My Dad and I are cleaning out his pole barn. Share a story with me.
Posted by whatsupgrizzlyadams@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 52 comments
As the title states, there is cleaning going on. We reached the back of one side and I found the rusted husk of my snowmobile.
I got this for Christmas when I was 8. its a 450 mercury, 3 seater that weighed at least 500 lbs and its top speed was about 60 mph. Did I mention I was 8 when I got it? I used to tow neighbor kids behind it with a rope and an old car hood flipped over.
I asked my Dad what the hell he was thinking giving 60lb me a death machine.
his answer "you didn't die, did you?"
Share with me some of the great inappropriate presents you got when you raised yourself.
EnjoyingTheRide-0606@reddit
My bicycle at 11 had no brakes. We lived on a very steep hill. I used my shoes to stop myself. My sis rode it wearing flip flops and ended up in the blackberry brambles.
whatsupgrizzlyadams@reddit (OP)
I remember when I got a bike with hand brakes and would hit the front brake instead of the back.
Picking gravel out of road rash was always a fun time killer.
LayerNo3634@reddit
We extracted gun powder from rolls of paper bang caps to experiment with fire and blowing stuff up. I think I was 3-5 years old and fired off 1 roll before my imagination realized I could have much more entertainment with just the caps...then I discovered Black Cats and bottle rockets.
whatsupgrizzlyadams@reddit (OP)
We used to hit the caps with hammers.
LayerNo3634@reddit
I found it very satisfying to strike it with a nail. You got a nice flair.
whatsupgrizzlyadams@reddit (OP)
Thank you
NPC261939@reddit
I was like six or seven when my grandmother found her fathers old hunting knives. Without a second thought she gave them to me much to the concern of my parents. They were right to be worried as I had a habit of weaponizing pretty much anything I could get my hands on.
acecoffeeco@reddit
Honda three wheeler. Crossbow! Throwing stars.
Reddiculusness@reddit
three wheels are safer than two , at least dad thought so . That MF ended up on top of me dozens of times over the years . Amazing how easy it actually was to flip a three wheeler 🤣
UrsaMajor7th@reddit
No kidding! My dad bought the Honda Big Red 250 before they banned 3-wheelers. Go down a hill incorrectly and...
Reddiculusness@reddit
or side of hill and turn towards the top.
I was maybe 9 then I got my first one, a 70 . headed to the power lines by the river and flipped it before I even got close to the water 🤣
got better with time , but I had 3 of them over the years , and the bigger ones seemed as bad or worse.
UrsaMajor7th@reddit
I got a .30-30 on my 11th b-day, and a .410/22 o/u on my 12th.
Your story reminded me of our Skidoo- it was a 1959 model, with the engine open right in front of the driver. The throttle cable was broken so we used a finger to push the throttle arm to control power and we'd steer with only one hand.
Head_Razzmatazz7174@reddit
Behind my house on the other side of the road is a small hill. We discovered one day while exploring that if you took the right path it would lead to the junior high on the other side. We also found several snake dens.
There was one part that had a barbed wire fence running through it. We thought it was just left over from an old farmhouse that had been there once. So naturally we went through to see what was on the other side and try to find the foundations. We ended up in a field with several goats and a couple of dogs that took exception to our being there.
Scrambling through that barbed wire at speed gave every one of us torn clothes, and I ended up with a two inch slice on calf because I got stuck on one of the barbs. Ended up in the ER with 6 stitches, a tetanus shot and my parents having a spirited discussion on whether I needed to be grounded. The doctors who were treating me wisely kept their opinions to themselves.
whatsupgrizzlyadams@reddit (OP)
Thats just plain old fun right there.
I have a barbed wire scar on the back of my right calf from stepping on it and it sprang free cutting me from my ankle to my knee pit.
Gran poured alcohol on it and butterfly taped it, made me wear pants until it healed.
When nylons were a thing I looked like I had the kind with the seam up the back of the leg, but only on one side.
SnowblindAlbino@reddit
I got my first firearm at six, and a gas-powered airplane at eight.
whatsupgrizzlyadams@reddit (OP)
Lucky. I only had a pellet gun until I was 8 when I got a browning .22 with a walnut stock. I still have it. Pegged a whistle pig just last week with it.
SnowblindAlbino@reddit
I got a BB gun (a daisy, of course) at 5 and a single-shot .22 at 6. But of course I wasn't allowed to take it out on my own then. I still have mine too! It's from the mid-1920s and I'm the third generation in our family to own it.
