Did anyone have 'friendly' neighborhood rock fights while growing up-and live to tell the tale? OK, a few lumps and bumps and maybe a scar or two.
And there were rules-sort of. No boulders allowed. Nothing bigger than a golf ball. Mostly smooth, without sharp edges. Keep you distance. Stop when it is too dark to see em coming. You stop when somebody gets hurt or quits(remember-a friendly game).
You collect a variety of rocks-round, flat-oblong.
You hide behind trees, dog houses, chicken coups, buildings and such.
Oh yeah-the pool similarities come from learning to ricochet(bank/carom) off
walls or trees to hit or come close to your opponent. That flat ones could be made to curve around trees(masse, swerve, coriolis effect?) or skip under places of concealment.
You get the picture. This was mostly a bored summer activity when the Moms sent us outside to get some fresh air and sunshine and don't come back until dinner time.
And then there were the Springtime dirt clod wars where you heaved handfuls of two foot long wild grass with the freshly harvested dirt clod attached(not too wet and muddy/not too dry-just right-like where you can compress the dirt between your hands and shape a ball that holds its shape)at the attackers and their fort.
Once the ammo pile of dirt clods was prepared-both sides sent attackers with all the dirt clods they could carry. The remainder of the ammo stayed at the fort with some other defenders. The field between the forts provided both groups of attackers with more dirt clods to be harvested as the battle ensued.
It usually ended with both sides full of dirt down their shirts and pants and down into your tennies. We all had to clean up a bit before we went to somebody's house for snacks-otherwise there were too many "Mom" questions to answer-questions for which there was only one answer--because its fun.
We wont talk about the BB gun wars. The Moms never knew about those.
The others were considered good clean fun at least till somebody got hurt. That's why there were rules.
It was a much simpler time.
Please pardon me the rambling recollection. I sitting here at the computer getting ready to file for Social Security.
It got me thinking of pleasant memories.
Take care
And there were rules-sort of. No boulders allowed. Nothing bigger than a golf ball. Mostly smooth, without sharp edges. Keep you distance. Stop when it is too dark to see em coming. You stop when somebody gets hurt or quits(remember-a friendly game).
You collect a variety of rocks-round, flat-oblong.
You hide behind trees, dog houses, chicken coups, buildings and such.
Oh yeah-the pool similarities come from learning to ricochet(bank/carom) off
walls or trees to hit or come close to your opponent. That flat ones could be made to curve around trees(masse, swerve, coriolis effect?) or skip under places of concealment.
You get the picture. This was mostly a bored summer activity when the Moms sent us outside to get some fresh air and sunshine and don't come back until dinner time.
And then there were the Springtime dirt clod wars where you heaved handfuls of two foot long wild grass with the freshly harvested dirt clod attached(not too wet and muddy/not too dry-just right-like where you can compress the dirt between your hands and shape a ball that holds its shape)at the attackers and their fort.
Once the ammo pile of dirt clods was prepared-both sides sent attackers with all the dirt clods they could carry. The remainder of the ammo stayed at the fort with some other defenders. The field between the forts provided both groups of attackers with more dirt clods to be harvested as the battle ensued.
It usually ended with both sides full of dirt down their shirts and pants and down into your tennies. We all had to clean up a bit before we went to somebody's house for snacks-otherwise there were too many "Mom" questions to answer-questions for which there was only one answer--because its fun.
We wont talk about the BB gun wars. The Moms never knew about those.
The others were considered good clean fun at least till somebody got hurt. That's why there were rules.
It was a much simpler time.
Please pardon me the rambling recollection. I sitting here at the computer getting ready to file for Social Security.
It got me thinking of pleasant memories.
Take care
