Nostalgia ......remembering the fun stuff from when we were kids !

I saw this pic online and reminded me how as a kid (and even occasionally now as a big kid ) I'd like to occasionally pull some harmless pranks


Hey, guess what ? I just did a search and did find those stickers online !

Voice Activated Paper Towel Now Sticker

https://www.zazzle.com/voice_activated_paper_towel_now_sticker-217732689595529598

Okay you pranksters, just try to keep from busting out laughing when you hear someone hollar "PAPER TOWEL NOW !" after you place the sticker and hide out in one of the stalls

I remember at least once in my younger days where I'd artificially make a loud "flatulence" sound (as kids many of us got good at making that sound effect ) while still in a stall in a public restroom and it was funny how all of a sudden you'd hear people in a hurry to leave

Reminded me of another prank.....

It was likely well over 20 years ago now that I worked in a large accounting office.

After working in that accounting office for a while I got the idea of taking some snap noisemakers (the tiny white paper things that kids throw on the ground and they make a "pop" noise) and very carefully setting them under the toilet seat where the two plastic pads would come down to sit on the edge of the bowl.

(you got to set the toilet seat down very carefully so as not to pop them ahead of time)

Then when the next person sat on that toilet seat it would make a "pop" noise.

A little later I heard an employee talking after leaving the restroom coming back into the office area telling someone about what happened saying that when he sat down and heard that noise - at first he actually thought the noise was from the toilet seat breaking and cracking and he initially jumped up .....when I overheard that it was extremely difficult to keep from bursting out laughing out loud and I tried to keep it to a muffled laugh but it wasn't easy I think he might had suspected who it was so I had to avoid doing that prank again there.

I've played similar pranks on people in the past including setting those poppers on the floor where they would step on them, and setting them on the tops of doors as well as cabinet doors so when they opened a door they would fall down and pop !

I always enjoyed a good prank but would be careful that it would not cause any harm.

Hey, I've had pranks played on me at places of employment and I took it all in good fun, I'll have to tell about them at another time as they got me good (also some other childhood pranks)

Here is one example of those poppers I mentioned:

As kids the playgrounds had some fun equipment, at elementary school I remember the monkeybars they had were pretty neat to climb on, and there was a large playground in front of the giant movie screen at our local drive-in theatre (within walking distance) that had some neat equipment, one looked like an old west stagecoach, then there was the fun merry-go-round, and the challenging really tall sliding board, as a young kid that sliding board seemed really tall

These are just example pics I found online, not the actual exact ones I played on.

Ahhhhhhh, the infamous merry go round of death.

Another fun memory from childhood in the 1960's was the traveling carnival that would usually come to our local neighborhood about once a year. They would set up their rides and stands on a parking lot next to the small shopping center and stay at least a week, but maybe two (can't remember for sure).

The neat thing is that that parking lot was only about 2/3 of a block from my house so I could walk there in about one minute !

I played some of the carnival games but tried to figure out which ones I had a better chance at winning. The carnival food was tempting but I tried to save most of my money for the rides and games.

Now I have to admit as a young kid a few of those rides seemed somewhat intimidating and I wasn't able to muster the courage to ride those (like the Rock-o-Plane for example)

Anyhow, here are some examples of the vintage carnival rides I found online, some were "okay" and others were more of my favorites.











Also during the course of the summer those mobile rides would drive down the alley very occasionally so us kids could occasionally enjoy a mini-ride in between the yearly visit of the carnival to our neighborhood

Of course there were those little vending machine toys, some of the small ones were included in the penny gumball machines, then you had machines with better toys in machines ranging from 5 cents, 10 cents, 25 cents, though the higher price ones likely were not there in the earlier 60's.

You'd sometimes see a favorite prize or two and hope it would not take too many coins to get the prize or prizes you prefer

GKL said:

Another fun memory from childhood in the 1960's was the traveling carnival that would usually come to our local neighborhood about once a year. They would set up their rides and stands on a parking lot next to the small shopping center and stay at least a week, but maybe two (can't remember for sure).

The neat thing is that that parking lot was only about 2/3 of a block from my house so I could walk there in about one minute !

I played some of the carnival games but tried to figure out which ones I had a better chance at winning. The carnival food was tempting but I tried to save most of my money for the rides and games.

