Small-Kid Time Toys, Games, and Other Mischief
March 12th, 2009 by Rodney LeeOn my previous blog entry: Baby Boomers - Collectors or Pack-Rats, one of my regular readers/posters, hemajang, asked if I did a blog entry on small kid toys or games.
Now, when we're talking small kid toys or games - since we were mostly poor - we're talking homemade toys and games. And mischief (I added that one in).
For example, the flattened out bottle cap and the string:
(click on the picture for a larger image)
I made this last night just for this entry. No, the string wasn't "saved" string from the old grocery stores. It's store bought. The cap isn't a vintage soda bottle cap - it's from a Kirin beer.
We were talking about this the other night at the Kochi party. I was explaining how we'd flatten out the soda cap so the edges were sharp. The after winding up the string and tightening and slackening the string, the cap would spin, and spin, and spin. Almost like a saw blade. So we'd try it on the leaves of the mango tree - Whoa! cut the whole leaf off! Next, try it on the rubber slipper - yup, cut on nice slit into the slipper. Hmmm, what else can I cut? Where's the dog? Just Kidding!
My older brother said that instead of using a bottle cap, they used a can lid. Ho! Major saw blade action on that! But they had to put tape around the edge of the lid to protect themselves. Awww, junk!
Here's some small kid time mischief we used to get into. Remember the old white plastic Clorox bottles? Well, if you take off the cap, the bottle screws on perfectly to the end of the garden hose. So we used to screw on the empty Clorox bottle to the end of the hose, put it out in the middle of the yard, then turn on the water "full blast". The bottle would fill, then swell, then explode with a loud boom!
Enough to get our neighbors running out of their house wondering what just exploded. And there we'd be, standing in the middle of the yard - Busted! Mr. Corriea would scold us and tell us that a piece of plastic from the Clorox bottle could hit us in the eye and cause us to go blind. But we knew that wouldn't happen because the Clorox bottle ended up with just a slit in it - where the seam was.
Of course we could only do that if the garden hose had the end piece on it. I might've mentioned this before, but a lot of our garden hose ends were just cut ends. Why, you ask? Well, growing up on Kailua, especially in the Coconut Grove area, the land was mostly sand. And the neat part about that was when we'd turn the water on "full blast" and hold the hose to the ground. The water would gouge a hole into the ground and it'd get deeper and deeper as we shoved the hose further and further down into the ground. But then the water all of a sudden stop coming up from the hole and the hose wouldn't go down any further.
Nor would it pull up. It was stuck. That meant only one thing - go to the back tool shed, get the army dagger and cut the hose as close to the ground as possible - so you can bury the evidence.
My dad used to be pissed because he could never use those hose attachments as there wasn't any threading at the end of our hoses.
And if one day our old house ever gets torn down and they excavate the land - they're going to be wondering what the hell are all these pieces of garden hoses sticking up from the ground!
See, that's what happens when no more video games and gadgets to play with. We had to use our imagination.
What kind of toys and games and mischief did you get into as a kid - when didn't have much money growing up? Rubber band gun using clothes pins? Kick the can? Couldn't play throw the can anymore after one of us got hit in the head and had to get stitches. Playing baseball with the 76 antenna ball? Right, anklebiters? Making stilts with old 2 X 4s.
TwoFish mentioned some good ones on the previous blog entry. Come on, TwoFish, share those small kid time things you used to do with us once again.
Tonight's get-together scheduled for Fort St. Bar & Grill postponed (everyone needs to rest
)
Tags: anklebiters, Clorox bottles, Coconut Grove, games, garden hoses, hemajang, kailua, Midlife Crisis, Mischief, small kid time, sting and bottle cap, toys, TwoFish
March 12th, 2009 at 1:05 am
1st. Rod you said "pissed"
See. I do read the actual post.
March 12th, 2009 at 2:23 am
see now, you make a very good point: when some olfut grand parent goes on about how "kids these days" are and how WE had to use our imagination so much, they (ok, WE) had the idle time to make mischief!
the things we learned about sand, water, dirt, fire, fermentation, and what would drive small domestic animals crazy -- that was fascinating. stuff we learned about the physical universe would not make sense to us until science classes years later.
and glory! once we had more information it was even more fascinating. psi, latent heat factors, cohesion, displacement... now THERE was some usable learning. what we learned making mischief would begin to win us serious money in bar bets some day.
in our neighborhood, i think what redeemed us and saved chickens from serious predation was music. i remember when the first little kid learned "Jamaica Farewell" on the ukulele, a crowd formed around him; (i think it was charlie, who had recently whacked through his big toe with a cane knife) and in a twinkling we ALL were playing and singing "Down the way, where the nights are gay..." and learning more at light speed. Charlie was younger, so i must have been 8 then, he was really small, like 6.
yep, at only 6 years of age, if you think about us getting out the big machete, and the file from the shed, (and no one watching us), we could sharpen that pretty capably, then open coconuts by holding the coconut between our bare feet and swinging DOWN at it...
that became a total legend in our families, and how incidentally, Charlie never would be able to stand the sight of blood and passed out when he saw what he had done.
which reminds me, we had some very adult first aid skills back then, too. lol
no family bandaid box, we knew how to make butterflies for bad cuts, and slings and even tourniquets! no one came in the house for just a scrape or anything. we could triage that injury like army medics: gather around wipe off the mud and blood and eyeball it with calm authority. (cause if we panicked we would get in trouble, maybe it wasnt that bad...) "ok, no look so bad. just tie something around um until she stop bleeding", or "that, better put one buttahfly on, she go, she go. stop cryeen, someone goin heah, big baby!"
the sugar company dispensary when you had to get tetanus shots, or stitches, had an old public health nurse with BIG shots (those needles were reused until they SORE)... oh sorry Rodney, you just cant keep me on subject!
our toys were fishing gear, guns, garden tools, jack knives and a huge rural area to use them in, day and night. compared to us, KND (kids now days) are totally impoverished, i really feel bad about that.
we went through a phase making "swipe" too. our favorite was opening one eye on the coconut, pouring in sugar and sealing it up. put that someplace and forget where you put it, and in a couple of weeks you find the whole stinky mess exploded somewhere. not sure now how the sterile coconut milk had enough yeast in it to ferment...
March 12th, 2009 at 4:08 am
yes the stupid flattened bottle cap ..this big kid I was trying to battle with to cut his string (YES we battle ) He had long nails so when my string broken his nails cut my hand omg...LUCKY it didn't hit my eyes I was very short.
We used to dig a little hole then get small stick flick that and someone will try to catch the small stick then my grandma yelling stop that you will your eyes.!
Then we use to get those sling shot no money so you use the elastic off your underwear then just use clothes pins top hold your underwear. YOU go around the back shooting birds. I was telling my brother go hit the bird then my brother would miss and he grab big pile of wood throw that. HE AIMED hit the window...broken window so I told him put the mosquito net up quickly then grandma comes home why on earth the mosquitoes net is up then she line us up smack with the the coconut broom!
My youngest brother's form of entertainment is pulling his filthy socks dangling it in front of my nose while I was napping.. grandma made us nap.
In the olden days nobody babysit us so we do all sorts of nonsense. Okay I was the snitch in the house! No one like me !
We collected spiders then have them fight ..then played with marbles you dig a hole on the ground then you try to get that inside the hole.
we play during rain storm with cover our eyes with handkerchief and try to find each other..JUST THE THREE OF US SIBLINGS.
Lots of things to do when you have no toys. But I sooner have t.v if I had a choice ..t.v they had was crappy in olden days and they had stupid boring shows. Sesame street when they sing that song to come play join with them I COULDN'T go so I feel sad...YES I WANTED TO GO PLAY WITH THE DARN SESAME KIDS....I was asking "where is SESAME Street ?I want to go there!"When I try to answer the question in the show I got all wrong answer..omg even a three year old knows the answer..funny.I was already 10!
March 12th, 2009 at 5:55 am
now I remember it statrted out as a button with string then this big kid comes with his flatten lid sharp as can be....!! THEN after I got hurt no more flatten with string cap!....dangerous you can cut your eye and hand..yes if kids are not monitor they come up with stupid things to do! SO I learn from my childhood which toy my boys can play..YES I RUIN THE FUN!
March 12th, 2009 at 5:55 am
so haw many toys are banned from the past.....!!!
March 12th, 2009 at 6:13 am
yeah, made own slingshots too, out of guava branch cuz was strong hard wood, hard fo cut though and used old rubbah tubing and one small piece of old leather belt. We mostly wen shoot tin cans we lined up cuz aim not good enough to hit one bird. I don't remember ever hitting one bird but must have tried a lot. I had better luck with my first bb gun at around 10 years old but only good fo doves and meigiru (sp?) bird, da daisy not strong enough fo one mynah.
also made samurai swords out of hale koa branches, which was long and straight. Just cut what length you like with pocket knife that we all carried and shave off bark fo da blade part and leave bark on fo da handle part and used to cut intricate designs on handle to make mine fancy and I think we used piece of cardboard with hole in middle for da hand protector part between the blade and handle. Some of us even had our moms sew one sword sheath.
like ducksindawind, we all played with knives small keed time, even with da cutchacane knife. The only big accident had was wen I sliced my thumb nail off while trying to cut one hawaiian orange by our hatake pump....huuuu, plenty blood...maybe dats why I don't like the sight of blood even now. eh UR, maybe another future blog topic....small keed horror stories.
March 12th, 2009 at 6:31 am
Did anyone else melt lead for sinkers? i know we used to hold a mouthful of split shot while working on our lines and hooks. could be we have brain damage from that.
my kids always put a diaper pin on their clothes when they went to the beach: to pull pipipi out of the shells to eat them. and we made opihi knives out of a ground-down blade, handle wrapped with electrical tape. had to be rounded and real thin, and ideally not hurt to fall on~
spear gun was a metal rod (where did those rods come from? we used them for everything), sharp on one end, and more of that rubber tubing. when we made handles with electrical tape, there was spiralling thin fishing line under the tape, "for GRIP"!
not too bad, either, we always had fish and octopus, crab, lobster, limu, opihi, haukiuki. in fact if it came from the ocean and could be subdued, we ate it!
March 12th, 2009 at 6:43 am
o I would make spears out of bamboo and piano wire.
