Anything from your childhood

Keesha said:
How old were you when you got this and did it influence you later in your course selection ?
Did you take Chemistry later in high school ?
Did you make anything cool from it?
Click to expand...
I was in elementary school when I got it. There was a lab supply place in town that I would go to for supplies & chemicals. I never pursued it through high school or anything. I made the stuff on the experiment cards that came with it...invisible ink that appeared when heated, plant food...that's about all I recall, although I still recall some of the chemical symbols I learned from it.

But I'm a dabbler. I'll go from electronics to botany to fossil hunting to making picture frames to baking bread.
 

In The Sticks said:
I was in elementary school when I got it. There was a lab supply place in town that I would go to for supplies & chemicals. I never pursued it through high school or anything. I made the stuff on the experiment cards that came with it...invisible ink that appeared when heated, plant food...that's about all I recall, although I still recall some of the chemical symbols I learned from it.

But I'm a dabbler. I'll go from electronics to botany to fossil hunting to making picture frames to baking bread.
Click to expand...
That would be such a fun thing to mess around with. I don’t recall anything like that when I was a child but perhaps it was before my time.
You sound like you have at least a dozen hobbies.
Making pictures frames, fossil hunting and making bread? That’s interesting. You make your own picture frames? You must be a woodworker?
What types of tools do you have and what type of wood do you enjoy working with the most?
What type of bread do you make and do you make it from scratch and use the oven or a bread maker?
 
DannyDoughboy said:
Okay, here's the question, and I'll go first, try to limit to one answer, let's have some fun! If you could have something back from your younger years, what would it be?
Click to expand...

Whoa.....'one'

That's a toughy
Too much good stuff
My Daisey BB gun is a given
But my boys went thru enough of them

My pedal car
Would be thee one
But, I found and refurbed a couple for my boys, so it's not the one
even though I highly prized mine
champion.jpg2.jpg

and found a tiny exact replica, that sits on my rolltop

champion.jpg3.jpg

champion.jpg


I gotta say thee one, the only one, would be my service station
Played with it for hours
then.....one day....it was gone (still don't know why/where)


metal service station.jpg
 

Gary O' said:
Whoa.....'one'

That's a toughy
Too much good stuff
My Daisey BB gun is a given
But my boys went thru enough of them

My pedal car
Would be thee one
But, I found and refurbed a couple for my boys, so it's not the one
even though I highly prized mine
View attachment 100929

and found a tiny exact replica, that sits on my rolltop

View attachment 100930

View attachment 100931


I gotta say thee one, the only one, would be my service station
Played with it for hours
then.....one day....it was gone (still don't know why/where)


View attachment 100932
Click to expand...

Those were a hit in those days, very cool!
 
Gary O' said:
Whoa.....'one'

That's a toughy
Too much good stuff
My Daisey BB gun is a given
But my boys went thru enough of them

My pedal car
Would be thee one
But, I found and refurbed a couple for my boys, so it's not the one
even though I highly prized mine
View attachment 100929

and found a tiny exact replica, that sits on my rolltop

View attachment 100930

View attachment 100931


I gotta say thee one, the only one, would be my service station
Played with it for hours
then.....one day....it was gone (still don't know why/where)


View attachment 100932
Click to expand...
The miniature pedal car is king!
 
I had a nice cap gun that held a whole roll of caps & automatically advanced the next cap with each trigger pull.
Of course, that wasn't good enough for me; I modified it so it would fire more than one cap at a time.
That's turned out to be a bad idea. when I was up to 4 caps, the barrel started to melt. I kept firing it, until I burned my hand. At the time, I didn't know caps had black powder in them & burned at high temperatures - especially after my customization.
I don't modify my real ones, now. Way too dangerous.

I also destroyed several of those rocket-shaped cap bombs. They had fins (like on a dart) & a weighted nose. You throw them up & they land on the nose & set off a cap that you stick on before.
I kept adding caps until it came down & exploded in pieces. Luckily they don't sell toys like that now.
 
win231 said:
I had a nice cap gun that held a whole roll of caps & automatically advanced the next cap with each trigger pull.
Of course, that wasn't good enough for me; I modified it so it would fire more than one cap at a time.
That's turned out to be a bad idea. when I was up to 4 caps, the barrel started to melt. I kept firing it, until I burned my hand. At the time, I didn't know caps had black powder in them & burned at high temperatures - especially after my customization.
I don't modify my real ones, now. Way too dangerous.

I also destroyed several of those rocket-shaped cap bombs. They had fins (like on a dart) & a weighted nose. You throw them up & they land on the nose & set off a cap that you stick on before.
I kept adding caps until it came down & exploded in pieces. Luckily they don't sell toys like that now.
Click to expand...
I remember those rocket bombs!

Another I remember was a cap gun that looked like a 357 revolver, and into the plastic shells you'd place the cap in the end, then stick a plastic bullet into the shell, once you had the 6 bullets loaded, into the toy gun they'd go just like the real thing. The fun we had with that gun shooting each other in the rump!
 
Keesha said:
That would be such a fun thing to mess around with. I don’t recall anything like that when I was a child but perhaps it was before my time.
You sound like you have at least a dozen hobbies.
Making pictures frames, fossil hunting and making bread? That’s interesting. You make your own picture frames? You must be a woodworker?
What types of tools do you have and what type of wood do you enjoy working with the most?
What type of bread do you make and do you make it from scratch and use the oven or a bread maker?
Click to expand...
Ooohhh....let's see.