NateNMaxsRobot@reddit
The first time my bff and I illicitly took one of our parents cars out for a drive was when we were both 11. We lived out in the country. The drive was 14 miles to a Hardee’s drive thru. My parents never noticed the odometer or less gas in the tank. When we’d take longer illicit drives in the future, my brother knew how to roll back the odometer. None of us was older than 15.
The first time my bff and I got drunk, we were in 4th grade. It was the first night ever that we were left alone in either of our homes. I think we split 3 beers.
I started babysitting at age 11. When my friends and I were like 16-17, the people we babysat for would offer to pay us in $ or beer; our choice. Obviously we picked beer.
My bros and I also rode snowmobiles at a young age. We had a track we made around our parents’ rural property that we used when we knew our parents were watching or if they could see us. But the real fun was had at night.
One of the games we played on the snowmobiles (only at night and/or during a blizzard) was called the lost game. The driver would drive super fast through snow-covered fields and ditches, while the passenger(s) job was to slyly/casually roll off the sled when the driver wasn’t looking. There was no way to win or lose the game. It was all about finding your lost passengers, if you were the driver. Sometimes you did and sometimes you didn’t. If you were a lost passenger whose driver never found you, you just walked home eventually. We were so lucky we never accidentally ran over each other.
whatsupgrizzlyadams@reddit (OP)
Had a neighbor call me one afternoon telling me my kids were driving their snowmobiles like maniacs in the field. I asked her if they were in my field or her field. She said " your field".
I said to mind her own business.
She called the police on me. The police went to her house and told her to mind her own business.
NateNMaxsRobot@reddit
Classic.
OrangeMustangGal@reddit
I was learning to drive and Mom had given me a personal speed limit of 50. To be fair, we live in the Ozarks where the roads are very curvy. I was driving with Dad, who is a man of few words. He asked why I was driving 50. I told him what Mom had said. He said, "They spent a lot of money to build this road. Now, drive on it!"
whatsupgrizzlyadams@reddit (OP)
My driver's training started at 5 with the garden tractor. 8 was afore mentioned snowmobile. 10 was the 3-on-the- tree farm car. 12 was various large farm vehicles; tractors discing the fields, grating the driveway, hauling the hay and straw trailer. 14 got the legal farm license.
OrangeMustangGal@reddit
Yeah, I definitely drove in the hay field, but by twelve I was 5'4" and bucking bales with the boy cousins.
whatsupgrizzlyadams@reddit (OP)
I'm a girl, so I didnt have the ' hard' work during baling. I just had to clean the milk house and feed the cows and calves. After that I got to run the trailers and work with the other younger girls to stack the bales.
You know, the easy jobs.
OrangeMustangGal@reddit
Lol. I am a girl too. But also the oldest child. My sister got to cook for the hay crew.
whatsupgrizzlyadams@reddit (OP)
I was the oldest girl of the cousins. The youngest- 4-5-6 year olds had kitchen duty with Gran.
Top-Nose2659@reddit
My father bought me a spring retractable stilleto knife when I was like 14
whatsupgrizzlyadams@reddit (OP)
Mr. Popular with a knife like that.
xAlyKat@reddit
I did this unintentionally one Christmas for my 10 year old. I thought it was a fold out pocket knife 🫠. That thing disappeared before the gift wrap was thrown away
RikkiLostMyNumber@reddit
Easy. My Dad gave me a sawed-off, double barrel, pistol grip shotgun for my 12th birthday because I saw one in a movie and said I liked it. He made it himself! I had a blast with that thing. I still have it, too. Last time I cleaned it off and checked it out was at the beginning of the pandemic in case I had to go full Mad Max to get to Stop & Shop.
whatsupgrizzlyadams@reddit (OP)
We had the bushmasters loaded into the mossburg for just such an occasion during the covid days.
BrewCrewBall@reddit
My cousin and I built a go kart when I was 12 and he was 14. We used his dad’s welder and a Harley Davidson engine we found at the junkyard. The only thing we couldn’t figure out was how to install brakes, so we just…didn’t. To stop it we’d just turn it in a tight circle and reach back to hit the kill switch
whatsupgrizzlyadams@reddit (OP)
Blocks of cement strapped to your feet like Fred Flintstone.
Thats how we stopped our wagons at the bottom of the hill.
