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Thrill is gone
Calgary Sun ^ | 2005-10-13 | Michael Platt

Posted on 10/13/2005 6:31:00 PM PDT by Clive

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1 posted on 10/13/2005 6:31:01 PM PDT by Clive
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To: Great Dane; Alberta's Child; headsonpikes; coteblanche; Ryle; albertabound; mitchbert; ...

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2 posted on 10/13/2005 6:31:28 PM PDT by Clive
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To: Clive

Reminds me of when we used to make cannons out of coke cans, lighter fluid and tennis balls. Those were the days.


3 posted on 10/13/2005 6:38:12 PM PDT by NavVet (“Benedict Arnold was wounded in battle fighting for America, but no one remembers him for that.”)
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To: NavVet

Reminds me of when we used to make cannons out of coke cans, lighter fluid and tennis balls. Those were the days

In the 50's we made cannons out 1 1/2 inch pipe, C batteries and cherry bombs. These were dangerous.


4 posted on 10/13/2005 6:50:18 PM PDT by jec41 (Screaming Eagle)
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To: NavVet; RS
Reminds me of when we used to make cannons out of coke cans, lighter fluid and tennis balls. Those were the days.

Islamofascist terrorist alert! Quick, call the knee-jerks!

5 posted on 10/13/2005 6:51:26 PM PDT by Gondring (I'll give up my right to die when hell freezes over my dead body!)
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To: jec41
In the 50's we made cannons out 1 1/2 inch pipe, C batteries and cherry bombs. These were dangerous.

Yep...ready to defend against the Red Menace, should they decide to invade..right? :-)

6 posted on 10/13/2005 6:53:31 PM PDT by Gondring (I'll give up my right to die when hell freezes over my dead body!)
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To: Clive

those massive, yet safe, wooden structures that are called playgrounds... my boys always climb up the outside of them. parent look over towards me like i should be yelling at them to get down or something.


7 posted on 10/13/2005 6:53:37 PM PDT by kpp_kpp
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To: NavVet
They used to flood Fallon Field in Roslindale Massachusetts in the winter ... maybe a foot or so deep ... and it would freeze and ... well ... I think I've seen myself in one of those Currier and Ives paintings.

Rubber ice we called it when it was on it's way in, or on it's way out ... and I took the dare (I think I was in Kinnygaht'n), and I broke through, got soaking , freezing wet, laughed it off(outwardly, 'cause y' can't cry in front of your friends), and 'allowed' my mother to smother me in mother's warmth ...

Aw hell ... I think I'm gonna' cry.

Who started this stupid thread, anyway?

8 posted on 10/13/2005 6:53:52 PM PDT by knarf (A place where anyone can learn anything ... especially that which promotes clear thinking.)
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To: Clive

I remember all that and more. We had WW2 surplus equipment to climb all over--a tank, a couple of anti-aircraft guns, even a fighter plane although that was hoisted on concrete pylons. All gone now.

I also had a friend whose father was a welder and came up with some beauts for us to play on in his backyard. I won't go into detail but picture one of those toys which attach by a suction cup and have a spring to whip the top back and forth. Now picture it large enough to hold an adult inside a cage and you have the best playground equipment ever. I'm surprised any of us survived to puberty. I can remember a lot of bruises but nothing serious.

A park near my folks' home still has one of those high-rise (about 20') slides with no cage or high edges or anything to keep a kid from taking a tumble off the top. I guess the kids in my old hometown are just smart enough not to kill themselves. On the other hand, maybe people thought about purifying the gene pool back then. ;)

Then there were the informally contrived joys of the gravel pit and the rope swings across the canal. Oh man, I'm getting nostalgic.


9 posted on 10/13/2005 6:54:06 PM PDT by caseinpoint (Don't get thickly involved in thin things)
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To: Clive
It's the lawyers.

As the man said... "First, you kill all the lawyers!" ;^)

10 posted on 10/13/2005 6:54:26 PM PDT by DCPatriot ("It aint what you don't know that kills you. It's what you know that aint so" Theodore Sturgeon)
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To: Clive

I remember all that and more. We had WW2 surplus equipment to climb all over--a tank, a couple of anti-aircraft guns, even a fighter plane although that was hoisted on concrete pylons. All gone now.

I also had a friend whose father was a welder and came up with some beauts for us to play on in his backyard. I won't go into detail but picture one of those toys which attach by a suction cup and have a spring to whip the top back and forth. Now picture it large enough to hold an adult inside a cage and you have the best playground equipment ever. I'm surprised any of us survived to puberty. I can remember a lot of bruises but nothing serious.

A park near my folks' home still has one of those high-rise (about 20') slides with no cage or high edges or anything to keep a kid from taking a tumble off the top. I guess the kids in my old hometown are just smart enough not to kill themselves. On the other hand, maybe people thought about purifying the gene pool back then. ;)

Then there were the informally contrived joys of the gravel pit, the rope swings across the canal, frozen ponds and sledding hills out in the country. Oh man, I'm getting nostalgic.


11 posted on 10/13/2005 6:55:37 PM PDT by caseinpoint (Don't get thickly involved in thin things)
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To: Clive

Blame the lawyers. Playgrounds aren't the only thing they've ruined for everyone else.


12 posted on 10/13/2005 6:56:46 PM PDT by Junior_G
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To: Clive

This is exactly why I'm building my own playground in the backyard for the kids. I'm using 20 foot pipe to build the swingset and slide. I want this thing to be fun for the kids until they get married. None of this three foot tall swingset for $199 at Toys R Us junk for my kids. What's even better is that my wife just insisted that I put in a zip line for the kids too! (they are 1 and 3 now)


13 posted on 10/13/2005 7:01:24 PM PDT by ZGuy
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To: Clive
I have seen some playground structures that are pretty damn cool and blow away what we had when we were kids.

Guess it's all what you had then and where you are now.

14 posted on 10/13/2005 7:07:27 PM PDT by Jalapeno
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To: ZGuy

They have really cool zip lines at www.visionforum.com

Look in the all-American boys catalog. I also highly recommend the wooden swords and shields.


15 posted on 10/13/2005 7:08:41 PM PDT by andie74 (Let's put the 'ham' back in Mohammed.)
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Comment #16 Removed by Moderator

To: ZGuy

Oh yah, zip lines rock, your kids will love you. Buy the one made of heavy duty metal, the plastic ones will break in no time, and that is not fun at all.


17 posted on 10/13/2005 7:12:29 PM PDT by Laz711 (Fear is the Mind Killer)
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To: Gondring
Yep...ready to defend against the Red Menace, should they decide to invade..right? :-)

Actually we had a club called the US Jr. Marines and played war.
18 posted on 10/13/2005 7:12:48 PM PDT by jec41 (Screaming Eagle)
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To: Gondring

Yeah, no kidding... The Libs would call kids who do that today terrorists (or at least Columbine wannabes)while saying that Islam is a peaceful religion and that the jerks in Gitmo are not terrorists. I'm only 24 but I remember when it was okay to have cap guns in school. What the hell has happened to our society in a few short decades?


19 posted on 10/13/2005 7:17:15 PM PDT by MadManDan
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To: Clive

I never really played on swing sets or anything.

I was always out playing kickball or football....


20 posted on 10/13/2005 7:18:07 PM PDT by MikefromOhio (yes I am back. Don't ask.... :-) ok ask if you want)
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