Now I have to admit as a young kid a few of those rides seemed somewhat intimidating and I wasn't able to muster the courage to ride those (like the Rock-o-Plane for example)

Anyhow, here are some examples of the vintage carnival rides I found online, some were "okay" and others were more of my favorites.

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Also during the course of the summer those mobile rides would drive down the alley very occasionally so us kids could occasionally enjoy a mini-ride in between the yearly visit of the carnival to our neighborhood

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I remember those rides very well. I liked the Octopus as they called it here (some places called it the spider). The scrambler was fun and the bullet was probably the scariest of all. One time on the Rock-O-Plane I made the mistake of eating a couple of hot dogs before going on and after getting off the ride it didn't take long for me to feel sick and throw up those hot dogs.

Afew years ago when I was "only" 73, Sue and I were at a place that had some of those rides from yesteryear and we went on the Scrambler and Tilt-A-Whirl. BIG mistake.......I had to sit down because I thought i was going to throw up and it brought back memories of similar circumstances when I was younger. Since then....no more rides for me.

My father's 1938 Plymouth. We were on the way to New York (Long Island) from Connecticut to visit the relatives and the car overheated. The little car is one I had when I was 3-4 years old. You made it go by pushing pedals with your feet. The tickets were for a Dave Clark Five concert in New York City in 1964 when they were almost as big as the Beatles. The price was only $5.50 per ticket !!! I still have all four tickets because a friend and I had dates and the four of us were going to see the concert but he and I got into a little "mischief", got caught, and our mothers grounded us.

diggin4clad said:

I remember those rides very well. I liked the Octopus as they called it here (some places called it the spider). The scrambler was fun and the bullet was probably the scariest of all. One time on the Rock-O-Plane I made the mistake of eating a couple of hot dogs before going on and after getting off the ride it didn't take long for me to feel sick and throw up those hot dogs.

Afew years ago when I was "only" 73, Sue and I were at a place that had some of those rides from yesteryear and we went on the Scrambler and Tilt-A-Whirl. BIG mistake.......I had to sit down because I thought i was going to throw up and it brought back memories of similar circumstances when I was younger. Since then....no more rides for me.

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Thanks for the warning IF I happen to find any vintage rides to try again I might consider only the really tame rides after reading your adventure

diggin4clad said:

My father's 1938 Plymouth. We were on the way to New York (Long Island) from Connecticut to visit the relatives and the car overheated. The little car is one I had when I was 3-4 years old. You made it go by pushing pedals with your feet. The tickets were for a Dave Clark Five concert in New York City in 1964 when they were almost as big as the Beatles. The price was only $5.50 per ticket !!! I still have all four tickets because a friend and I had dates and the four of us were going to see the concert but he and I got into a little "mischief", got caught, and our mothers grounded us.

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Neat, that 1938 car was back from when they build cars solid like tanks

I remember the Dave Clark Five, those tickets reminded me of a ticket I have somewhere (need to find it) no, nothing to compare with your tickets but neat that I saved it, it was from when I was going to Navy electronics school in Millington, TN and one time I went to a local miniature putt-putt golf course and won a ticket for a free game by getting the trick shot at the end of the course never did use it but I saved it.

That pedal car is neat (it'd be a real collectors item now !) I don't remember ever having one unless I was too young to remember

I did find a pic of me in 1970 in front of the house I grew up in (kid sister and mom was behind me)

Remembering the 10 cent sodas in the 12 oz reusable glass bottles, this was when candy bars were a nickel !
(pic I found online of a refurbished machine)

GKL said:

Remembering the 10 cent sodas in the 12 oz reusable glass bottles, this was when candy bars were a nickel !
(pic I found online of a refurbished machine)
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Some of these machines were located outside the store 24 hours a day. A couple of times at night we got a bottle opener and a cup, pulled the door to the machine open, popped the bottle cap off and let the soda pour into the cup. FREE soda !

GKL said:

Thanks for the warning IF I happen to find any vintage rides to try again I might consider only the really tame rides after reading your adventure



Neat, that 1938 car was back from when they build cars solid like tanks

I remember the Dave Clark Five, those tickets reminded me of a ticket I have somewhere (need to find it) no, nothing to compare with your tickets but neat that I saved it, it was from when I was going to Navy electronics school in Millington, TN and one time I went to a local miniature putt-putt golf course and won a ticket for a free game by getting the trick shot at the end of the course never did use it but I saved it.