I'm not really a woodworker. I love Renaissance art, but of course shall never own any. So I would go to the National Gallery of Art in DC and buy the poster "reproductions." I then went to a "We Teach You" type frame shop to learn how to make frames and got to be friends with the owner. She showed me how to have them dry-mounted on foam core and then brush decoupage sealer on them to cut the poster glare and to impart brush strokes. I used to play around with this under a heat lamp so the decoupage would get tacky and give me more dramatic strokes. I cover the back with brown paper and affix the artist/title description to it.

I really got hooked on this and found a commercial frame stock place where I could buy period-style material. I cut it at home and bought a 90° frame vise. I bet I did well over a dozen different pictures of varying size. It's been a very long time since I've done this. Here's a couple of examples. Tough to get good pics without ambient sunlight...lots of glare.

The Botticelli is 24" x 30". I don't want to tell you how much that frame material cost me. You can see the decoupage "strokes" in the trees.

Boticelli.jpg

This is a van Eyck, about 6" x 12", front and back:

van Eyck front.jpg
van Eyck back.jpg

Then there was my Egyptology phase inspired by the King Tut tour. I used to hit a West African curio place in Old Town Alexandria. I bought a few papyrus pieces and made mini shadow boxes for a couple of them:

egyptology.jpg

Man, that was a trip down memory lane.

Regarding breads...I make everything but loaf bread (French,Italian, ciabatta, dinner rolls, pizza.) I've never found a suitable sandwich loaf recipe. Edit to add: From scratch but with a stand mixer. No way I'd knead all that.

Since I'm uploading pics, here's part of the French bread I made for a large church event:

French Bread.jpg

Cooking is the one interest I have always retained. Everything else has been dive in the deep end for a while and then move on to something else. I do have a set of 4 Thomas Cole reproductions I need to finish and hang, titled "The Voyage of Life." Here are links if you're interested. It's a fascinating series:

Childhood
Youth
Manhood
Old Age
 
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win231 said:
I also destroyed several of those rocket-shaped cap bombs. They had fins (like on a dart) & a weighted nose. You throw them up & they land on the nose & set off a cap that you stick on before.
I kept adding caps until it came down & exploded in pieces. Luckily they don't sell toys like that now.
Click to expand...
Oh, man...I remember those.

Did you have a gun that used Greenie Stick 'Em Caps?
 
In The Sticks said:
Oh, man...I remember those.

Did you have a gun that used Greenie Stick 'Em Caps?
Click to expand...
I've heard of those, but mine used a regular red roll of caps on a spool. It had two barrels & a break-top action like a Webley Revolver. Well, actually mine HAD two barrels. They both melted & didn't look like barrels any more...... I replaced it, but firing only one cap just wasn't the same. I left it in the garage & I found it while we moved a few years later. It was completely rusted. Well, for 49 cents, they ain't gonna bother with a durable finish. :)
 
I had the Bat Masterson set. There was a derringer flush-mounted inside a huge belt buckle. You extended your stomach and the thing would pivot out for you to grab...a completely natural move when in a fight LOL.

Also had a Jonny O.M.A. (One Man Army) Seven guns in one, baby. Because you just can't satisfy the innate violent tendencies of a 9 year old boy with only six guns!!
 
In The Sticks said:
Ooohhh....let's see.

I'm not really a woodworker. I love Renaissance art, but of course shall never own any. So I would go to the National Gallery of Art in DC and buy the poster "reproductions." I then went to a "We Teach You" type frame shop to learn how to make frames and got to be friends with the owner. She showed me how to have them dry-mounted on foam core and then brush decoupage sealer on them to cut the poster glare and to impart brush strokes. I used to play around with this under a heat lamp so the decoupage would get tacky and give me more dramatic strokes. I cover the back with brown paper and affix the artist/title description to it.

I really got hooked on this and found a commercial frame stock place where I could buy period-style material. I cut it at home and bought a 90° frame vise. I bet I did well over a dozen different pictures of varying size. It's been a very long time since I've done this. Here's a couple of examples. Tough to get good pics without ambient sunlight...lots of glare.

The Botticelli is 24" x 30". I don't want to tell you how much that frame material cost me. You can see the decoupage "strokes" in the trees.

View attachment 100936

This is a van Eyck, about 6" x 12", front and back:

View attachment 100937
View attachment 100938

Then there was my Egyptology phase inspired by the King Tut tour. I used to hit a West African curio place in Old Town Alexandria. I bought a few papyrus pieces and made mini shadow boxes for a couple of them:

View attachment 100939

Man, that was a trip down memory lane.

Regarding breads...I make everything but loaf bread (French,Italian, ciabatta, dinner rolls, pizza.) I've never found a suitable sandwich loaf recipe. Edit to add: From scratch but with a stand mixer. No way I'd knead all that.

Since I'm uploading pics, here's part of the French bread I made for a large church event:

View attachment 100940

Cooking is the one interest I have always retained. Everything else has been dive in the deep end for a while and then move on to something else. I do have a set of 4 Thomas Cole reproductions I need to finish and hang, titled "The Voyage of Life." Here are links if you're interested. It's a fascinating series:

Childhood
Youth
Manhood
Old Age
Click to expand...
Doesn't the dryer make the bread too crusty?
 
Other then missing loved ones I miss when I was 7yrs old and my older brother got out of the army and he moved back in with us with his wife and baby son. They lived with us for 6yrs and I got to be with my nephew everyday. I taught him how to read and write and played with him and we had a lot of fun. When he was 2yrs old my brother had another son and I did the same things with him. I really missed them when they moved. My friends were soo jealous that I was an Aunt at such a young age. How I would love to have those days back. One of the things of the past that I don't miss was being in school taught by Nun's. Some of them were real pistols !LOL
 

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