TO ALL the KIDS who SURVIVED

[BJ_M]

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.


Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.


We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.


As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.


We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.


We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.


We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!


We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.


We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.


We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.


We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!


Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!


The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!


This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!


The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.


We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And (if) YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS!

[yoda313]

Hi,

Ah... big deal I survived Pauly Shore!

And Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, New Kids on the Block.. etc. etc. etc.

Every generation has there terrible tragedies!

KEvin

[MeDiCo_BrUjO]

I read that one a long time ago. It is a good one tough.

[lumis]

bj_m is on a roll here.. he's posting e-mail forward material at an astonishing rate.

[northcat_8]

Don't forget when we did something wrong we got spanked and managed to grow up non-violent and without emotional scars, but did learn when and where, what was acceptable.


On a side note: I usually mow the yard, I don't mind it, it's one of my few chances to be alone. But last week I had some other things I needed to do, so I asked my kids to mow the yard...they are 18 and 14...my son didn't bat an eye and went right out, then there was about 10 minutes of complaining by my daughter (14) and then she spouts off "what do you do around here?"

<a slow learner she is...>

So now she is on full yard detail, edging, pulling weeds from the garden and flower beds, roundup patrol, etc. and is helping to hang and sanding drywall, she has changed the oil in the trucks and will be helping me pour a 30x40 concrete slab at the end of June after her and I perpare the ground and build the forms.

I get her up when I get up in the morning...around 7, and she works with me all day.

Perhaps next time I ask her to mow the yard <which takes 1 hour total> she will have learned to STFU and go ride around in a rectangle for 60 minutes and be happy about it.

[Abond]

And (if) YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS!

Thanks!

[lumis]

Perhaps next time I ask her to mow the yard <which takes 1 hour total> she will have learned to STFU and go ride around in a rectangle for 60 minutes and be happy about it.

you should buy a pushmower and show her how much fun mowing a lawn really can be.

[BJ_M]

northcat_8 - that post of yours I printed out and gave to MY kids ..... very good (didnt scare them enough though)

[SquirrelDip]

@BJ_M : They've probably assumed that they'd be working for you... Try telling them that you'll be sending them over to stay with Northcat_8.

[BJ_M]

That would be child abuse i think

[Rookie64]

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

I survived because this is probably the only thing I never tried

[ZAPPER]

Walked a couple of miles thru town with shot guns or rifles over our shoulders to go hunting and the only greif that we got was coming back empty handed.

Said the "Pledge", and got gooesbumps during the "Anthemn" (Still do)

A $100 Schwinn 10 ten speed was top of the line and a whole sumers pay.

Had to wheel and deal to buy parts to build our own minibikes from scratch. (Mom and dad didn't buy too many of us motorized toys)

An oz. of pot was $30 and it took four of us to pitch in to buy a 1/4

No teenager would ever drink a lite beer (unless it was all we could steal from our dad)

[BJ_M]

A $100 Schwinn maybe was the top of the line in some areas of the usa, but elsewhere in the world (and for sure in michigan) i should mention it was considered a piece of crap because of those heavy welded frames and one piece cranks they used for years .. You could buy a Raleigh bike for the same price with a real frame and 3 piece cranks but still those crappy simplex gears ...

[ZAPPER]

A $100 Schwinn maybe was the top of the line in some areas of the usa, but elsewhere in the world (and for sure in michigan) i should mention it was considered a piece of crap because of those heavy welded frames and one piece cranks they used for years .. You could buy a Raleigh bike for the same price with a real frame and 3 piece cranks but still those crappy simplex gears ...

Yea, I know.
My brother had a couple of the feather weight bikes. I think one was a FUJI? maybe and the other was maybe called ATTALA? Whatever they where they where high dollar and supposed to be top of the line or so. My problem was finding an off the rack bike my size. Not like I was ever going to be "Breaking Away"(rember that one) or touring the whole world on bike.

[pfh]

Happy Father's Day!