Talk about being DUMB 
o Bows and arrows from branches off of oak trees.
o Nearly chopped off the tip of my index finger using one of the military folding shovel as a hammer to pound in wooden stakes to erect a tent.
o follow the DDT truck around the neighborhood - before it was outlawed
o throwing .22 short rounds onto the ground - thank god I'm still alive
o sitting on a piece of cardboard and sliding down a grass hill. You should try it being inside of a refer box and tumbling head-over-heel down the hill.
o playing in the underground storm drains during rain - another DUMB idea
o playing Cowboys and Indians with Mattel's Shooting Shell .45's http://www.nicholscapguns.com/mattel.htm
o baseball with Union76 antenna balls
o I don't remember the name of it but it was a cylindrical plastic shell that you threw - Whipple
o metal wheeled skateboards
o metal skates with the key that you turned to tighten the clamps onto your shoes
..... more in next post since it includes another URL
March 12th, 2009 at 7:01 am
#8 was moderated anyways.....the dreaded S-H-O-E-S word
o paper airplanes http://www.10paperairplanes.com/ (the top left and bottom right photos)
o making an electric drill from slot car chassis - replace the rear axle with a similar size drill bit, screw on the gears, and hook up a power source
o water balloons
o using a magnifying glass to start fires
o putting firecrackers inside of jabon
o riding a 'little red wagon' down a hill....another DUMB idea
March 12th, 2009 at 7:07 am
Rod, I just woke up! I passed out immediately after posting last night. That's how crazy everything was. but my photos are up, except this one: http://twitpic.com/1zw26
March 12th, 2009 at 7:10 am
Howzit UR
Nomo time to read right now
busy today 
I no can make'um tonight to Fort St. 
got some important busniess stuff to take care of (taxes due on Monday 
) 
NKHEA...da tax man
March 12th, 2009 at 7:12 am
oops
busniess = business 
March 12th, 2009 at 7:25 am
Remember "Coffee (gallon size) can stilts". You could walk on water after it rained. We also made regular stilts, but of course "our regular" stilts was 8 ft. 2x4's and we were about 6 ft. off the ground.
Went to see "mary poppins" and guess what, we used to jump off the garage with one umbrella to see if we could float. ( drive our parents crazy!)
Our bicycles would always have playing cards attached to the back wheel and would make a noise like an engine. We would also use balloons if we didin't have cards.
The best was making "tree houses" in the mango tree........
March 12th, 2009 at 7:53 am
can't write now.. too many flashbacks from reading ducksinthewind an' erryone's else's posts..
all i know for sure is that we're freakin' lucky to be alive.. our childhoods really were a "survival of the fittest" exercise.. how did we survive w/o carseats an' such?
March 12th, 2009 at 7:59 am
@Rod: "Where's the dog?" Whoo you gonna get it from LeslieK!
I used to attach the playing cards to my bike with clothespins. I also used to set my old plastic model airplanes on fire and pretend they were being shot down. Other than that, I didn't engage in any of the mischief that you folks are writing about. That rotating bottlecap/tin can top doohickey is so dangerous - kinda reminds me of Harold Sakata's Odd Job from Goldfinger.
March 12th, 2009 at 8:02 am
Good Morning Rodney!
I heard about NKHEA no can make it tonight, masako and I still going.
March 12th, 2009 at 8:12 am
one pocket knife an' small kidz wit' dirty faces = mumbley-peg..
broomstick for bat, cut-up hose for ball = stickball..
all alone game = garden hose wit' jus' the right preshah makeen' like a cobra slowly riseen' an' den flippeen' ovah, den do it ovah an' ovah till the yahd soaked real good..
March 12th, 2009 at 8:16 am
Used to take the wooden block under da kamaboko, cut um down the middle and use um as, I dunno what you call it, clappers - stick um between your fingers, then shake your hand to rattle the sticks. Something li'dat.
Used to collect popsicle sticks to build rafts and other structures.
Made sailor hats out of newspaper; then fight each other with small kine bamboo. Dangerous 'tho.
Small kid time was good fun cuz we never know any better.
Eh JindoMaster, funny reference to OddJob! like it!
March 12th, 2009 at 8:24 am
I remember horsing around with the water sprinklers in the school yard. One guy run in to take control of the sprinkler head, shoot um all around at the other kids, get all wet. Until the school janitor come chase us away - "eh you damn kids!" Dat was good fun!
March 12th, 2009 at 8:29 am
Eh, you calling me out? I have to go work, but wanted to try start my fresh corned beef so that it won't take so long to cook tonight. Have a meeting to go to. So will try to get on from da office.
Hemajang- reading about the pocket knife reminded me of going to the neighborhood store, buying one dried abalone, and slicing it realllllyyyyy think and eating it. Used to like to buy the pinenuts with the thin shells and eat those too. Older Japanese neighbors (they were older to me) had cavies and I used to give them some as treats. Now, no can find that kind pine nuts.
Kay, catch you little later.
March 12th, 2009 at 8:30 am
Aaah, to late to catch the typo. Slicing it really "thin".
March 12th, 2009 at 8:53 am
We used to play tapeball. Make a baseball out of a core of balled newspaper, and cover with several layers of masking tape. We used a old broom handle for a bat and played in the street. If you got real solid contact, the ball would rip and you would have to stop play to re-tape the ball together before the next guy could hit.
My favorite was the pellet pistol, though. We used to go into the cane fields and shoot anything that moved. We used to soak cleaning wads in gun oil and shoot each other with them too. That probably wasn't the brightest of ideas, but I still have both eyes, so I guess we didn't screw up too much.
March 12th, 2009 at 9:14 am
Good one Rodney. We all did the same stuff. No can help keed time no moe money. Gotta make our own toys.
Ho ankles, throw 22 shorts on da ground
March 12th, 2009 at 9:22 am
Rodney, masako and I still going tonight if anybody else still going. Lte me know...
March 12th, 2009 at 9:28 am
Thanks for the replies folks! Keep them coming thoughout the day - and weekend as this is my Friday post too. And I'm sure more memories will pop into your head as you read other replies, or sit on the toilet, or when you're taking a shower, or just about to fall asleep. Post 'um.
I'm not sure if Ynaku is going. NKHEA mentioned that it sounded like he might be small kine sick. Paula still sick so we're not going.
NKHEA said maybe we can postpone until next week Tuesday.
March 12th, 2009 at 9:32 am
emm386, we had this tag game where if you "it", you had to hit someone with this Bull Durham tobacco bag filled with either pieces of cloth or beans. If you pack it good, it was pretty solid and was real sore when you got whacked. Game was called Ala-bay-yah or something like dat, forget the exact name. A lot of the old folks rolled their own Bull Durham smokes so we had a good supply of bags.
March 12th, 2009 at 9:33 am
I stay sick
Next week looks good 
March 12th, 2009 at 9:35 am
I am wondering why your father didn't smack you for breaking the hose you know he can cut that hose in half swat..omg!..yes at least he coudl write on hos hose DO NOT TOUCH TEH HOSE OR ELSE the slipper is waiting for you!! YUP BIG WHIP from hose...omg !
March 12th, 2009 at 9:36 am
yes reasons why we got smack more for inventing stupid toys!
March 12th, 2009 at 9:38 am
Yes the annoying things we to do to keep us busy...no wonder the adult don't bother watching us...no TV. to make us sit down !
March 12th, 2009 at 9:45 am
oh yes the hose my stupid youngest brother... I be sitting nicely sitting in the sun tannign like a fool then out of nowhere this younger of mine would ambush me with the hose cold as can be! Good thing no adult to get us I pull the hose into the house..!
NOTE I NEVER TELL MY KIDS the annoying toys we make or else they woudl do that.!! MUNG beans wicked if you spit it through a pen ..sissy paper spit !
March 12th, 2009 at 9:55 am
It looks like we not going tonight then....
March 12th, 2009 at 10:02 am
We used to put dog doo on the stick and chase each other around. If you got hit you was the doo-doo boy for the day.
March 12th, 2009 at 10:05 am
Okay, tonight's get-together postponed until a later date. TBA
btw, Melissa did a nice write up of our Tuesday get-together (now that we're all "outed"). See it here.
March 12th, 2009 at 10:08 am
Still get Pele's tears? and what was that red bean or seed that looks like one-a-day vitamins? we used dat and koa seeds to make bean bags. eh hemajang, bull durham bags was da best yeah? and man, Twofish mention dried abalone and pine nuts - there's some really good memories!
March 12th, 2009 at 10:11 am
Tankobu, That red sedd came from the wiliwili tree. But get one beetle that killing those trees.
I remember those seeds,
March 12th, 2009 at 10:12 am
seed not sedd. Aigoo, no check spell check
March 12th, 2009 at 10:45 am
speaking of pocket knives, we played this game where you open the big blade and the 2nd smaller blade half way so it forms a T shape. Then you stick the knife with both blade points or just the smaller blade in the ground or on one board and flick and spin the knife forward and try to have the knife stick again.
March 12th, 2009 at 11:07 am
My Haole Boy was listening to me laugh, and he said HE used to fire thirty-aught-six rounds with a nail and a hammer!
They went in the back yard and shot up his Dad's old edsel, and Dad went wild. when he checked his guns, they were all locked up, so he said "somebody shot my car, but not with my gun, so..." The eyeball stayed on the kids though.
They lived on the reservation in Cheyenne, WY, and he tells some great stories!
March 12th, 2009 at 11:09 am
Hema: what, no split shot for the bean bag?? or that is still classified...?
March 12th, 2009 at 11:21 am
Largo - good topic!
- make make da dart thrower with da cane leaf. hard to splain da process but if you did this you know what i mean.
- slingshot with guava branch and surgical rubber.
- make kites with bamboo and newspaper or plastic sheets.
- coat hanger/surgical rubber spear guns. shaped wood to make spear gun shape. tape/tie down clothes pin for trigger and short piece copper tubing for da guide for da cut and sharpened coat hanger spear. shoot crabs and small kine fishes.
- cut off da front forks off one old bike and hammer em onto your front forks on your existing ride to make em look like one chopper. can add more to make da front forks super long. just make sure you secure em good....bumbye da buggah slip off and you going do one pearl dive right ova da handle bars. haha!!
k......i go think bout some more lataz.
March 12th, 2009 at 11:23 am
Ynaku, tanks for the info! I hope dat beetle no wipe out da trees. and Ynaku, hope you enjoy your stay in Honolulu; take care bruddah!
March 12th, 2009 at 11:34 am
Pele's tears, was that the same as Job's tears? i cant remember! aghhh
once when i worked in a tourist shop, this busload of french and german tourists were just SCOOPING all the Jobs tears stuff, and running to the register with it, completely cleaned us out. come to find out, they are associated with Lourdes and miraculous healing there, and really expensive!
hmm, on Kauai i know where get, but i never did go make my fortune in France with em!
March 12th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Hi ducks,
Jobs tears is a seed that grows wild in Hilo especially along the river banks.
Pele's tears can be found in Ka'u and Volcano area or where ever the wind carries them. These are actual lava that looks like tears. I guess when the lava flies into the air and then hardens into drop-like shapes. Another one is Pele's hair, these fly further cause they are really fine lava. Almost like fiberglass insulation.
March 12th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
opso, did that cane leaf dart thrower...get one big mature cane leaf, again with our omnipresent pocket knife, make one cut across leaf spine about middle of leaf length so leaf is like one hinge now, then peel spine back towards the tip a few inches so spine is sticking out, then we hold leaf at bottom and fling in da air...hopefully cut spine part flies long and straight. Option is to make another spine cut nearer the base fo better throwing angle. We used to have cane flying contest.
March 12th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
before time, I don't know if sugar cane was different species or let them mature more what but they had real beautiful, tall cane tassels and we liked to gather them and throw them like spears.
March 12th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
@hema, Where would we be without our trusty jack knife?
March 12th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Hey opso, we couldn't afford surgical tube, had to cut the tire tube from our bikes. Every time we get flat tire, we used to patch em until no can patch no more. Then cut em up to make slingshot. BI had plenty Guava trees to look for the "PERFECT" V- Shaped branch. We used to go to the extremes to climb the tree and cut that branch. Fall down and all, but quick get up and climb before somebody else get em.
