Being a kid in the 60's.....

[fortyshooter]

During collections I carried a modified Wasp revolver that fired those red plastic caps. Drilled the barrel open so the .177 BB's that fit perfectly in the cylinder bores could travel on their way with a nice flash! A little bit of a modeling clay wad held them in place. Hit about as hard as a typical air rifle of the time. Think it held 8 shots.

[Hatchdog]

The paper I used to deliver used a punch card system the customer would keep. When I collected the monthly fee I had a supplied punch I would use to punch the card. I had a book of customers that I used to keep track of who had paid. Back then the cost for the paper was .50 per week so most months were 2.00 with a few longer months at 2.50. Some customers paid by the week at .50 and man that was a pain in the butt for me having to keep going back to collect. The punch card the customers possessed had either four or five punches each month. That’s a lot of punching.

[fortyshooter]

Yep I had the same punch card deal. Had one very nice customer that would pay for the whole year in advance around Christmas time and he also included a very nice tip. I would go there after my bill was made and put that in my pocket!

[Koyote]

I turned 80 in May, but I STILL don't know what I want to be when I grow UP!

[fortyshooter]

I turned 80 in May, but I STILL don't know what I want to be when I grow UP!

Have a brother that is 92 so I might make it to 80 but the world as awful as it is now will be much worse by time I am 75 !

[rickhem]

During collections I carried a modified Wasp revolver that fired those red plastic caps. Drilled the barrel open so the .177 BB's that fit perfectly in the cylinder bores could travel on their way with a nice flash! A little bit of a modeling clay wad held them in place. Hit about as hard as a typical air rifle of the time. Think it held 8 shots.

Oh man does that bring back memories. We also all had Wasp guns and those little percussion cap things. At first the caps were in long, straight strips, but later years they were sold like full moon clips, circular and would drop right onto the back of the cylinders on the Wasp guns. We also drilled out the barrels, but never thought to put a BB in there. Our game was to get the barrels opened up so that the sparks and flame from the cap would shoot out the barrel when we shot, then go up the street to where a big honeysuckle bush was, and shoot the bees. We'd wait for the bee to crawl into the flower a bit, then just cover the opening of the flower with the muzzle and unload. Yeah, we shouldn't have been doing that, but the list of things that we did then that were not gook things to do is a long list. Live and learn. Those Wasp guns were the coolest!

[BrokenolMarine]

When I was a kid in the late 60s my stepdad was given an anemic daisy lever action bb gun. If you loaded it with bbs they just rolled out the barrel when you shot it. HE stuffed plumbers putty in the bb chamber to discourage loading, but gave it to me to play with. Then, to spice up my play a bit, showed me a cool trick. I squirt of dry baby powder from a small plastic bottle similar to those that contain eye drops, and when you "shoot" you get a puff of smoke like a black powder flintlock. I was the coolest in my "gang" of kids. (We, like the kids in Stephen King's "IT" were the "Loser's Club") My stepdad had cool ideas all the time.

[brm4450]

We lived in the country, us kids walked the ditches for glass pop bottles to return for a nickel. Rancher across the road payed us a nickel a bale. My bike was made from 3 different bikes rode it the 4 miles to town and 3 miles to the swimming & fishing hole, good times!

[RanchRoper]

Mom had a phrase back then she used to say to me, now what was it? Oh ya...."GO OUTSIDE AND PLAY!"

[Hatchdog]

Mom had a phrase back then she used to say to me, now what was it? Oh ya...."GO OUTSIDE AND PLAY!"

Yep, heard that a time or two.

[BrokenolMarine]

My mother and step-father both worked... so they weren't home during the week. Mom left a chores list on the fridge every morning for my sister and I, and Woe be to the kid who didn't complete every chore on the list, and correctly, before leaving the house to play. NO "I'll do it later, before mom get's home." She had been known to come home for a quick lunch if she forgot her lunch or just to "check on things." On the weekends, we were expected to GO out and play unless the weather prevented it, and if it was raining, we had a huge screened porch. Violate that rule and she didn't say those four words, she didn't SAY anything. She just reached in her apron pocked and handed us a piece of paper with dreaded extra chores list. No excuses, no second chances. Get busy. We RARELY forgot to go out and play.

[BrokenolMarine]

Oh... no AC back then, open windows with screens and window fans, and the front and back doors stood open to increase airflow... with wooden screen doors with the big spring on them. I don't know about YOUR folks, but if WE let that screen slam, we had to come back and open and close the door without slamming it, twenty five times. FIFTY if it was a second offense in the same day. You learned quickly. If a friend of yours let it slam, YOU were punished. We learned to be the last one IN and the last one OUT.

My Mom said it didn't damage the door, it was just Rude.

[rickhem]

During collections I carried a modified Wasp revolver that fired those red plastic caps. Drilled the barrel open so the .177 BB's that fit perfectly in the cylinder bores could travel on their way with a nice flash! A little bit of a modeling clay wad held them in place. Hit about as hard as a typical air rifle of the time. Think it held 8 shots.