Lazy Saturdays like this one remind me of a lot of little memories of growing up

Jun 15, 2024, 9:54 AM

in rural South Carolina. When you were younger, how many of you made good use of clothespins and baseball cards, to give your bikes that THRAP, THRAP, THRAP sound as you rode along? I always judged the quality of a baseball card by how long it took it to go limp and stop flapping.

That was one way that us country kids made "toys" to entertain ourselves. Another was by making "can rollers". For those who have no idea what I am talking about, you would take metal cans that various foods came in, but it had to be ones that had been drained by only punching the top with a can opener. The "lids" still had to be on both ends, this was crucial. You then took a nail, and made one hole as close to the center of the lid on each end as you could. Then, you put a stiff wire through the holes, and made a loop to which you could attach a wire handle, with the wire bent in such a fashion that the can could roll on the ground without the wire hitting the edges of the can.

Using the hole the can opener had made, you filled the can with dirt, packing it as full as you could get it, then bending the opening back closed. This was a "single can roller". But, the neater trick was to start off with a larger can, then "daisy chain" smaller ones behind it, until you had a multi-roller of as many cans as you could pull along. The heavy dirt inside the cans made it easy to sling your roller from side to side on a dirt road, without it turning over, just like cars slid around corners on a dirt race track. Then, naturally, you would get into roller can races with other kids who had made their own.

Shooting marbles in the dirt was another favorite country kids pasttime. It was easy to tell when marbles had been around for awhile, as the dirt would take the shine right off them. "Cat eye" marbles, especially blue ones, for me, were the most desirable. As we were always painting engines around the garage with rattle can engine enamel, I had a steady supply of "clear" marbles to add to my collection. (Yes, that noise you hear when you shake up a rattle can is a marble inside, or at least it used to be.)

Other country kids playtime memories you can think of to pass on? (No playing "Doctor". that came later!)

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There was no such thing as a "Lazy Saturday" at my house this time of year. By the time my father got us out of bed at 7:30am (he let us sleep "late" on Saturdays) he would have 2-3 bushels of beans to be strung or shelled, and/or corn to shuck. If we were lucky, that part would be finished by noon and turned over to the women folk for canning or freezing. Then, I was my job to crank up that monster 24" push mower that sounded like a helicopter and was easier for a kid to pull than push. Mowing grass took until around 3pm, then some weed-pulling (No herbicides or weedeaters back in the day). Then maybe...just MAYBE you could come in the house around 5pm to watch "rasslin", eat supper, then go back outside and have some kid fun.

Sunday was our only off day. But it was church from 10am-noon, then back from 6:30 - 9pm. The middle was filled with constant reminders of "Don't you dare get dirty..."

Lazy Saturdays like this one remind me of a lot of little memories of growing up

Re: Lazy Saturdays like this one remind me of a lot of little memories of growing up

Re: Lazy Saturdays like this one remind me of a lot of little memories of growing up

Oil can cannons

When I was a little older, my younger brother and I would set up 1/2 of an

One of my little brother's buddies used to make beer can (or coke can) cannons,

Re: Lazy Saturdays like this one remind me of a lot of little memories of growing up

You mean you actually spent that penny for the CARDS, and not for the delicious

Re: Lazy Saturdays like this one remind me of a lot of little memories of growing up

Re: Lazy Saturdays like this one remind me of a lot of little memories of growing up

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