March 12th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
on our way to Japanese school we used to gather the dried stem from the octopus plant and spin it like a propeller on your pointer finger. The stem is kinda long...maybe a foot. The base of the stem was shaped somewhat like a hook so you had to first put the hook part between your pointer and middle finger and spin while letting go of the middle finger....hopefully with a good start and a good hook, the stem can keep spinning for a long time...wasn't that easy.
March 12th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
made a wicked annoying whistle with our thumbs and a blade of grass!
there was a purple cane that was sweet, just cut a piece of stalk, peel and ruin your teeth completely.
and the critters that live in cane! 10 inch long bright blue centipedes, i swear . buffo, rats, GInormous spiders, the works.
the tassels you dont see in most places, cause the sugar companies spray a defoliant or something from the air.
we knew how to take the sugarcane spines (or fiberglass fibers) out of the skin by rubbing it with long hair.
and we collected buffo's at night, stop the car on warm summer roads, and while the buffo is blinded in the headlights, scoop um up, put in a 5 gallon bucket. they are the only thing that works if you have centipedes on your property, and it looks cool dumping 5 gallons of buffos out in your yard.
March 12th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
ducksindawind mentioned melting lead earlier, we used to melt that tecola (sp?) wax in a tin can and make candles. Tecola was that sweet juice water in that wax tube you bought from the candy store. Had different flavors and you bite off one end and suck the juice out...sometimes we went freeze the tecola and eat em like popsicles. Anyway, with all the wax, we used to melt em full in one tin can and with a string, you dip into hot wax, take out and let cool for a few seconds then dip again and repeat plenty times until come fat like one candle. Had one cave by our house and we used to go exploring using our candles...good fun. I think cave was actually dug into the hillside during WWII as a just-in-case bomb shelter.
March 12th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Fun topic...but then it's about toys.
Used to make telephone with 2 paper cups and string. By the time I was nine or ten, I graduated to the real thing. My brother worked at Hawaiian Tel and we always had telephone equipment around. So I learned to connect 2 phones together. After playing with phones, I started to take things apart - stuff like transistor radios and stuff like that - and try to put them back together.
I don't remember making too many things. I liked to play outside in nature. My friend and I used to take our scoop net and fish for small kine fish and crayfish in the stream near our house.
Next time you have firecrackers, try throw them in the storm drain. Big boom!
March 12th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
@kate, your brother still work there. Maybe I know him. I Big Island though.
March 12th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
@kate, we also played in the stream next to our house...a lot. We loved to walk in stream and make dams...who doesn't like to play with water and mud. We had this old pump house over the stream and I lied face down over one of openings in the old wooden floor slats to catch crayfish with a string and some kind meat or ebi tied to the end. I don't know why but our family never ate the crayfish. However, I used to eat crayfish at my borinque friends house. I would think that with all the crayfish in stream, everyone would be eating em.
March 12th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
hemajang - yeah.....dass da one! good splanation there!
oh yeah....had to make da extra hinge for better angle and snap to the throw. hah!
Ynaku - my grandpa had rolls of different sizes of surgical rubber in his workshop. dunno why.......i no think he was on drug user. haha!
so we just kakaroach some from there.
and yeah......we used to use rubbah bands or da inner tubes too......until we found my grandpa's surgical rubbah stash.
March 12th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
hema, we from the same camp? Wainaku Camp 2 we go Nikai river. We used to catch crayfish in da stream behind my house too
Catch frog using red cloth.
March 12th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
ynaku, no, I from Honouliuli between Ewa and Waipahu and had several streams through it and eventually flowed into Pearl Harbor. Unfortunately, most of the steams are only trickles now due to development..and yeah, also went catch frog with red cloth and flashlight night time. I learned a lot from watching my uncle who was a few years older.
March 12th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
@hemajang- There is another Advertiser Blog that talks about Honouliuli - http://culturalkapolei.honadvblogs.com/
March 12th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
I'm being morderated...
March 12th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
@L. - sorry about that, just returning from a meeting. Now that your first post was approved, all future posts to MLC (Midlife Crisis) will post immediately.
*unless you add more than 1 URL link to the entry.
*or use the word "shoes". (Don't ask me why).
Welcome L. to MLC and thanks for joining in!
March 12th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
WHY CAN"T WE USE THE WORD S.H.O.E.S ?
The guy that threw it at Bush got 3 years. That's too much. He never even hit him.
March 12th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
@Ynaku: No, he worked in Honolulu but now he's doing something different. My sister, who is much older than me (old enough to be my mom), used to live in Hilo. So I used to spend my summers in Hilo when I was small. My other sister married a guy from Pahoa so I used to stay at his folks house too. Good times! I love the Big Island.
March 12th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Rodney,
You wanted me to mention playing "frisbee" with dried up smashed toads? Or making mud pies out of Primo beer caps (again, collecting them first to have enough stash) and decorate them with foliage? Saving jars to catch insects or spiders. I even remember going into the back yard of California grass taller than me, and catching the crickets and grasshoppers with pointed heads, red spikes out the tail end, and then pulling off the jumping legs and watch them walk around. They had these golden or greenish beady eyes, and as I got older, I felt guilty about doing this. I used to also look for praying mantis egg cases, which look like brown foam in a oval ball shape. Then when the babies hatch, I'd put my hand there and let them walk on my arm. So small.
The neighborhood kids would go to the park and remove the bolts to the see-saw. We'd grab the see-saw and put them across swings, so that more people could swing on a "bench"? If the bolts were too tight to remove, 2 people would sit in swings, and lock ankles. Friends or siblings would sit on the legs, and we'd swing the whole bunch. I remember sitting on the swing, and having a friend stand outside my thighs and pump their legs to make us go higher and higher. The goal was to to as high, or higher than the top of the swing frame. Only thing is that sometimes the person standing had shi-shi smell underwear or shorts, and that was at face level. Pheeewww.
Going to the fresh water springs, or down to the local stream, swim, catch opae or crayfish with Wonder bread, and bring them home to keep as pets. I remember my slippers getting stuck in the limu, and it would make sucking sounds as I pulled them out. Was kind of funny hen friends losing slippers and we watch them float away until someone could grab a stick to pick them up by the straps. No lepotspirosis that I can remember. Had to watch out if it just rained, though, and Mom and Dad said I'd get kakios from being in dirty water.
I'm surprised that my parents let me keep jars or pans of tadpoles, monarch butterfly caterpillars, oleander moth, crickets/grasshoppers, and watch the life cycles, or at least to observe them. They were housed mostly in glass jars that were saved for this or that (whole collection of them. I miss the Best Foods glass jars with metal lids, especially the gallon size that I like to use to make sun tea.), waxed paper put over the top and held with rubber bands, or sometimes, the actual metal lid was pounded by a responsible adult with a nail (from the baby food jar of nails and screws).
I used guava branch sling shots too, with the yellowish/brown surgical rubber, tied on with leather lacing. I wonder where we got the stuff from. Seems that was a popular thing back then. Used to get the seeds from the monkey pod tree and use those. Also used to use those seeds to rub on concrete and stick it to someone's arm. "Burn beans", as we used to call them. Mean streak continued with Mickey Mouse plant. Some of us would grab the berries that turned black, and throw it at other kids we didn't like, hitting them on their clothes from the back. The game was to see how much stains we could get on them before they realized. Someone told on me, and a teacher told my parents, and ho boy, shame going home and get scoldings.
When I couldn't go outside to play, Whee-lo was a favorite of mine, and I was able to amuse myself with that for a long time. That's the magnetic axle wheel with holes in the red disk that spins up and down the bent metal piece when you flick your wrist. I remember having different colored paper cutouts that I could put in there to watch while it spun up and down. I used to try to make it spin as fast as possible.
Wooly Willy was another thing I liked. This was the cardboard toy with a printed bolo head man's face and loose metal shavings enclosed in plastic atop the cardboard. Using the supplied metal-tipped plastic wand, one could move the shavings over the portions of the face to make sideburns, hairy brows, head hair, beard, etc.
I used to like to experiment with these magnetic rods that we had, and a U-shaped magnet. I'd rub different metals with the rods, and pick up sewing pins. Gee, I'm noticing a pattern here. I still like magnets, but like the damaged hard drive ones the best to hold my keys on the wall.
Wooden non-colored Tinker Toys was fun too, but there weren't that many pieces in the cardboard tube with the tin lid. After a while, it got boring. Couldn't make a ferris wheel.
Did your families have View-Master? I used to enjoy looking at the pictures of Yosemite, Old Faithful, and other things. I think we had some cartoons there too. In the same closet that housed the shoebox with these, I played with a Brownie camera. I say "played" since no one had film. And when Instamatics and the flash cubes came out, oh man that was hot!
Etch-A-Sketch couldn't hold my interest. It was too hard for me to do. It took too long. Tiddly Winks was okay, but only had my Mom to play with, if anything. Hard to compete by yourself. There was a Ouiji board too, but that one time my Mom and I did it, I kind of freaked out. I must have been around 7 years old. Then as an adult, it freaked me out even more.
Older sister and my Mom taught me how to play jacks. Onsies through tensies, pigs-in-a-pen, double bounces, around-the-world. I can't even remember what order. Had metal skinny jacks, and later played with friends who had fatter jacks, which was less impaling to the hand.
Along the lines of marbles, using the red false wiliwili seeds (and that nasty bug that is at wiliwili trees is a gall wasp) you would hold a bunch in your closed hand, and toss them loosely on the ground. Then how you started the game, I'm not sure, but one player would put their pinky finger out while the rest stayed closed, and draw a line between two seeds, and flick one of the seeds with the thumb (a la marbles). If it hit the other seed on the opposite side of the line, you'd pick that seed up. Mom taught me that game. I wonder if she can still remember it.
And then there was the common "build a house/fort/camp" thing with lots of blankets, clothes pins, and rope. Clothes pins were better built then, not getting rusty or corroded, and the springs were way more strong. Then you took over the whole living room, with chairs back-to-back, using tables, etc. to make secret passages. Nevermind that the grown ups couldn't walk through easily. The junk part was having to put all the stuff away.
At school, we'd play hop scotch, using broken chain, or broken jewelry pieces instead of rocks for kini. Girls and guys would play, or if not, we'd play handstand by the buildings. Must have left plenty dirty marks on the wall where our feet landed.
Sham battle, Dodge ball, and H-O-R-S-E. I don't see many kids playing HORSE anymore. Maybe they're all inside the house.
Mischievious, we'd wet toilet paper in the school bathrooms, and fling them up on the ceiling! After a while, we'd hear a teacher coming (klok, klok, klok went the shoes) and we'd have to run into the stalls like we weren't doing anything. Someone would wet their hair to explain all the water on the floor. And sometimes, we'd lock the bathroom door from the inside, and crawl out under or over the stall to get out. That meant no one else could use the toilet unless they crawled over or under. Must have irked the custodians.