CommunicationNew3745@reddit
BB guns from our mom's BF/fiance when my brother and I were 9 and 10 - he delivered them wrapped, for Xmas, a month after they'd broken it off. Mom swore his choice of gifts was intentional, though at the time I didn't get it . . . today I completely see what he did, smh.
pagit@reddit
My dad got me a brand new 1977 Yamaha 250 enticer snowmobile when I was 9 because I pestered him that all my friends had snowmobiles.
I didn't die either.
whatsupgrizzlyadams@reddit (OP)
As my Dad would say:
" The kids have to learn some how."
Apparently that meant learn how to ride deaths thin rails and don't fall off.
Egg_Gurl@reddit
Jarts
whatsupgrizzlyadams@reddit (OP)
We stood in the target circle, threw one jart straight up and the last person to leave the circle was the winner. Jart chicken.
We played chicken using various dangerous items. Holding fireworks to the last second and holding sparklers closest to the sparks.
No one got hurt, but Jesus we were dumb.
fire-horse-@reddit
My brother and I played Jarts like you’d play cornhole. How we never impaled each other I’ll never know
blue_dawg913@reddit
My dad was/is very DIY. He decided during a warm spell to shingle the 2 1/2 story Colonial house my parents were building the week between Christmas & New Year's, with 10 year old me tied off to the chimney with a fucking rope tied around my waist. 51 year old me is still amazed I survived those years living in the backwoods of Maine.
2 years ago, my step mother calls me telling I need to have a conversation with my 70 year old dad to stay off roofs because he had just slide off a 2 story barn clearing snow. I started to laugh, asked if anything broke or leaked out. When it was confirmed the Jughead was indeed only suffering from a bruised ego & ass, I told her it will be alright, the same shit he used to tell me as a kid.
whatsupgrizzlyadams@reddit (OP)
My Dad's neighbor threatens him with calling me when she sees him on a ladder. He's 91.
I told him if he falls, the next stop is the town raisin ranch where he will get wheeled out for sun once a day.
mmmmmarty@reddit
The Yamaha Blaster was marketed as a quad for younger people. The 200cc 2-stroke would reach 55 mph in stock configuration.
MaximumJones@reddit
Icy-Astronaut-9994@reddit
It was used, but a 1966 Sidekick, 10 shot .22 snub nose at 4 years old.
Still have it.
SunshineandBullshit@reddit
I got a mini bike for my 8th birthday from my gramma. I'd ride it 2 miles to the gas station, fill it up and head into town 5 miles away, down a 2 lane highway. Then I'd ride back. Or I'd put my rifle on my back and ride it out to the deer blind and climb up into the tree with my lunch and wait. Shot two deer that summer. Gramps had to go get them because I was too little to drag it home.
whatsupgrizzlyadams@reddit (OP)
Im waiting for people who don't know to suggest tying the deer to your mini bike and dragging it home.
SunshineandBullshit@reddit
Same lol.
Mobile-Boot8097@reddit
We had a three-wheeler and 300 acres of unsupervised terraced hilly farmland to fly around on with no helmet in sight, a dirt bike, 2 go-karts with plywood seats, not to mention horses, machetes, shotguns, lawn darts, and a swimming pool at my grandparent's house, and not a single serious injury for any of the 12 cousins. Just funny ones. Lots of bandaids and mercurochrome. I still have the lightning-bolt scar on my forearm from when the front tire of the three-wheeler hit a bump mid-turn sending me sideways into the barbed-wire fence. Fun times.
whatsupgrizzlyadams@reddit (OP)
I remember using sling blades to cut down sticker bushes when I was somewhere around 5. Im also not allergic to poison ivy, so it was my job to stake out 5 huge Billy goats to eat that stuff back.
Quirky_Commission_56@reddit
My dad was an auto mechanic by trade and his hobby was buying junked cars to restore. And at one point, he bought a Ford truck that was nearly as old as my grandpa and the bed of the truck was rusted so badly there were holes in it. My dad’s solution to this problem was to use plywood as the bed and thoughtfully installed a plastic seat with handles for me to hold onto, because there wasn’t room in the front seat for me, my mom and my dad. I always had splinters every time we went anywhere.
whatsupgrizzlyadams@reddit (OP)
Im guessing you got the " if you dont like it, walk" speech.
Quirky_Commission_56@reddit
Oddly enough, nope. When he told his dad, my grandpa about it, he threw a fit and said it was too dangerous since I was just under 3 feet tall at the time.