That pedal car is neat (it'd be a real collectors item now !) I don't remember ever having one unless I was too young to remember

I did find a pic of me in 1970 in front of the house I grew up in (kid sister and mom was behind me)
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Nice pic of you in your Navy uniform. I live not too far from the Navy submarine base in Groton, Ct. Were you ever stationed there?

diggin4clad said:

Some of these machines were located outside the store 24 hours a day. A couple of times at night we got a bottle opener and a cup, pulled the door to the machine open, popped the bottle cap off and let the soda pour into the cup. FREE soda !

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Yeah we did too but I wasn't going to say it but since you did.

diggin4clad said:

Some of these machines were located outside the store 24 hours a day. A couple of times at night we got a bottle opener and a cup, pulled the door to the machine open, popped the bottle cap off and let the soda pour into the cup. FREE soda !

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MuddyMo said:

Yeah we did too but I wasn't going to say it but since you did.

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Now I'm not saying I didn't do my share of mischief as a kid, which in hindsight I'm not proud of but I don't remember thinking of that one, glad I didn't though or they might had taken that machine away and I really enjoyed those cold 10 cent sodas in the hot summertime

diggin4clad said:

Nice pic of you in your Navy uniform. I live not too far from the Navy submarine base in Groton, Ct. Were you ever stationed there?

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Thanks, no, never stationed there, went to boot camp in the Navy's boot camp in Great Lakes, it was in February and I remember marching in about a foot of snow Then had electronics training in a Navy school in Millington, TN, (though it was named NATTC Memphis) then had more training in Oceana, VA and home base was the Naval Air Station in Oceania, VA. I was attached to a fighter squadron VF-103, worked on the electronics on the F4 Phantoms, when our squadron was on sea duty we were on the USS Saratoga aircraft carrier and toured the Med, I visited Spain, Athens, Genoa, Naples, and back in the US our squadron was sent to the Naval Air station in Key West Florida for 2 weeks emergency duty as they thought they might be having trouble with Cuba but nothing happened. So I got to go some interesting places but have never been west of the Mississippi river, been right up by it but stayed east

Also, I remember that when my electronics training was done they wanted me with the squadron asap, but they were already over in the Med on the Saratoga aircraft carrier, so they put me on a C-130 cargo plane out of Andrews Air Force base to fly me over there to catch up with my squadron, I remember sitting on a cargo net the whole way, our meal across the Atlantic ocean was a box lunch which had a dry turkey sandwich, an orange (I think), a single individually wrapped Twinkie cake, and a small carton of milk, but hey, at least it was a free lunch we stopped in the Azores to refuel, then they dropped me off at the Naval base in Spain for about a week or two layover before they flew me to where the ship was docked in Italy.

MuddyMo said:

Yeah we did too but I wasn't going to say it but since you did.

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Now the secrets are coming out......

GKL said:

Now





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I like the patches. One of my uncles served in the Air Force during the Korean War as a tail gunner on a bomber. He'd come home on leave every so often and he'd bring me genuine Air Force patches but unfortunately they disappeared over time and I no longer have them.
I was drafted by the US army in November 1965 and entered basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey on December 20th 1965, just five days before Christmas. They let us go home for Christmas weekend and when we got back, training began. The picture of me in my dress uniform in front of our house is when I arrived home on leave. The pic of me in the fatigues is at Fort Dix sometime in January of 1966. After basic training they sent me to Fort Belvoir, Virginia to begin Army Engineer school to become a soils analyst.
The wooden building is the barracks I was in during my stay at Fort Belvoir.
The final picture is one that my mother had taken at a photographer's studio when I was on leave from Fort Belvoir.
I was one of the fortunate ones to not have to serve in Vietnam. When engineer school was finished they needed three instructors for the soils analysis classes and they asked the top three finishers in the class if they wanted to become instructors. Luckily I finished third and was one of the ones they asked. All three of us said yes because we would be able to finish out our active duty time in Virginia.

diggin4clad said:

I like the patches. One of my uncles served in the Air Force during the Korean War as a tail gunner on a bomber. He'd come home on leave every so often and he'd bring me genuine Air Force patches but unfortunately they disappeared over time and I no longer have them.
I was drafted by the US army in November 1965 and entered basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey on December 20th 1965, just five days before Christmas. They let us go home for Christmas weekend and when we got back, training began. The picture of me in my dress uniform in front of our house is when I arrived home on leave. The pic of me in the fatigues is at Fort Dix sometime in January of 1966. After basic training they sent me to Fort Belvoir, Virginia to begin Army Engineer school to become a soils analyst.
The wooden building is the barracks I was in during my stay at Fort Belvoir.
The final picture is one that my mother had taken at a photographer's studio when I was on leave from Fort Belvoir.
I was one of the fortunate ones to not have to serve in Vietnam. When engineer school was finished they needed three instructors for the soils analysis classes and they asked the top three finishers in the class if they wanted to become instructors. Luckily I finished third and was one of the ones they asked. All three of us said yes because we would be able to finish out our active duty time in Virginia.

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Neat pics, thanks for sharing ! (noticed some snow in a couple of them ) I was still 12 years old when you got drafted (almost 13). Glad you got that instructor position and didn't go to Nam because sadly even some who made it back seemingly okay later suffered because of exposure to Agent Orange when they were there. I bet you likely never guessed at the time you were trained as a soils analyst that one day you'd be using a detector and digging in the soil I'm not a soils analyst by any means, but I did learn that much of the ground on our property has a lot of red clay mixed in and needs help when trying to grow vegetables
Just remembered in my Navy electronics class I finished 6 out of a class of 23 so I can appreciate you finishing 3rd in your class was indeed an accomplishment !

Another fond memory from being a kid was the grocery store prices, only back then at the time we had no idea how crazy prices would get today as compared to back then, if we only had a time machine to go back and do our grocery shopping

Growing up we had an A&P grocery store about a block away in a small shopping center that also had a "Read's Drug Store" and "High's Dairy Store" and a few other various businesses. Even as a young kid I could walk to the grocery store to buy a few items that I could carry home walking.

(one ad is from 1959, one from 1967, and one from 1964)

GKL said:

Another fond memory from being a kid was the grocery store prices, only back then at the time we had no idea how crazy prices would get today as compared to back then, if we only had a time machine to go back and do our grocery shopping

Growing up we had an A&P grocery store about a block away in a small shopping center that also had a "Read's Drug Store" and "High's Dairy Store" and a few other various businesses. Even as a young kid I could walk to the grocery store to buy a few items that I could carry home walking.

(one ad is from 1959, one from 1967, and one from 1964)
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No more A&P stores here but they were all over the place when I was a kid.
Other chains of grocery stores that are gone from here are First National Stores, also known as FINAST. I got my first job at a Finast supermarket.
Big G......Food Fair..... Universal.....and Shaw's. We had one Piggly Wiggly and they went out a long time ago.
Department stores that aren't around any more are Caldor's, Ames, Zayre, Bradlees, Woolworth's, Barker's, K-Mart and the original company Kresge's, and McCrory. Back in the 1950's there were quite a few Howard Johson's around but I read that there is only one of those still operating in the USA.

GKL said:

Neat pics, thanks for sharing ! (noticed some snow in a couple of them ) I was still 12 years old when you got drafted (almost 13). Glad you got that instructor position and didn't go to Nam because sadly even some who made it back seemingly okay later suffered because of exposure to Agent Orange when they were there. I bet you likely never guessed at the time you were trained as a soils analyst that one day you'd be using a detector and digging in the soil I'm not a soils analyst by any means, but I did learn that much of the ground on our property has a lot of red clay mixed in and needs help when trying to grow vegetables
Just remembered in my Navy electronics class I finished 6 out of a class of 23 so I can appreciate you finishing 3rd in your class was indeed an accomplishment !