After school we'd go to friends houses, without our parents knowing which house we were at. I liked going to my friends houses that had mango trees, climbing up the tree, and throw mangoes down to the person responsible for catching them, which was usu the younger siblings. Half-ripe mango peeled and sliced, then dipped in a large bowl of shoyu/rock salt/vinegar/black peper. Drinking the shoyu mixture after all the mango was gone.
OK, I think that was enuf for read, yeah?
March 12th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
@L, yeah I did read his blog and posted once and asked questions but no reply and soon afta his blog disappeared. Had very interesting historical information about Honouliuli which is a very large area. We lived in small Honouliuli town where the West Loch golf course and Hawaii Medical Center (St Francis West) is located. From what I understand it was quite a bustling town with a dance hall, several restaurants, bar, barber shop, cleaners and stores in the 1930-40's. I think they catered to the Ewa Plantation families. Back then, water was plentiful and had taro and watercress farming. The first artesian well on Oahu was in Honouliuli built by da main man, James Campbell in the 1870's which allowed him to develop sugar cane farming and the Ewa Sugar Plantation.
March 12th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Maybe I biased but Ewa Plantation was once a model community with clean streets, no major crime from what I remember, plantation took care of da workers and had all kinds of activities for the community. Ewa Tenny Center was a big gathering place for everybody for sports and social events. It was a good place to grow up...although was like Peyton Place where everybody knew what everybody was doing...so couldn't get into trouble.
March 12th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
@hemajang: Those crayfish were gross! They live in the mud and was so dirty looking. Playing in the mud and water was fun though. We used to catch lots of guppies and even some swordtails. There was a teahouse upstream so sometimes we would see koi too but they were too fast. I used to live near Nuuanu and School street and there is a stream there. Kind of a big pond too with small waterfall. People used to jump in. Then they made it into a park and kind of ruined it. It wasn't so wild anymore. Once my friend and I followed that stream down and we ended up by the Chinese Cultural Plaza. Looking back, that was kind of stupid of us but then we were probably 7 or 8 years old.
March 12th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
I know that it was supposed to be home-made toys, but many of those toys I played with were hand-me-downs. Maybe that's why Tinker Toys didn't have enough parts.
Forgot to mention earlier, making paper darts. You know those metal pipes that ducksinthewind mentioned, use those, make the conical paper dart fit there, but put a sewing pin in the tip and blow. After a while, it was not blowing the gun at an object, but another human kid.
I used to use the machete too, but to cut plants. I don't know if my Dad knew. Used to use the calla seeds to stuff beanbags, sewn by hand by Mom. I think they're still at the old house, in a plastic ice cream tub with moth balls.
anklebiters - you brought back memories. At school there was a hill from the basketball courts to the baseball field area. We'd lay down after lunch, and roll down the hill, sometimes hitting holes in the ground, or rocks. Going up and down, and when the bell rang and we were back in class, wow, itchy yeah? If you get roller blades type skates, try squat and go down a hill that is nice and smooth. Wow, what a ride.
I too had those metal skates with the key to adjust the width at the ball of the foot area. Later as my friends had roller skate boots with the plastic type wheels, I was so envious, but would still go skating with them. Actually, it was more like they skated, and I kept putting my skates back on my shoes.
I used my family's magnifying glass to start fires, and a friend's camera lens (off the body) to set a roach on fire. I think it must have been dying anyhow, now that I think about it, because why would it have been out during the day?
Did anyone else have papershot guns? The rolls of shots were rolled up, and bundled as 10 or so. If you didn't have a gun, then you used a rock. You'd pull out a length of shots, and either hit each shot, or run the rock down the length and hear them go off.
Reminds me of playing with unfired firecrackers. I'd go out after New Year's eve, collect them, and fold them in half so that they'd crack and then light them. They'd spin and spurt. I think these worked best with Duck brand firecrackers.
March 12th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
You guys talking about catching a frog with red cloth - how does that work? Frog or toad? I never heard of this red cloth thing.
At a Christmas party, some boys caught a toad and put a cigarette in it's mouth. Before anything could happen, they pulled it out. They said the toad would explode. Do you know if that's true? Poor toad but at least they eventually let it go.
March 12th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
yellow canna lilies, have the pods with good-sized black "ball bearings" inside.
http://www.easytogrowbulbs.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=102&gclid=CPqS0u_4npkCFQ8MDQodAGOmpw
when you see the uliuli for hula, they are filled with those.
March 12th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
kate -
Are you talking about Liliuokalani Gardens area? Planny mosquitos. Used to have the green single-story shop with the shave ice store there on School St. I loved visiting that place!
For some reason toads are attracted to the red cloth, or piece of yarn. I am not sure if it is the color of something they eat (like centipedes). It's used as a lure. I suppose it works for frogs too.
March 12th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
I mentioned in one earlier blog but anyone made those folded paper poppers- for lack of a better term, where you fold to shape of a flat triangle, hold one end and snap it open to make a loud popping sound? We usually made it out of folder paper sometimes with newspaper.
And then there was the table game with a folded paper triangle and you flick it to the other end and the object was to have the paper be partially on the table edge without falling over. I forget the rules and how you kept score but I think if you go over then your opponent gets to flick his folded paper for a field goal by holding paper on its corner with one hand and flick with finger of other hand and if go between goal, which you made with both hands, pinkie down, thumbs up and pointer fingers forming a goal, then you score a point...something like dat. Ok, I probably got some parts mixed up but I'm sure the guys played it, my sons played it too. I wonder if kids nowadays still play that game?
March 12th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
@TwoFish:
Yes, that's the name of the park. I couldn't remember. Thanks.
I remember that shave ice store. On School Street, between Liliha and Nuuanu, there were 2 shave ice stores. One was closer to Nuuanu (where they used to sell penny candy - used to get those striped lollypops that cut your tongue) and the other at the corner of Frog Lane and School Street (called BJ's, I think).
March 12th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
TwoFish - whoa! my you have a good memory!
i remember doing most of the things you mentioned......well.....cept for dem girly games/activities. heh
especially da paper shots and using the rocks and ooooooh......da magnifying glass! could get so destructive with that.
hemajang - yup.....i remember that paper popper thing. don't ask me to make one now tho.
and we used to play that table top football game too. when making the field goal......we would try and hit da goalie guy in da face. haha!
we also used to play this race game where you would draw a curvy race track on a piece of paper with obstacles on it. then from the starting line you would hold your pencil tip down on the paper and index finger on the eraser and make a skid mark by pushing down on the pencil. then you continue from the end of your skid mark. if your mark hits the edge of the track or an obstacle......you start from there. take turns and whoever maneuvers thru the track first wins.
March 12th, 2009 at 10:13 pm
@ukuhead - pissed. Ha, ha. Said it again.
@ducks - nice post. I remember my brother fermenting a raw egg. It too exploded. Phew!
@Rosette - toys were never banned in our day.
@hemajang - I remember playing with my brothers single pump pellet gun. Trying to shoot and crack the Primo bottles. The pellet gun was to weak to shatter the bottle, but the pellet ricocheted right back at us! Duck!
@anklebiters - I remember that cylindrical plastic shell thing. What was it called? MLCers? We used to use paper cups to make those things. First we unrolled the lip of the cup, then ripped out the bottom. Then folded the bottom in to make it heavier and viola - poor-man's Whipple (or whatever it was called).
@shoyu burner - Mary Poppins jumping off the roof with an umbrella? You guys was crazy! The most I did was - after seeing it on the Three Stooges - brushed my teeth with soap. But still couldn't blow bubbles out of my mouth like they did.
@JindoMaster808 - I know that LeslieK is out of town so I could write the "where the dog" part. She going scold me when she returns.
@unclejimmy - water hose cobra - I remember that. We had to make our own Water Wiggle in those days: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Jj--y7nzkjo/RrIadTXttEI/AAAAAAAABMg/WGBgDTmSv_A/s200/Picture5.jpg
@Tankobu - speaking of ice cream sticks - we used to rub the sticks on the rough cement until we made a nice sharp point on it. Took long time for rub down the stick. As for playing with the school water sprinklers - no way. Everyone was too afraid of "buzzard".
@TwoFish - yup, calling you out.
@EMM386 - back in the day, if didn't have a baseball, just make one with newspaper and tape. Classic!
@hemajang - we didn't have tobacco bags our time. But had that kind bags that gold rock gum used to come in. Those bags were treasured.
@Kage - Thanks for posting to MLC. Did you grow up with opso? Because you wrote about picking up the doo-doo on the end of the stick and tagging someone with it - then they became doo-doo boy for the day. I remember ospo mentioning doo-doo boy and uku-girl.
@ducksinthewind - Your Haole boy shot up is dad's car? Whoa - that's for get dirty lickin's.
@opso - we didn't have cane fields around us growing up so to make the cane leaf spears, we had to use coconut tree leaves. Strip off one side, then start little bit stripping on the other side at the heavy end of the leaf. Rest the light end of the leaf on your shoulder, the using your index finger between the leaf and the "spear", pull the hanging leaf to shoot the coconut leaf spear. One coconut frond made for plenty spears.
@Ynaku - I remember Job's tears. My dad took us to the waterfall that kate and TwoFish mentioned and we picked Job's tears there. Stripped out the loose fibers in the middle and make necklace with them. All the mokes used to wear um'.
@hemajang - I remember the octopus plant and spinning the leaf thing around and around the finger. Would still do that today if I found one on the ground.
@TwoFish - thanks for the excellent entry. You know, I do "guest entries" every now and then. You have a good memory so anytime you want to do a guest entry, you're more than welcome to. I'm not being sarcastic here. I'm serious. Plus I can always use a break.
Thanks for the great posts. Glad to have you here!
@kate - You have some good memories too. Thanks for keeping the conversation going.
@hemajang - Paper Football! Yes, I remember. We'd draw a line on each side of the desk. Lay the triangle paper football flat and flick it with your finger. If it stops on the other person's side touching the line - Touchdown! And for the extra point, the other guy would have to make the goal post. IIRC, with each hand, stick your thumbs and index finger out like you making a pistol. Then point your pistols straight down so the tips of your index finger touches the desk. Then slide them closer together until the tips of the thumbs touch. Stand up and make your arms straight and there's the goal post. Are you guys doing it? Then the other person uses one hand's index finger to stand the paper football on one point and uses the other hand to flick the paper football up through the uprights (the arms).
Good memories everyone. Keep them going.
March 12th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Kate - I think it was B&S, which is by Frog Lane, which is now
Opso - thanks for compliment. Too good of a memory. It's a curse. I played girly games with the girls, and boy games with the boys. I was uh, flexible in that way.
That loud popper (http://nerds.unl.edu/pages/sciencedemos/paper%20popper/paper%20popper.htm) reminded me that I used to make ninja stars with 2 strips of paper, and then interlock the tips into each other. Got in trouble with them sometimes, and then pretty soon teachers confiscated those things. Do a search on origami ninja star for instructions.
I remember the pencil game on paper with obstacles, and the paper triangle football game. That brought back memories of unfolding a paperclip, bending it into a triangle whose ends were apart. Then, putting the ends atop each other, spring loaded by putting the ends on the opposite side of where they would sit without tension, and see whose clip could flip the highest.
Did anyone else used to use paperclips to tap a payphone with an unfolded paperclip and make a free phonecall?
