateboarding LOL)

Games of hide-and-seek stretched the whole block. nights chasing and collecting fire-flys. Block parties with all the neighbors.

I remember my parents would have like these "gin" parties, playin' cards with the neighbors.. when this would happen, it was "fend" for your self for me and my older brothers.. all stuck "upstairs" LOL

Got my first dog when I was in the first grade, a Norwegian Elkhound mix. I remember when he was a few years old, he took to escaping from the back yard, he would make the trip up to my school, there waiting on me to exit school for the day, we would make the walk home together. :cool:

Played on many a baseball team as a kid.. rode our bicycles all over freakin' town. As an 8 year old, we had all the freedom in the world.. playin' in the woods, building tree forts. In the winter time.. it was turned into a WINTER WONDERLAND.. all sorts of hills for sleigh rides, and tobaggon rides.. Free to go where we wanted, do want we wanted.. come dinner time.. just had to be sure to be within distance of my old man's Whistle call.. which ranged a good block.. just had to make sure come dinner and he called, we better show up home soon :)

And then the summer of '76.. met Mary.. ahhh.. Mary.. :) that's another story. LOL :cool:

Happy Turkey day everybody.

:laugh: I remember those fort building days. Seems like the only thing your fort was missing was a bridge across the creek. :D We had woods full of trails. If you were observant enough you sometimes would see a black plastic bag hanging in a tree or tucked away under a bush. Inside was usually a penthouse or hustler ;)

:clap: I was gonna leave that part out!:laugh::hifive::funnypost2:

I have a lot of similar memories, but having grown up near here, they are warm weather stories. Except for the blizzard that occurred when I was in sixth grade and school was closed for two weeks! We rode three wheelers on the streets and pulled saucers behind them. Wore a hole in that thing too. Sadly, my thirteen year old step son has had a much different experience. The woods are mostly gone, and wouldn't be safe even if there were some within walking distance. As a result, he doesn't go outside much. Sad.

I too lived here as a child. My hang out was Meyers Lake and Dixie Garden area. I caught my first Bass on that old lake you will know it as Champion and Hamel's lake. Had a pellet gun and a banana bike to ride. Parent just like you folks that did not have to worry about a pedophile or the likes of. I did ride horses and had a small john boat. Simple time it was and now the boy has grown to be a business man and sign the bottom line. I have three girls that are girly girls and getting dirty is not there style. They are almost all grown and I am very happy with what I see. This is a major thing to be thankful for everyday of the year. We did dig dirt tunnels at the dead end of Southfield and very lucky they did not cave in on us. Those were the days my friends we thought they would never end :twist:

Is I did the mud pie thing, I can relate to the bath. My dad's dad was from Newellton in Tensas parish. Their house was in the sticks, dirt road, surrounded by cotton fields.They had an out house and we took our baths in a number 3 wash tub on the back step in front of the world. They also had well water, these kids of today would not have faired well back then. We slept at night at night with the window open [ it had no screen on it[, there was no air conditioner. One night we were asleep and a cat jumped through the window and landed in the bed with us. About made all of us have a heart attack, especially whe we could hear the panthers hollering in the field around the house. Funny what simple times those were, except for hoeing or picking cotton.

I have a childhood memory that just hit me. I guess I was about 16 and my boyfriend was over at the house with a group of us. We thought we would play a joke on him and lit some of those smoke bombs and set them in his car. Damn things tinted his windows and his coat that was lying on the back seat. His windows was different colors and would not wash off. Shocked all of us including him.:laugh::laugh::laugh:

This memory is from my dating period. I was dating this guy who I will call Charles and he drove a truck cross country. Well he left out on a trip and I never heard from him again. So after 3 months I said heck with this, not even a phone call, so I start dating Tommy. After 3 months it was my birthday and Tommy and I was going out with friends to party. The place we went to was owned by a friend of mine where everyone hung out. Well that afternoon Charles shows up at my door to surprise me after 6 months of not hearing from him. Well I told him I was dating Tommy because I never heard from him, not even a phone call. He left and went to the bar where we was suppose to go that night. A friend of mine called saying Charles was there and was talking about me. Hey I look at it this way, If you care for someone and can't be with them at least phone so they know you care. Any how when I got there that night Charles was hugged up with this ole girl at a table. Me and my group was at the end of the bar and they were telling me what all Charles had said. Well after a hour I told my friends watch this, they knew I was up to something. I went over to the table where Charles was with this girl. I yelled you SOB leave me home with five kids, no food or money while you are out here chasing other girls. I hit the table with my hand the other girl hauled butt and I walked off. Everyone was laughing. After a few minutes Charles came over and ask me why I done that. I told him he did not have to talk about me the way he did just because he could not call me and I didn't wait 6 months. He was not mad, we are still friends but that girl ran everytime she saw me after that.:laugh::laugh::laugh: