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Born in '49, small town Texas. Only time we wore shoe's was to school and church. Same pair. Had a BB gun when I was six and a .22 when I was 10. Used to go right thru town with 'em and nobody thought anything about it. Got a burr haircut every Saturday for a buck then went to the cinema for .35 cents.

First TV show I remember was Howdy Doody. We got a TV in '57. Our telephone was black and you only had to dial 4 numbers to make a call.

Played in the creek all summer. Had a good dog that went every where we did. Told mom bye after breakfast then came home just in time for supper. Liked to play on the railroad tracks and let the train flatten out a penny. Picked up coke bottles on the side of the road and got .02 cents deposit for each one, just enough to by my BB's.

Pretty much just ran all over the whole town, had a favorite hiding place in the old cotton gin. Would go rat huntin in the corn sheller with my .22. Then we would go to the only grocery store in town, get some candy and a RC. Just said charge it and good ol mister Dooley would just smile and make a note. Dad would only get mad if the bill was over $2 a month.

Would mow my grandpa's yard in the summer for a dollar, but mowed my dad's yard because it was a chore. Used to catch lighten bugs and put em in a jar. Took em to bed with me at night for a night light.

At night after dinner got the clothes in from the line. Didn't have a dryer until late '60s. My grandpa loved to buy us firecrackers and cherry bombs. Those things were pretty powerful. We used to put the firecrakers in mud balls, light em and throw them at the other kids. Of course they were doing the same thing to us. Nobody ever got hurt but we sure got muddy.

Used to go fishin with grandma. She'd drive around town and pick all the grand kids and we'd all go fishin with cane poles and worms. Walked to school everyday until I got a bicycle in '57 and a car in '65.

Just about everything we did then is now illegal or unsafe or not PC but we had a blast and I miss those days a lot.

Small town Texas in the 40's and 50's was an experience. Like you, my friends and I could ride our bikes out of town to the lake with rifles cradled across the handlebars and nobody thought anything about it. It was a rare kid who wasn't a good marksman by the time he was twelve. My father taught me how to shoot when I was 8.

I certainly don't miss the lack of air conditioning in 100 degree weather, but there are other things that won't return. One early TV memory was Dizzy and PeeWee doing the baseball game of the week, usually the Yankees with Yogi and Mickey. Some years later in the summer of '66, I saw Diz play in an oldtimers game in the Astrodome. In one inning, he struck out the side. In another inning Mantle jacked one out of the park over the left field wall. (What a charge, seeing Mickey Mantle and Dizzy Dean play in the same game!)