March 12th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
How to make a paper pop gun:
http://www.origami-club.com/en/newspaper/popgun/index.htm
March 12th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
Sorry Kate, I didn't finish my thought. Too tired. Shimazu Shave Ice took over the B&S place. Kelvin Shimazu also does flavored popped corn.
Rodney - thanks for the compliment. Maybe I will guest blog one day, but not right now. Too many things on the plate.
I gotta say, going down memory lane with the toys and games and other mischief was probably what I used to rag my parents about when they would reminisce. Gads, I'm turning into an ol' fut."Back in our day. . ." and "When I was younger. . ." sheesh.
I got a bunch of Jobe's tears, still having to clean the inside dried plant fibers out. I wonder what happened to the small hand drill that Mom had specifically for this purpose? Did anyone used to make haole koa see lei? Gotta boil the seeds and soften the shell, and then they could be sewn with regular needle and thread. Mom showed me.
Brother showed me how to get some metal window screen, bend it (over a wooden frame, preferable - if not, place atop some bricks) and put paper underneath. With an old toothbrush, grab some liquid starch and food coloring if no more paint, and dab the brush in the paint so that it's not dripping. Run the brush over the screen, and there will be splatter on the paper. Putting plant leaves or interesing things down first will leave the outline of what was there. Was good to do this for making own wrapping paper or greeting cards.
BTW, a favorite thing to play with when I was a kid was liquid silver. Rubbing that on a dime made it soooo shiny! Good thing I never licked my fingers after that, or inhaled the stuff.
March 12th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
@hemajang: Paper football! To answer your question, I'm pretty sure there's a couple of kids out there that play with them, at least my brothers do. We used to do it a lot at McDonald's with the papers from the tray. You got the scoring right. And I remember making the paper "poppers" too, with folder paper at school...until they got banned for some reason. On the subject of paper, there were also these twirly helicopter type things my dad could make. He'd clap it out of his hands and it'd shoot up in the air and come twirling back down. If you blew air at it, it could stay airborne for quite some time.
The guava stick/surgical rubber slingshot must have been popular back then too! My dad used to play with those as well, and about 15 years ago, he brought home a stick, made one for me and taught me to shoot it. I tried to keep it, but it must have gotten lost in the shuffle when I moved from the BI to here. Isn't there like...another type of slingshot or blowgun or something you can make from coconut leaves? Dad tried to tell me about that one, but my memory isn't clear enough to remember exactly how it was made, or what it really was.
March 12th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
Oh man, just as Largo sensei made his post, I started writing mine. I guess that answers my question about the coconut leaf darts!
March 13th, 2009 at 12:28 am
i hope i'm not being redundant, but there was so much to read (darn, you folks have awesome memories!), i can't remember all of it! boy, we have some warubozu MLCers, eh??
my mom used to take me to thomas square to collect those red beans to make bean bags! those were the best... just the right weight to juggle!
we played pencil fight... had to save the bestest strongest looking pencil so you could win! my mirado #2 pencil... not some cheapy generic brand!
jacks and hopscotch... what i wouldn't do for a golf ball and real chalk!! i loved chalk... !! and had to use those red bean beanbags for hopscotch, too. i haven't seen metal jacks in stores for years... did they stop making those things?
used to make fake "romper stompers" (those upside down cups on strings that you used to walk on that they used on romper room!) with vienna sausage cans and string! but, how i longed for the real thing!!
used to blow up a certain type of airplant tubular flower... after softening it up, you could blow it up like a little balloon!
sucked on the sweet sap of the little red cluster flowers... though, now, i'd wonder if it was poisonous or not!
funny... now that i think about it, i learned most of these things from my mom! but, my childhood certainly doesn't sound as exciting as some others!!
March 13th, 2009 at 5:46 am
@twofish, yeah I remember those jobe's tears and hale koa seed leis. My aunty made those. Man, those tiny hale koa seed leis were hard to make...but they were plentiful. I go to my parent's house on weekends and clear out the california grass, hale koa and kiawe around their property...man, they tough.
Another thing we did was to fly bottle caps by snapping your fingers. You place the bottle cap edge between your thumb and middle finger, lean back and snap...and if just right, it may fly forward a few feet.
March 13th, 2009 at 5:55 am
yes now you cannot bring toys at school...yes just entertain yourself ..LIKE TALK TO YOURSELF because at school you are not allowed to talk anymopre...AFTER the accumulation of toys and junk you sit in your corner and now I teach my boys to SIT SIT go play with your chess!
To think of it after I looking back at my childhood no wonder I pick t.v and chess for the boys to do...yes my brother got this air plane fold up paper for my boys .. it drove me nuts...SO now my turn to buy junk toys for my brother kids and drive my brother crazy picking it up....yes...too bad they turn the noisy toys down ..I was shopping for noisy toys for my brothers kids to get even for the junk toys they gave my boys. !!
March 13th, 2009 at 6:28 am
@TwoFish:
You are right again! B&S was the name. I used to help my bro-in-law wash his car on the weekend and he would give me some money, then I would go there or to the other store for shave ice or candy.
Nowadays I wouldn't let my kid walk around the neighborhood like that. Times change, yeah?
March 13th, 2009 at 6:45 am
Was thinking about the kid days playing in the stream and making boats out of paper and/or leaves/sticks then trying to bomb them with rocks...endless fun. I dunno about boys man, but sure liked to blast things out of the water.
Already mentioned but loved to make dams and diverting the water. I think was from watching my farmer pops in the hatake and irrigating the rows of eggplant and bittermelon. He would gas pump the water out of the stream onto the main ground flume and the rows would be irrigated by opening the mud dam with his hoe and once the row was irrigated he would hoe the mud dam up again and repeat this row by row. I liked to watch the start of the water flow into the rows and flumes...sometimes making floating boats and running along with them.
Don't usually post a lot lately and mostly lurk but this topic sure brings back memories...thanks UR.
March 13th, 2009 at 6:51 am
Morning everbody
I still nomo time to read
will try and check back latta's 
Good subject 
making me tink back of da good old days.....sigh 
NKHEA...on vacation
March 13th, 2009 at 6:58 am
@kate & twofish, you mentioned that Shimazu has a shave ice place in Liliha? I recall father and son operating a portable shave ice kiosk at Mililani Market Place a few years back...ono shave ice. My son was doing newswriting at MHS and wrote an article about their excellent shave ice. They clipped that article and had it posted at their stand.
And speaking of shave ice straw, you guys must have chewed up pieces of paper, put the wad in the straw and blow them at your friends.
March 13th, 2009 at 8:57 am
Rodney,
I dunno opso. I think its just a country thing.
Uku-girl, I neva hea dat fo days. Too funny.
These posts bringing back memories. Some I neva like remember.
@Two Fish, the dried smashed toad frisbee is too funny. I remember my brother chasing me around the yard with a smashed dried bird. It was funny because is was smashed in profile. He was yelling "I'm a WOODPECKER" and chasing me trying to peck at me with that thing.
Kage need therapy now...
March 13th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Happy Friday the 13th, everyone!
Mom again showed me (waiting for the bus by the Department of Health, across the State Capitol) what they used to play with as kids- dueling with the Royal Poinciana tree’s stamens of young blooms. The stamen was plucked from the flower at the base, held in hand, and see who can pull off the pollen producing part by hooking it with the opponent’s. I played a similar game with a croton species that produced thin ribbon-like leaves. Sometimes the leaves had variants where the middle portion had the rib only, with the ribbon leaf on the base and tip portions. Grab 2 of these, and battle to see whose would break first.
Going out to the North Shore with my brother, he’d always stop on the side of the road near Lake Wilson to let me get out of the car and retrieve the seed pods from the bottle brush tree, a.k.a. paper bark tree. We’d break the seed pods off and use them as tops by holding the the pod upright by short stem part that was attached to the branch, and making a snapping motion with finger and thumb.
Did anyone make boats from the African tulip tree seed pods? Or squeeze the flowers to make them squirt at someone? I remember collecting kapok from the pods, then using it as stuffing in small projects. I don’t think I collected enough to make even a small voodoo doll. Watching Gilligan’s Island made me wonder about whether they worked or not.
March 13th, 2009 at 10:43 am
Syxx - I used to make whirly helicopters, where one had to cut slits in a piece of folder paper and then fold in the bottom to itself to make it stiffer and heavier, and then fold the top parts opposite each other to have the "blades" I recall there being a paper clip to hold the bottom folds together. I remember flying those things off off the 2nd floor of school buildings.
Snow- I remember pencil fights! Too, when finding long hair stuck to the rivets of those elementary school chairs, we’d even play hair fight, in the similar fashion of pencil fight. Or, go find your girl classmates with strong hair who was willing to pull hair out for you to use. Back to the pencil fights, I remember picking up pencil pieces after being caught by some teacher and made to feel shame that we were wasting our parent's money by breaking pencils. But yeah, the Mirado was superior. Did you know that the wood is cedar? One species of cedar was used, then another that was found to be superior. I guess that's why pencils used to smell different. I found this out because I'd put the pencil under my nose and curl up my upper lip to see if I could hold it there. Then it became a challenge to see who could hold up their pencils the longest.
Which reminds me, I used to have Tic-Tac mint challenges, trying to see which kid could put the most in their mouth and hold it in there the longest. The cinnamon flavor was hot!
March 13th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Snow – Romper Stompers from Romper Room with Miss Robin! Miss Robin Mann was the best when I was a kid. She teaches sociology at KCC now. Imagine my surprise when I found out. Maybe I should figure out where my yellow stompers with green plastic handles are and ask her if she remembers me, and show them. Lol. I remember using cans and string, and then was surprised by my own Romper Stompers. I used them to walk all over the house. I don’t remember if I used them much outside, since I didn’t want to scuff the bottoms of the inverted yellow plastic pail part.
Are you talking about Kalanchoe pinnata (the air plant that has serrated leaves and a chandelier of flowers on thin stems? Before the flowers bloomed, you could pop them open and then blow them from the open end. This is the plant where if you took a leaf and nailed it to a tree, there would be roots and keiki growing from the serrated areas of the leaf. We had those and the legumous plant that produced fuzzy green swollen pea pods which would rattle when dry. Loved to pick those and take them home. Neighbor had some type of Chinese lantern plant and I’d pop them all the time. Saw tomatillos and that reminded me of the Chinese lantern plant.
March 13th, 2009 at 10:45 am
Did you guys write your name on the leaves of the autograph tree?
Did anyone try to catch wild birds (including the neighbor’s chickens) using a stick tied with string or rope, propping up a box or crate? Boy, that could be an all-day process.
Hemajang - Kelvin and his son Kendall had a tent that they'd set up at KCC on Saturdays at the Farmer's Bureau Open Market. He'd also go to Queen's Medical Center on certain days - fundraiser type things, selling halo-halo, shaved ice, and popped corn. The time around 5 years ago that I went to KCC to take pictures for a class, I sat and talked with him. He was looking to open a space in Mililani. Around 2006, he bought B&S from the owners. You can find a letter the B&S couple wrote to welcome their old customers to Shimazu Shave Ice, as well as information on the store. My nephew was at Mililani HS in news writing too, if I am not mistaken. I used to look online to read the articles he wrote. He is a couple years into college now.