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The snow in the pic from Fort Dix was from a recent snowstorm but it was starting to melt from a stretch of mild weather. The picture was taken in January 1966. The other pic with snow was taken Christmas week 1965 at my parents home.
I'm very fortunate to have avoided Vietnam. Finishing third in that class may have saved my life. The reason the army needed to replace three instructors was because one was getting out of the Army and two of them were shipping out to 'Nam. Regarding agent orange, my best friend and another guy from my neighborhood both went to Vietnam and both died recently from Parkinson' Disease. Some think that agent orange may have had a hand in the Parkinson's but who really knows? I finished third in a class of 20 and because while I was in high school I took a general course rather than a college prep course, the officers at the class told me that I'd most likely flunk out. I fooled them.....When my time was up they tried to get me to re-enlist like they did to anyone getting out. No Thank You......
Soils analysis was used whenever the Army Engineers were going to build a road, bridge, or airfield. Soil had to be tested to see if it would support whatever was being put on it. There were many tests that had to be done to insure that a proper mix of soil was underneath the pavement. If not, the tests would determine what had to be done to the soil to make it do the job it needed to do.
Not only did I not know that some day I'd be digging in the soil but at the time, I didn't even know there was such a thing as hobby related metal detectors. I did know of mine detectors though...

diggin4clad said:

No more A&P stores here but they were all over the place when I was a kid.
Other chains of grocery stores that are gone from here are First National Stores, also known as FINAST. I got my first job at a Finast supermarket.
Big G......Food Fair..... Universal.....and Shaw's. We had one Piggly Wiggly and they went out a long time ago.
Department stores that aren't around any more are Caldor's, Ames, Zayre, Bradlees, Woolworth's, Barker's, K-Mart and the original company Kresge's, and McCrory. Back in the 1950's there were quite a few Howard Johson's around but I read that there is only one of those still operating in the USA.

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Yep, the A&P we had had many years later changed to another grocery brand (Super Fresh if I remember correctly) also Read's Drug Store closed, other stores that eventually closed/changed (but were not in our immediate neighborhood) were K-Mart (I remember their blue light specials ) Topps, Two-Guys, and likely others I can't think of right now.

diggin4clad said:

The snow in the pic from Fort Dix was from a recent snowstorm but it was starting to melt from a stretch of mild weather. The picture was taken in January 1966. The other pic with snow was taken Christmas week 1965 at my parents home.
I'm very fortunate to have avoided Vietnam. Finishing third in that class may have saved my life. The reason the army needed to replace three instructors was because one was getting out of the Army and two of them were shipping out to 'Nam. Regarding agent orange, my best friend and another guy from my neighborhood both went to Vietnam and both died recently from Parkinson' Disease. Some think that agent orange may have had a hand in the Parkinson's but who really knows? I finished third in a class of 20 and because while I was in high school I took a general course rather than a college prep course, the officers at the class told me that I'd most likely flunk out. I fooled them.....When my time was up they tried to get me to re-enlist like they did to anyone getting out. No Thank You......
Soils analysis was used whenever the Army Engineers were going to build a road, bridge, or airfield. Soil had to be tested to see if it would support whatever was being put on it. There were many tests that had to be done to insure that a proper mix of soil was underneath the pavement. If not, the tests would determine what had to be done to the soil to make it do the job it needed to do.
Not only did I not know that some day I'd be digging in the soil but at the time, I didn't even know there was such a thing as hobby related metal detectors. I did know of mine detectors though...

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It is a painful memory so I rarely mention it, but my older brother was a radioman in Nam and later died (likely over 30 years ago now) from bone marrow cancer very likely from Agent Orange.

I think I surprised some people too, I had quit high school after finishing the 10th grade (liked learning just didn't like school) and got my parents to sign so I could join the Navy at 17 but back then the Navy usually required a high school diploma, but I took the Navy entrance exams and got such high scores they accepted me anyhow. (years later after getting married my wife encourage me to take the high school equivalency exams so after about 15 minutes of study I passed in about the top 10-25% on the various exams and got my diploma)

Your mention of the Army Engineers reminded me I had worked for some years as a federal civil employee for the Army Corps of Engineers in the regional personnel dept, did well, got promotions, but sadly they eventually went thru "downsizing", I didn't lose my job but my work load about doubled (it was already a lot) the stress got so bad it started effecting my health so I quit, was able to get a computer job in a private company accounting office, a fair amount of work, but not an overwhelming stressful level. Don't know why I didn't just stay in the electronics field I did so well at in the Navy but I guess in my younger days before I got away from partying with drugs and alcohol I was unfocused and much less responsible, just glad I got completely off the alcohol and drugs by my mid twenties, thank God for that, and a few years later I got married.

I never really thought much (if at all) about metal detecting until around right before I got into it back in 2016, I might likely have seen old metal detecting ads years before but guess I never paid much attention to it, wish I had gotten into it years sooner before a lot of the really good finds got dug out of the ground