We were all chasing that one Girl at School.........http://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/grin.gif




Benny

The boy I raised is one of the most extraordinary men I know, though it's still hard to call him "Doctor." He is a renaissance man - teaches and does research at Boston University Hospital, rebuilt the engine in his VW bus, built a huge deck on his house, remodeled the house, has written books, made a video ad for a toy company, was manager of a construction project at BUH, and is the best father in the world. When I hear people talk about the younger generation being lazy good for nothings I think of him and smile.

I was living in Castro Valley. Rode my bike everywhere with my friends, fishing at lake Don Castro, exploring creeks, swimming, racing AFX cars, playing drums, football and baseball. For vacation we would go fishing for striped bass at Gardner's Cove (near Tracy) and trout on the rivers around Downieville. I didn't have a care in the world...

My Dad grew up in Castro Valley...the fourth house built on Lamson (sp?) Road, mid to late 1930's. A few friends of mine from UCB grew up there as well.

I was 10 in 1967. We had moved to the ranch near Pt Mugu and Newbury Park, Ca. the year before. I was tall and willing so I was driving our 58 El Camino (three on the tree) manure truck around to the other small ranches/farms in the area delivering manure on the weekends, all on private, dirt roads.

My buddies and me also camped a lot in the coastal mountains. Every kid had a BB gun or a .22. Angela's post made me laugh: imagine carrying CANS of Spaghetti O's and beans today:D

I remember on one trip I got stuck after a delivery of manure: I unloaded down hill, had some poor clutch work getting out and managed to get sideways and a bit pinched.

It never occurred to me to not get out on my own or call my Dad, ask the landowner, Mr. Angel, for help. I got it out and after that episode knew just about everything I ever needed to know about clutches.

I wasn't the only one, btw. When we headed down to Camarillo to buy hay, all the kids driving and working were my age.

Paul, you must have spent some time driving Potrero Road back in the day. Did you ever drive the back road from N.P. through Sycamore Canyon to the coast?

I played the drums for hours every day and drove my poor mother crazy!

I could run a twin screw boat at 5
mom was a non-driver who could not run anything mechanical
so if dad needed to leave the helm I was the only choice

Going to school after delivering the morning papers on my route, putting together model cars, airplanes, boats, playing baseball, football, fishing, shooting my BB gun, drawing, looking for side jobs to earn money and riding along with my dad in his milk route truck during the summer. We moved from Phoenix, AZ to Long Beach, CA when I was ten and I got a job cleaning up my uncle's drapery store after school. I was making $0.85 cents an hour and thought I was ****ting in tall cotton.

Thousands of times.

That's because you're old & decrepit.

At Nine it was Duck and Cover..At Ten It was the Kennedy assassination. That was the Summer we took a trip up to Salt Lake City from S CA. Saw Bryce Canyon , Zion and in Salt Lake City a tour of a Uranium Processes Plant and that Yellow Cake Stuff...along with a tour of the big Copper Mine.. In LV saw a Jet Car that was being run up at Bonniville and on the way back through LV Dad bought a watch from a guy in the Hacienda Parking lot for $20. Guy said he lost 2100 playing Craps amd needed some gas money to get home so for $20 he sold Dad a 21 jewel self winding Longine watch. On the way home it stopped. I knew something was fishy about that guy..anyway got home and Dad took the watch to a jeweler who said Longine didn't make a 21 Jewel watch and did he buy it in TJ? Dad said LV, and the Jeweler said close enough. Jeweler said the watch was worth about $10 so Dad didn't get burned too bad...

That is one busy piano piece.

At 10 I was playing baseball in Oregon, Ohio while smelling tomatoes being cooked at the Hunt's factory. Better than the smell of an old paper mill.

Remember JFK getting killed.

So could I.... And get it to Bimini..

I was getting my butt kicked by older kids at Judo tournaments. Hated it. I think I wrote my first essay and my first decent school work was starting to emerge. I probably would have thought Mozart was queer.

We lived next to a 30-ish acre wooded area... lots of exploring to do... climbing trees, playing "Army," catching snakes, lizards, salamanders, frogs, toads, etc. Kept some in terrariums and home made cages as pets... Mom and Dad were fine with it because they told us as long as we stayed away from the venomous snakes, everything else was cool.

Also, my brother and sister and I raked out pathways down through about a 4-acre area and used to ride our bikes around in there at breakneck speeds.

Played a lot of roller bat and kickball in the front yard.

Went swimming a lot in the summer at the state park about 5 miles away.

Built a lot of plastic models... still have some of them. Also put millions of air miles on cheap balsa wood airplanes... gliders and rubber band powered.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1333523561.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1333523348.jpg

If you also spent a lot of time flying these things, check out this link and be sure to click around through the different brands shown in the black boxes at the top of the page: http://www.oldwoodtoys.com/new_page_2.htm

Got my first real bass. A Harmony H-22. The beginning of the end for me. Really I'm still only 10.

Great post. I lived on a farm. All my father taught me was how to work (served me well) and my mother taught me to be afraid of everything (hate her for it). It made parenting a lot easier for her if I wouldn't go near any of the zillion things she scared me into staying away from.
I spent a lot of time with balsa planes too! They are a big part of the reason I went into engineering.

at 10?!!!!

my mom bought me a Crosman pellet rifle, and the rest was history. i think i also discovered..huh..nevermind.

... spent more time "thinking" about couple girls/classmates :D

Zeke, I still vividly remember several incidents when I started learing how to talk. I feel people who have long term memory tend of have less short term memory, and vs.