March 13th, 2009 at 11:01 am
@Syxx - blowguns! We used to have 3/4" aluminum tubes that were about 2 feet long. We'd make cone shaped darts out of strips of old magazines and blow the darts at stuff. But of course, never at each other.
@snow - we used to use kidney bean to fill the bean bags. Only problem was when we left the bean bags in the yard and it rained, the beans inside the bag would start sprouting!
And as for flowers - did you do that thing with the hibiscus were you pull out the center and stick it on the tip of your nose?
@hemajang - good to have you back posting! Your posts take us way back and puts words to the old pictures I see every now and then. I can only imagine the old plantation camps you grew up in. Thanks hemajang.
Maybe we need to schedule a MLC excursion to the Plantation Village in Waipahu.
Remember when straws were all made of paper? I think was Lilly brand. After the shave ice was pau, you could chew on the paper straw to get the last bits of syrup that soaked into the paper. And if you took too long to finish your shave ice, the paper straw would collapse
Also, take a look at this site: http://www.waikikinews.com/best.html
A little ways down it talks about Shimazu shave ice that took over the B&S store. It says that they started out with a small stand in Mililani. Must be the same one that your son wrote about!
Speaking of shave ice, don't forget this one:
http://midlifecrisis.honadvblogs.com/2008/07/03/a-little-oasis-in-the-middle-of-kakaako/
@kage - "I'm a WOODPECKER". Too funny!
March 13th, 2009 at 11:20 am
@NKHEA - you caught up on your work yet? Come on. Help us hit 100 posts!
Here, I put one in for you:
NKHEA's first car: http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk247/mlc24701/MYTOY006.jpg
March 13th, 2009 at 11:51 am
TwoFish, I remember the African tulip tree pods, excellent boats. And we used to call da flowers "horse piss" (can say eh). Neva like get sprayed by those.
snow, thanks for mentioning that red flower too! I remember now, I used to suck on them too. Called um da shrimp flower.
Wow, so many memories, good fun!
TwoFish and hemajang are two incredible sources of info from da old days. Rod, good thing you get this blog going to capture great stories!!
btw, I messed up Pele's tears, I neva remember correctly, was thinking about Jobe's tears. Thanks for mentioning dat, ducksinthewind!
March 13th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
an den, we used to cut the papaya leaf stem which was tubular and blow bubbles from your own home brew mixture of dish or clothes detergent.
March 13th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Snow - was it Ixoria flowers? They come in red, white, yellowish. "Sucked on the sweet sap of the little red cluster flowers... though, now, i'd wonder if it was poisonous or not!" They are related to gardenia and coffee plants. I used to suck on the nectar of the neighbor's red hibiscus flowers too, after pulling the flower off the calyx (the green part) and blowing the ants off.
I'd peel off the petals, stick them on cheekbone, forehead, and chin, and one on the nose (gotta carefully separate the 2 halves of the petal by peeling apart the end that was undone from the calyx) and then it's slightly sticky. Then, jes like Rodney, I'd put the stamen on the tip of my nose. When the sticky of the petals wore off, blow into the petal, where the air would inflate the vein areas, and then make a circle with the fingers and thumb of one hand, put the petal across the circle where index finger and thumb are, and then slam it with other hand. It makes a pop sound.
Tankobu - the shrimp flowers that I remember from kid time used to look like segments of shrimp exoskeleton, and attract planny carpenter bees.
Did anyone catch carpenter bees by banging on the log they lived in with a stick? They must've known I didn't know better because they never tried to attack me. My friend told me about how her dad used to catch the golden one, put it in his cupped hands and shake it so that you could feel the buzzing. Never got stung. Dunno if the golden one has stinger or if carpenter bees even have stingers.
March 13th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
an den, wen little bit older, we tried smoking this hollow branch of a hedge that I can't remember but leaves were purple/maroon...huuuuu, was harsh. ohh, sorry, smoking hedge branch not a toy but a bad boy thing.
March 13th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
@twofish...yeah, yeah, i did the same same banging on the fence post thing and hit em with sticks after they fly out. There was a lot of fence post around our neighborhood with all the cows and goats and cattle from kahua ranch. I never heard of anyone getting stung by those fat black bees so I guess they harmless and regarding the queen, we tried to catch that one with a fish net and tie tread to legs and have it fly around on a tread lease...good fun.
March 13th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
I remember our first house was built from army surplus material and we had canac (sp?) walls that the carpenter bees loved to burrow into...made these round holes in our walls.
March 13th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
I used to do that with those big black bumblebees!
Bang the post, whack um with the stick.
Oh, and they DO sting! I got stung once.
Wasn't too bad.
Didn't stop me from pounding on that post again!
I think just the yellow/gold ones don't have stingers.
March 13th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Banana said:
Aigoo - some peeps never learn!
I have enjoyed reading all the posts. I cannot remember homemade toys, either because I was traumatized too much by them or, much more likely, I'm having a 404 error moment and just can't call up the memory files.
I remember sucking on ixora flowers (the little red ones that grew in clusters) and honeysuckle. Dat's about it.
March 13th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
@Rodney, you mentioned wen straws were made from paper and reminded me how we used to chew and fold the paper straw inside out...anyone else did dat? I wish had one paper straw now so can remember how to it, must have been 40-50 years ago...think you start by biting down on end and using tongue to force a little bit inside, then rotate straw a little and bite down again and push in bitten down part in with tongue or teeth and repeat over and over until the inside comes out the other end...it took a while but heck we did all kinds of stupid stuff for entertainment.
March 13th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
W00t - 100 posts!
What you folks doing playing with BEES? What is this obsession with BEES? Don't you know that BEES sting? No wonder O&E is so popular - people still like to play with BEES.
Our house had only Yellow Jackets. They made their nest under the eves of the house and was up to us to go knock them down - by throwing stuff at them. Those buggahs looked mean. And they attack!
I think the only thing we played with that stung was man-o-wars. When we'd see them on the beach, we'd use the heel of our foot to stomp on the bubble and pop it.
March 13th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
thought about the paper straw inside out thing and I think we did not use the tongue so much as to use your teeth and force the bitten down part inwards by pushing the opposite straw end with your hand...come to think of it, we had competition on who could do it the fastest.
March 13th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
@hemajang - I remember turning straws inside out - exactly how you said - by turning them into the middle of the straw. But our time, the straws were already plastic so was little bit easier. I would think the paper straws would be harder to do.
March 13th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Did anyone ever go to the airport just to watch the airplanes take off and land? When I was small and staying in Hilo, we would go the the airport and hang around the fence outside. Just curious if anybody else did that or if my family just strange. Or maybe just nuttin to do in Hilo...that was before the big shopping malls were built - I only remember the Hilo Shopping Center.
We also dug around in the dirt and lava for olivine (the little green gemstone that looks like peridot). I would look for the big chunks and put them in a jar. I think I still have that jar someplace.
March 13th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
...with no paper straws available, its a lost art form.
March 13th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
@kate, I remember watching the bi-wing propeller crop dusters over the sugar cane fields...that was fascinating. Hmmm, maybe that is why get premature wrinkles and bad skin...or was it the ddt trucks and pesticides we were exposed to? We played a lot in the cane fields and pastures.
March 13th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Kate, my Sweetie's family (from Des Moines, Iowa) used to do that. They (and several others, apparently) would park their cars on the grassy areas outside the airport and just watch the planes. Back in the days before Homeland Security would chase you away.
I used to collect olivene too. Back at the Toilet Bowl at Hanauma Bay, the olivene sand there was so fine that the sand looked dirty, but it just had lots of olivene in it.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Sucking on a paper straw to get the "juice" on the bottom of the shaved ice cone was tricky. Suck too hard, and it collapses. Maybe that's why the old time guys made shave ice fine, instead of some more modern shave ice shops that make them coarser - and then you get vapor lock trying to drink and the ice gets stuck.
I remember doing the biting straw to turn it inside out with red and white plastic straws. Comes out sort of acordian looking.
Kate - I remember going to Honolulu Airport to watch the planes arrive and depart. I used to like to visit the japanese gardens there. That was always a special treat. And I went with friends to the parking lot near the airport runway as an older "kid", and when the planes passed by, we'd scream as loud as we could. Come home all hoarse. Look for the jar of Chinese preserved salted limes and suck on some of that, or drink a spoonful of the juice. (Pucker up!)
I remember looking for olivine at Hanauma Bay when I'd go to the Toilet Bowl. There is a hole that goes from the Toilet Bowl to the outside ocean, and when the water is filled and going out, you can swim out through it. This was waaayyy before they had a rope to get out. You had to rely on your friends or whomever was there to help you get out.
There was a restaurant that was at Restaurant Row towards the mauka Ewa side, where you were encouraged to shoot your coctail toothpick into the ceiling using your straw as a blow gun. I remember it was a burger joint, or something like that. Anyone remember the name?
Oh yeah, swinging on banyan tree aerial roots at the zoo, after rubbing your palms in the dirt to avoid the sweaty palms, or tying the roots together and making a swing, so that your hands don't get sore. Didn't the zoo used to be free? And could feed animals. I remember picking sticky dates from the ground and going to feed giraffes and camels.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Oh yeah, about paper straws. . . if they got too water logged, they would come apart and sometimes I'd pull them apart because they were formed with a thin strip of paper spiraled on itself. Paper straws are available - you have to order them as a large quantity though. But I'll bet that with all this "green" thinking, they may make a comeback. Guys that study the rings of trees and stuff - they use them to store and transport the cores of trees.
Does anyone remember redeeming Icee diamon coupons on the sheet that you collect so many (30, I think) and redeem them for stuff? There was a neighborhood store that sold Icee, nearby, and I used to like to go there because it was convenient, and they'd have these clear colored plastic animals that they'd hang from the cup, like monkeys, or giraffes. Then when I'd collect enough of them, I'd play zoo, or try to hook them together like Barrel of Monkeys game.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
I didn't know Hanauma bay had olivine. I always found them only on the Big Island - and they are everywhere there. Once I went in the toilet bowl but it was hard getting out. The walls were covered with eels and we had to go near them to get out. Too scary for me.
I remember swinging (or trying to) on the Banyan trees at Thomas Square.
TwoFish: Yeah, I remember collecting the Icee coupons and taping them to the paper. I think if you fill it out, you get a free icee. I kinda remember having those plastic animals but I don't remember how I got them.
I remember getting some plastic animals from Farrells - going to someone's birthday party (never had one there) and eating that giant zoo thing.
March 13th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
not sure if anyone mention this other popper thing we did for stupid useless entertainment - we cut the bottom circle from a paper cup and make another cut to the middle then slide the cut sides inward so the flat paper cup bottom becomes a cone shape, then fit it between your forefinger and thumb in the shape of a "c" cup shape...then with your other hand making a cup shape, slap the hand holding the paper cone making a loud pop and the paper cone should be flying out...we were easily amused then.
March 13th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
@kate - when we go to Las Vegas, sometimes we watch the planes at Mc Carran airport. On Sunset road, right next to the airport is a parking lot that you can pull in to and park. Then you can tune the radio to a specific station and hear the control tower talking to the aircraft. Pretty cool.