[AlecWest]

When I was growing up in the 50s/60s, any boy who owned a bike with 20" wheels was considered a sissy. Nowadays, bikes with 20" wheels have been "spun" into being neat ... BMX bikes, not sissy bikes. And nowadays, anyone riding a bike with 26" wheels had better make sure the seat is hard, thin, and high-placed, and that the handlebars curve downward forcing you to ride in a stooped over position ... otherwise, you're a weirdo.

[BJ_M]

you would be a weirdo riding a 10speed (or more) with 26" wheels , they are usually 27inch or 700c on the better models and sewups ..

and even those don't require down curved handlebars, triathlon style and practice (and even road race except for TT and track) are, or can be, flat, down, up or a combination ..

lots of kids in the 60s had 20 inch wheel bikes , we made choppers out of them and every one had a banana seat and hirise bars ..

[AlecWest]

lots of kids in the 60s had 20 inch wheel bikes , we made choppers out of them and every one had a banana seat and hirise bars ..

You and I obviously grew up in different neighborhoods. 8)

[ZAPPER]

Stingray, Orange Crate, ape hanger handle bars, banana seats, sissy racks, extended forks, slicks, a five speed gear shifter on the top of the frame that would cause great pain in a crash! Baseball cards in the spokes and the flag on the long fiberglass stick. Hell my kids would refuse to be seen on some of the stuff that I rode

[Roz]

http://www.bikyle.com/history_of_bike.htm

[ZAPPER]

Roz, What album cover is that? I remember that one of my brothers had it. War?- Grand Funk?

[budz]

BJ_M wrote

lots of kids in the 60s had 20 inch wheel bikes , we made choppers out of them and every one had a banana seat and hirise bars ..

Ahhhhhhh!!!! the good ole days of chopper bikes. I still see a guy in my neighborhood who rides a chopper bicycle and man his banana seat is HUGE!!!! Retro is back just look at the hip hugger pants kids wear today which was from the late 60's & 70's. The flower child era is back as well.

Kids today have computer games and game consoles to occupy their time. Back in the day all we did was go outside to play with other neighborhood kids, go to the beach and didn't go home till sun was down. There are more kids in this day and age that are being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes from lack of physical activity. They spend their time on the sofa playing video/computer games.

How I miss those carefree days of the 60's & 70's!

[ZAPPER]

Ahhhh!

The air was clean and sex was dirty! And you couldn't get enough of either!

[BJ_M]

Roz, What album cover is that? I remember that one of my brothers had it. War?- Grand Funk?

King Crimson - Court of the Crimson King ..

classic progressive rock -

[pfh]

~1976

[BJ_M]

Court of the Crimson King? 1969

[Roz]

BJ_M is spot on with King Crimson

As well as messing about with bicycle bits I fondly remember my youth for the music - it seemed much more varied and interesting than it is today.

BTW is Zapper anything to do with the Frank variety (ie Zappa) cos he is also one of my favorites.

[AlecWest]

BJ_M is spot on with King Crimson

Death seed,
Blind man's greed,
Poets starving, children bleed.
Nothing he's got he really needs.
Twenty-first century schizoid man ...

I bought that album as an "experiment" when it first came out and was not disappointed.

[ZAPPER]

BJ_M is spot on with King Crimson

As well as messing about with bicycle bits I fondly remember my youth for the music - it seemed much more varied and interesting than it is today.

BTW is Zapper anything to do with the Frank variety (ie Zappa) cos he is also one of my favorites.

I have to agree about the music seeming better, even now if I hear some obscure tune that I never heard before from the late sixties even thru the seventies it tends to capture my attention. Not to say that all new music is bad, but the stuff that I first heard in those care free days does seem to take me back, even if only for a moment.

No, Zapper has no connection to Zappa. I am not worthy, and would never pretend to be.

As for the album cover, I rember being fasinated by it and alot of other what I would have called "hippie" art. Another album cover that I remember was the Rollind Stones "Exile on Main Street" (I think) There was a picture of a guy with like three or four rocks in his mouth that I thought was funny as hell. And wasn't there an album cover that if you steamed it turned colors? Was it a Zepplin or Foghat album? Man I am getting so old I can't rember the best times of my life.

[BJ_M]

to bad now with cd's you dont get all the great posters that you used to get ..