Pickles by Brian Crane for September 27, 2020

Roscoe is probably thinking “I woke up for this?”

We used to DREAM of wooden thingies. We had to play with rocks…

when was the last time any of you played with something not electronic?

My wife and I decided we’d just not have “toy weapons” for our son. And to socialize him a bit, because we lived far from other kids, we took him to a preschool daycare once a week. Before he was three, he was picking up bent sticks and using them as pistols, complete with sound effects. We never did buy him toy guns, but he’s now adult… and though he’s not fascinated  with rifles and pistols, he’s definitely interested.   ¯\㋡/¯

I remember playing with locust skins when I was 6. They were all over our trees in MO. Seems disgusting now.

I think Roscoe dreams of having a big wooden thingy!

There’s a long tradition of “boys’ toys” that involve putting together pieces that don’t have any specific assigned meaning: Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs, Erector Sets, Lego.

Since my dad was a plumber, he had this sheet-metal caddy with different short lengths of galanized pipe ranging from about an inch long to maybe six inches, plus elbow fittings, Y’s, T’s, and end-caps. I used to use my imagination putting them together to make different shapes. (Never did figure out how to create a closed loop; that was always my goal.)

Living in the country as a kid I would hike with my dog and annoy birds with my Daisy BB gun. Listening to ‘Gunsmoke’ on the radio. Moved to the city. Bicycle riding all over the city. No helmet required in olden days. Looking for hills to go for high speed. Ended up in juvenile court once for traffic violations and curfew. Parents not pleased. Chemistry set was a blast. Model airplanes the flew with crude radio controls. Lost forever like Amelia Earhart. A crystal radio that only picked up broadcasts from Aimee Semple McPherson’s Foursquare church.

Just like cats.

Well Earl first you must dream to make something become real ;-)

I played making funny noises with the springy door stop

I had to walk to school, uphill both ways, carrying wooden thingies…

He did, however, have an extremely high tolerance for boredom.

Which has served him well.

Nelson is certainly getting a “street smart” education when he visits grandpa and grandma.

Heck.. we were so poor my thingies were in black and white.

Then from about 13 to 60 he played with another wooden thingy occasionally with Opal.

Roscoe- in the last panel.

I used to play my guitar almost every day until the arthritis in my hands got too bad.

I wonder if Earls parents told him to go play with himself?

Sounds like Earl didn’t have much fun as a kid.

I’m amazed at the level of engineering creativity kids demonstrate with Minecraft.

Sounds right, though with 2 pieces of wood and string cord a telephone.

We used to pretend our wooden thingies WERE rocks.

when I was 6 I went into the hospital for 6 months. I had some clay and created many things with that clay.

I remember as a kid (around age 10 or so), we moved to a new neighborhood (and a new state!) and the area was still being developed (well, expanded). There was a big open area where there were big holes, tunnels, caves, ditches. I don’t remember if there were any supports, but I was not aware of any. Of course at that age, it was not something I cared about. We had so much fun playing around there. There were probably 10 or 12 kids that would regularly show up and we never seemed to run out of things to do. Now a days kids would NEVER be allowed to play in something like that. (this was over 50 years ago)

Got that right! Rocks made good cars on roads made in the sand.

If you’ve ever seen minecraft – it looks a lot like playing with wooden blocks.