@TwoFish - The Kress store in Kailua was the only place that sold Icee in Kailua. We used to dig though the trash cans and collect Icee points to fill out the card.
@hemajang - I know exactly what you're talking about using the bottom of a paper cup and shaping into a shallow cone, then popping it with a clap of the other hand.
March 13th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
aigoo!...... i forgot bout the "......and Other Mischief"
oh boy! *rubbing hands together*
- throw (insert names of various fruits here) and toads on the road so passing motorists would "splat" dem buggahs!
- twist 2 staples together to make a "barbed wire" looking thingy to place on unsuspecting classmate or teachers chair.......or just use a thumb tack (more sore and bigger punishment)
- chew on the end of a "book match" match until all soggy.....light match and throw up to school bathroom ceiling so it sticks and watch the artistic burn "designs" it creates.
- steal the girls jacks ball or bean bags and play keep away with it. too easy. cept when they call their tita friend. run!!
- take da doo doo boy's Pan Am bag hide em and put one toad inside. i seen da oddah punk kids do this.
- make short cut trails all over town.....thru pastures, vacant lots, orchards and other peeps property. sometimes get questioned by the grumpy old man or lady. "eh boy......you so and so's son eh?" "what you kids playing ova hea for?"
March 13th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Kate:
I would drive up to the top of the airport parking structure with my date. Back then you could see ZEE planes take off and land. Another nice place was the top floor of the Kahala Hilton parking garage. You could see the beach and ocean as well as the golf course.
Remember acid hill
There was the illusion of your car rolling up hill?
Cinnamon flavored toothpicks
Four leaf clovers - my kids have never seen one before. They always got a kick out of playing with the sleeping grass whenever we were in Hawaii.
March 13th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
TwoFish - you're reading from your dairy.......right?!
you and hemajang have such photogenic.....i mean.....photographic memories.
March 13th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Opso - I still make those staple barbed wire things. But now that is only to give weight to the ones I pull off papers before I throw it halfway across the room to the trash can.
I no mo diary. Tried to start a journal once, in college, but that never panned out well. Thanks for the compliment, though. Bits and pieces of this blog topic bring back memories and laughs.
OK, so who remembers old golf balls where you cut and peel the outside off, and then slice into the rubber band that wraps around the center ball, let em loose, and watch it go crazy as it unravels?
So if this is the kind of stuff that we all remember, what kind of childhood memories will our kids have? Will they say, "Hey, remember playing air hockey?" or "I remember playing Atari" (or Pong).
So even if we were poor, I think we had mo fun - playing ball in the street, and then when a car comes by, someone yells, "CAR!" and all the kids move to one side or the other. And we knew we had to get home when the street lights came on. Once home, I had to take a bath in a clawfoot tub. No showers back then, though I remember small kine kid time, maybe before kindergarten, my Mom used to take me outside to the laundry sink, plug it up, and fill it with water and bluing so that I could take a bath in the "ocean". Cool.
March 13th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
@TwoFish: Yes, that's exactly right! If my imagination is good enough, that's what the twirly copter thing used to look like. Thanks!
I find that Ixoria flowers taste better when they grow in wet climates. Hilo ones tasted better than Honolulu ones. Sorry, guys
When we used to look for four-leaf clovers, we'd also eat the clovers. They were sweet with just a hint of bitterness and crunch (clover connoisseur?). I don't know if I'm crazy or what, but I think "spring mix" greens taste like the clovers used to.
March 13th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
In intermediate school, we had those plastic bubble gum pink chairs attached to the desk. A thumb tack shove through the bottom of the plastic chair would stick up just enough to poke the victim without them knowing what's going on. Only when they settle down in the seat do they feel it. Good fun watching them squirm to get comfortable.
Take one rubber band and twist and twist it until it's all tight. Then sneak up behind someone and stick it to the back of their neck - just where the hairline is, then let the buggah go. As it unravels, it gathers the hair and pulls on it making a big mess. Sometimes had no option but to cut it off. ** rat bite **
If you can find the Okinawan girls, put it by their sideburns and let it rip.
March 13th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Rodney, on behalf of Okinawan girls everywhere, I give you two little slaps upside da head!
The Kress store in Kane`ohe used to sell Icee too. I remember when a small used to cost 15 cents with 1 penny tax. I collected the diamonds, but I don't ever remember redeeming them for stuff. I remember the Gold trading stamps, but. Pasting them into the books used to be one of my schmall-kid-time chores.
March 13th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
you crack me up UR...twisted rubber bands...Okinawan girls...sideburns...ha! Actually had no idea there was a difference between Okinawans and regular Japanese until after high school.
March 13th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
an den there is the ultimate home made toy...soap box go cart. There was a plantation road by our house that had a good size hill...perfect for soap box go carts. I can't remember exactly how I made mine but was 2x4's for the front steering axle attached with a swiveling bolt or something to a board which was my seat. I think used old baby carriage wheels...can't remember how I attached the wheels to the 2x4's, maybe one bolt or big nails. I remember used my feet on the 2x4's for steering but also had a rope on each end of the 2x4 that I grabbed with my hands to help with steering. I think that was about it and we raced down the plantation road hill...don't recall getting hurt or anything but I'm sure we had a few crashes...good fun....until one of the guys had his dad, who owned Ted's Machine Shop in Kalihi made him a go cart out of metal tubes, nice wheels with steering wheel and all, was real nice. Huuu, no can compete with dat! We was all jealous.
However, my brother a little while later had entered this contest, memory is vague but might have been an Orange Exchange sweepstake contest, and won a real McCullough engine go-kart. It was unbelievable. The only problem was it didn't have a clutch so you had to start it on blocks and da buggah took off once off the blocks and engine died when you stopped. The first time we tried my brother crashed up the embankment of the plantation road...was funny.
March 13th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
UR: Boy you going get it when Shauna come and check to see if we posting on other blogs.
March 13th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
Little off topic, but which girl in the picture was the man? I picked the one on the right because of the size of the hands.
And don't tell me it's the one with the balls...
March 13th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
ho man! i had to work all day, and i got left behind!
TwoFish:
your Mom was NICE, putting bluing in the water.
and you remind me how much time we spent in the mud, or sand, or the street, and our favorite climbing trees. Fear not, i still see the neighborhood kids do all that.
Anklebiters: all we ever did with sleeping grass was pull it out with a claw hammer. that was a bummer, long, long roots.
Opso: oh thats the worst! when they know your parents. we couldnt get away with anything, you could not turn around in public without seeing 20 good friends, and 15 relatives.
we played cards ALL the time, even really small. our bunch was all different ages, so the big ones taught the small ones. i still lose at paiute, but i make back all my money at poker!
Rodney, remember what had at the bowling alley (Pali Lanes?) in kailua? um.. it took two quarters and no one was the wiser. but i wouldnt really know about that...
Hema: lol@easily amused.
Kate: i never saw eels in the toilet bowl, and we spent so much time there. on a big day, spectacular thrills, but it was hard to talk sense to the tourists; they thought "eh, looks easy". TwoFish, i never saw a rope, we had to wait until the swell washed us up and out or climb the rocks. going out through the tunnel was spooky to me, but i never worried about that cave on the inside end. my sister got washed around in that once, and was all hamburgah.
we had the sliding falls in kilauea, before it was private property and they posted guards. in fact, i was 2 when the movie South Pacific built the concrete slide there. i am in that picture, my kids' dad is in it (he was 5) and my Mom played one of the french nuns.
oh watching that movie makes me homesick~
TwoFish: i remember when a "lady" didnt drink right out of the coke bottle, but drop a paper straw in there... lol. that was probably before 1957. after that we had teenagers to copy, and we were eating quip right out of the zoosh!
i remember the sticky dates too, at the FREE zoo. remember the rotating barred gates? they will never wear out, our great grandchildren will love them too.
yup watching the prop planes, feeling the wind, smelling that fuel... the old airport was real entertainment. and FREE. lol
remember gum wrapper chains, and putting them on hats like hat bands?
speaking of army surplus, did you all go to school in quonset huts? and remember the smell of the old green canvas tents? scout camp had them, and some people's family. if you touch it in the rain, would get one wicked leak.
so of course the kids would sneak and touch it!
March 13th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
i loved go carts! but baby buggy wheels were not that easy to get. no fear on our hill, maybe a 1/4 mile and nice grade.
and remember the sound of the first homemade skate boards, all afternoon they rattled down.
small problem was the cross street and stop sign at the bottom... must have given the cars heart-attack some times.
March 14th, 2009 at 5:14 am
Opso,
I remember the staple barb wire thingys. I almost got in major trouble at school when I made a couple and put it on peoples chairs. I weasled my way out of trouble by denying that I did it. Felt bad after that.
March 14th, 2009 at 6:15 am
ducksindawind, those gum wrappers...I recall trying to peel the silver foil part away from backing part in one piece for some reason. Was it to make tiny origami, hat bands or just to challenge yourself to peel that silver part in one piece? another thing to amuse thy self.
and there were a lot of quonset hut houses around those days, my friend lived in one and used to sleep over at his house. I guess was one odd shape but you never thought so then. Later, found out that hizhonor Frank Fasi was in business selling army surplus quonset huts those days. I don't think he had anything to do with it but I enjoyed going to the big city of Waipahu and browsing around the Surplus Store located at the corner of Waipahu Street and Depot Road. I bought my supply of "cowboy" matches there, da kine you could light it by using your thumb nail...was a cool thing to do. That's another thing we kids did, mostly boys I guess, and were fascinating about...fire! Recall making structures out of twigs and leaves...then setting it on fire....huuu, pyro! Smoke and fire in the farm neighborhood was not unusual. We had a rubbish area by our house and part of my job was to take the trash out there and setting it on fire. My farmer pop cleared out the weeds and california grass and after dry, set it on fire...a lot smoke. I did get busted once for setting fire to the brush close to my house and got out of control...no damage to house or anything but got lickens after.
twofish, yeah, we also used that thermometer silver mercury to shiny up our dimes, nickels and quarters. I should be dead by now.
March 14th, 2009 at 6:37 am
oh yes now I remember I used to follow a lizard and see where his nest is then I open the egg I look first shine up to the light and when I see a bit of lizard forming I open the egg then out comes the lizard ...yes the lizard would run so fast..then I quit scared stiff !
I even collect snake skins,,,yes nothing to do so migth as well look for lizard snakes frog and bats swim in the river and get smack after I roam around!
March 14th, 2009 at 6:41 am
@hemajang - wow, I remember trying to peel off the foil from the gum wrappers. I dunno why we did that...think it was just for the challenge. As for the tiny origami, there was a guy I used to study with in college who used to make tiny cranes. We'd be at the library and he would be making them and giving them to me. They would be so tiny that he would have to use a pencil or something sharp to make the folds and points. This same guy used to also make those staple barbed wire things and put them on my chair. I always had to check my chair before I sat down.
I don't usually check the blogs this time day on a Saturday but I wanted to see what you guys are talking about. Make me think about good times when I was a kid. I wonder what the kids now would remember.
