first cigar of the day, an evelio and feeling the birsk wind of winter (we have a fan going) and waiting for the kickoff for the first of the playoffs brought back memories:

Double dog dare....If you remember what that means, you

understand. If you don't know what that means, read on and see what you missed.And remember that the perfect age is somewhere between old enough to know better and young enough not to care. How many do you remember?

1. Candy cigarettes

2. Wax coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside.

3. Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles.

4. Coffee shops with table side juke boxes

5. Blackjack, Clove and Teaberry chewing gum

6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles, with cardboard stoppers.

7. Party lines.

8. Newsreels before the movie.

9. P. F. Flyers

10. Butch wax

11. Telephone numbers with a word prefix...(Drexel-5505)

12. Pea shooters.

13. Howdy Doody

14. 45 RPM Records

15. Green Stamps

16. Hi-fi's

17. Metal ice cube trays-with levers

18. Mimeograph paper

19. Blue Flash Bulbs

20. Beanie and Cecil

21. Roller skate keys

22. Cork pop guns

23. Drive ins

24. Studebakers

25. Wash tub wringers

26. The Fuller Brush man

27. Reel-to-reel tape recorders

28. Tinker toys

29. The Erector Set

30. The Fort Apache Play set

31. Lincoln Logs

32. 15 cent McDonald hamburgers

33. 5 cent packs of baseball cards...with that awful pink slab of bubblegum

34. Penny candy

35. 35 cent-a-gallon gasoline

A TIME WHEN ...

Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo."

Mistakes were corrected! by simply exclaiming "do over!"

"Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest.

Catching the fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening.

It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends.

The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was "cooties".

Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot.

A foot of snow was a dream come true.

Saturday morning cartoons weren't 30-minute ads for action figures.

"Oly-oly-oxen-free" made perfect sense.

Spinning around, getting dizzy, and falling down was cause forgiggles.

The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.

War was a card game.

Water balloons were the ultimate weapon.

Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle.

Taking drugs meant orange-flavored chewable aspirin.

If you can remember most or all of these, then you have lived!!!!

Pass this on to anyone who may need a break from their "grown up" life...

I double dog dare ya!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...my cool AM transistor pocket radio with the earphone.

How soon we forget. To add to the list - What about Duncan Yo-Yo season? Or that wax candy you got at Halloween? SST Racers? (Smash Up Derby just being one of many. How many did I break?). Major Mat Mason. (60's figure and cool 4wd jeep) All METAL Tonka Trucks? Metal robots from the 60's? Hoola-hoop? Pogo sticks? Dirt clods? Mud balls? Slush balls? Ragtime jeans? Daisy model 1894? Crossman Model 760 Powermaster? Kawasaki 100, Yamaha 100, Honda Trail 50, Honda trail 70? Stick Horses? Pitchback (baseball fav)? Hotwheels - Beatnick Bandit, Boss Mustang, etc.? 1972 Dolphins? ******, Jane and Tip? (Run ****** run. See ****** run.) If you've got the time, we've got the beer? Mcdonalds is my kind of place ---? Shakeys Pizza? Pong? 410 shotgun? All this coming from a 39 year old that still flies a kite (a big one), shoots fireworks Independence and New Years Days(class A proffesional stuff from the backyard) and got an Xbox for christmas. Go Figure!!!!!! Man, I'm gonna have another brew (for Dave) and cigar?

my glow-in-the-dark profesional frisbee...

Great list, Rick. Growing up in the late 40's and 50's, I am 100% on your list. Good memories, all.

Sing it with me now. " Shaeffer...is the...one beer to have, when you're having, more than one"

Ice cold Moxie, Hires Root Beer, Yohoo in bottles.

AW Drive-ins. When soda was called tonic. Saturday nite was home made baked beans hot dogs and brown bread. Damn!

Call for Phillip Morris and the Dancing Cigarette Pack (Old Golds-I believe) and radio shows like "The Shadow" and "Marshall Dillon"! Charlie

Great list Rick. It brings back a simpler time. It was great being a kid back in the 50's & 60's.

How about the deed for a "square inch of the Yukon" that came with Quaker Oats when they sponsord Sergeant Preston?

How about the deed for a "square inch of the Yukon" that came with Quaker Oats when they sponsord Sergeant Preston?

The flexible flyer (flexi), silver aluminum Christmas tree, the smell of spilled beer and cigars at a baseball game. The Pacific Coast League Padres at Lane Field or Westgate Park. Hand saws.

Great lsit... Kick the can until curfew, Mexican jumping beans, sneaking out meant to go play with freinds, marbles, red rover, playing army, digging caves in the back yard, hours and hours playing baseball in the vaccant lot or school yard, selling lemonade for 5 cents, matinees at the movies...

I still use a handsaw sometimes!! An old Disston with engravings in the handle.

silly putty, slinkies, super balls

#2 was called Nick-L-Nip. It was the best - drink the juice and chew the wax. Best gum was Chum-Gum - came in a 2-pack for 1 penny.

What memories will our kids have? Video games? They still make Erector Sets, Lincoln Logs, and Tinker Toys and my 5 year old has each one.

my x-ray glasses that i bought out of my comic book...

I have passed on my Tinker Toys Lincoln Logs and Legos(the old ones with no directions on what to build...just imagination) to my 3 kids. What is surprising to me is I am only 32 and I remember most of the stuff in Rick's post too. Todd

I remember all that stuff. All that means is that I AM OLD! I remember paying 25 cents for a pack of cigarettes or a gallon of gas.

I can even remember when I could still... er, never mind.