March 14th, 2009 at 7:36 am
an den...talking about peeling in one piece for entertainment, also tried to peel da biggest piece of skin whenever had sun burnt skin...when just about ready to flake off, you carefully peel off a big piece rather than small pieces...why?, I dunno...for amusement only.
March 14th, 2009 at 8:33 am
Tankobu mentioned popsicle sticks and was trying to think of how we used maybe 3 or more sticks, and intertwine them to make flying stars to throw.
Twofish also mentioned the box propped up with stick and string attached to catch birds...mostly doves for us. Took some patience but doves are dumb so was easy victim. We ate doves but meat was tough and kinda unappetizing gray color...cooked it with a lot of shoyu and sugar. Ogisan also had mongoose traps around and man, those guys were vicious with sharp teeth. He used to put em in burlap bag and club em to death...but had so many around. Mongoose were a menace to our chickens and my pigeons. I had a bottom feeder to my pigeon coop but closed it up after the mongoose were getting in and chopping the heads off the pigeons. I used to find my headless pigeons in the bottom feeder in the morning.
March 14th, 2009 at 8:48 am
looks like this subject is going to roll over into saturday and start heading for 200..
got a good FB out of anklebiters talking about following around the DDT truck, wow, i thought i was the only one dumb or unlucky enough to have done that.. and i always thought that they only did that on military bases.. the DDT really smelled pretty bad, so why were we following those trucks around?
with all the risky "push the envelope" stuff we did, lucky to be alive, we are..
has anyone talked about just wandering out into the woods to explore, or finding a crick an' capturing polliwogs in a bottle, or fireflies in a bottle during the summer, was that only on the mainland..
an' for good free fun, sand castles at the beach with a wall and moats, and channels and battling against the tide was all we really needed..
March 14th, 2009 at 9:49 am
Uncle Jimmy,
we did streams!
Hema: how could i forget sunburn peel: every summer we looked like snakes shedding our skins, and my Dad used to sit still while we played behind him, tickling his back: getting off the biggest piece was so ordinary, and it must make dermatologists shudder now.
and our love for fire must come from country living. folks never minded if we collected wood all afternoon and just torched it. late at night there would be flames 20 feet high, and no firetruck ever came and scolded us. anytime we didnt want to eat raw fish, if had opelu and akule, we just built a fire and cooked it.
of course, to this day people (guys!) will drive out to watch them burn fields. i like the "cookies" smell of burning cane!
Rodney, i vote with the rest: how did we get to be old? the DDT truck, and hadabug, mosquito punks, mercury, leptospirosis, ciguatera,
not to mention rough surf, swamps and cliffs, places we used to wander alone...
the only friend i remember losing was to shark attack.
March 14th, 2009 at 10:46 am
I am in the path of these rain clouds that have been dumping down every 30 minutes or more since 10 pm last night. I thought of the boats, and other floatables that we talked about, and wondered if I could find an African tree seedpod to float down the river that was on either side of the street. And then I noticed that the gutters were gushing water so fast and it reminded me that I would put stuff in the gutter spouts, and watch the force of the water coming down to push it out. Try to see how far the projectory would fly.
Ducksinthewind - The part I used to swim in is not a cave, but the part where the water enters and exits the Toilet Bowl. I can see how one would be hamburger meat if they weren't trying to go through. It never occurred to me that it would be dangerous to get stuck.
Ducks, Hemajang, & Kate - I used to peel the foil off Wrigley's gum too. A friend I knew had started a foil ball with that. And with each wrapper, she would add and add to it. It was about the size of a pingpoing ball - this was in high school. I wonder whether she still does that.
Quonset huts! Oh man, just like using the oiled paper umbrellas on bamboo frames, I liked being in the quonset huts when it was raining! Same like being in those army green pup tents. I camped in the back yard, hung my dad's silver Ever Ready flashlight from the center post, and took my comics to read. My neighbor camped with me and so we had our pillows, blankets and then I saw some moisture on the tent top. You guessed it, I touched it and then it began to drip on me! I tried to swap sides, but the neighbor said no, no matter how I pleaded. Eh, no one told me beforehand.
Popsicle sticks - wow, they were good for everything huh? Mixing epoxy, spreading contact cement on your falling apart shoes, or using it as a burnisher with waxed paper to copy the Sunday colorful comics. What did I do with the wax paper copies? Nothin. But it was a cool project, and I remember trying my best to hold the waxed paper still so that I would get a nice copy.
Kate - Do you know what that study mate from college does now? I mean that's intense that he would make these miniatures!
Talking about playing cards with the mixed bunch of kids and digging in the sand to make sand castles, and moats broght back so many memories, Ducks & Uncle Jimmy (Do you know that at some, if not most schools, playing cards are confiscated? Milk bottle caps too. Too much fights and arguing about "ownership). Going with the family, aunts/uncles, and cousins and eating Mom's tripe stew with white rice, and the other family grinds like home made chicken and takuan. I think we took the green Coleman camping stove and kerosene lamps. I loved watching my Dad pump the fuel resevoir to make the light glow brighter on those stocking things. I remember taking our flashlights, buckets, and scoop nets then after dinner looking for that phosphorescent blue glow when the sun went down. We'd scoop it up in our hands and be in awe, even the grownups. Back then, Ala Moana beach had so many, it reminded me of looking in the sky at the stars. How many of you remember hunting sand crabs too? Shine your light horizontally to see the bump of the crab, and I guess blinding them like when you hunt for toads/frogs (deer in the headlights trick) and then grab them from the back.
I remember playing with cousins older than me, and digging these huge deep holes in the sand, so deep that nobody could see the tops of our heads. Nowdays, the only way you can do this is if there is a private or rarely used beach like Hau Bush that no one will fall in and scream lawsuit. We'd dump water on the sides, and then slide down to the bottom. Someone at the top had to help hoist you out. I remember too, sometimes someone small would be left there - probably the little kid who no one wanted tagging along. Then the kid would yell and yell and an adult would come by and say, "What you guys doing?" To which the timeless response would be, "Nothing".
If it was man-o-war time, we'd get them, and go where the shorebreak was and dangle the tentacles on the sand. Sandturtles would come up and grab the man-o-wars. You could tell where the sand turtles were because there would be bubbles when the tide went out, or you could see some bump or antennae-like protrusion sticking out. I don't think we stepped on them like Rodney, but wore our rubber zori on our hands and use them as protection against getting stung when we picked up the bubble.
I don't know if it was at Ala Moana, but I remember picking limu to make ogo. Had plenty then. That's when I remember getting the most sunburned cuz you are bent over concentrating on harvesting, while allowing the root parts to stay and grow back. "Wear a white T-shirt", Mom would say. Even going swimming. I don't know if they only had suntan oil, or we used to put Johnson & Johnson baby oil on. Like Ducksinthewind said, the dermatologists must be aghast if they read this.
During the summer when school was out, the relatives would rent a place in Kaaawa and hang out there for what seemed like a week. Crabbing would result in a late night snack or meal, depending how many crabs we caught. Aunty would make a shoyu garlic sugar chili sauce to cook the sand crabs in. Newspaper would line the table, and when it was pau, people would sit around and slurp it up. I remember eating pipipi, and back then, had huge ones. Always had to remember to pack the big safety pins to make the job fast. Gotta slide the tip between the shell and the "door" and pull out the meat.
"Cookies" smell - you mean the molasses smell, Ducks? Go by any old sugar mill area, and you can still smell the molasses in the earth. I did a project to take pictures of the old Waialua Sugar Mill area, what buildings were there (less are there since I went) and inhaled deeply because it brought back so many good times. I remember going by where the trucks were loaded with raw sugar and there was always a mound to be found on the ground. You could pick it up and shovel it in your mouth. Not as sweet as fully processed white sugar, but soo nice. I now have to buy Maui turbinado sugar. Not the same, though. And in that area too, the plantation houses don't have addresses. The postal workers just knew where the families lived. When the sun went down, it's so dark. Beautiful. Not polluted by city lights at all.
March 14th, 2009 at 11:19 am
To bring everyone up to speed, at the get-together on Tuesday night, I was showing them a picture of 3 girls - one of which was a transsexual and we were trying to guess which one it was.
The full story (with answers) is here on a blog that I follow: Degenerasian
http://tinyurl.com/aa463h
(watch the video too)
March 14th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
thanks for da update.
March 14th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Twofish, I was born at Waialua plantation hospital although grew up in Honouliuli and went school and played around Ewa Plantation. My earliest recollection of my Waialua grandfather's first house was that it was located next to the train roundhouse and all the noise and trains going by...especially at night. I guess you get used to it. We went to Waialua grandpa's most every weekend and some of my favorites recollections was going to the river and rafting with my cousin and friends. They made this huge raft from lumber and rope and was good fun going up and down the river...close to Otake store. Cousin also had this tree house in his yard so we used to go up and play around on the various platforms he made...it was no Swiss Family Robinson tree house but just a series of lumber and platforms to climb and mess around.
March 14th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
yeah, everyday we walked past the Ewa sugar mill on our way to Japanese school and yes, there was a distinct mill smell. I guess was the molasses. The road we went on was right over where the harvested sugar went into the washing phase so we used sometimes stop and watch. A little ways up, the big crane lifted the chain bed in the turnahaulla (sp?) trucks filled with sugar cane up and into the receiving bins where the conveyors carried the sugar cane to washing place and under the road and up into the mill.
Sometimes when the wind was just right, we used to try catch the black cane leaf ashes during cane burning time. It was all ovah da place. My mother used to get mad when she had her laundry out.
March 14th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
As far as card games, solitaire and cribbage was big at our house. My pop taught me at an early age and we played a lot of cribbage. He was a WWII vet and told me that he always carried a cribbage board with him and played with his buddies when in the mainland and Italy. I continued the tradition and play with my sons. One of the first things we do when my son visits from Seattle or if we go up there is to bust out the cribbage board for some smack-talking cribbage games.
March 14th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
uncle jimmy:
The DDT incident was on a military base. I don't remember it smelling bad or anything. It was just that the "smoke" was neat to run into.
We would go fishing off the docks that UH used to boat over to Coconut Island. We'd sit there from after midnight til early AM. Several times the Kaneohe police would drive down to checkup on us. We never did catch anything...it was just the thrill that we were out waaaaaaay past bedtime. Do that now and you'd be arrested for trespassing
March 14th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
TwoFish: oh how your post takes me back! the sugar camp life was the best! people said stuff like "hanawai ditch" and the whistle blew so everyone knew when it was kaukau time. all over kauai people still went home for lunch every day. by the time we got a mcdonalds, they practically had to brainwash people into eating somewhere besides home.
we knew how to grab the crabs, so we could hold um and run chasing the little kids around. but later, when we were more serious about eating them, say the night before a wedding luau,
we took a bucket and buried it just level with the sand. throw some hauna bait inside and sit in the dark and play music.
after awhile the bucket was full of crabs. the interesting thing was, crabs can climb out of galvanized buckets, but they were all present and accounted for, because they pull each other back in.
Kihei Brown called it the "alamihi syndrome", holding each other back as soon as someone starts to make good.
i was reading that the "suntan craze" of the 50's was the result of Coppertone's little girl and dog ads. we used Sea and Ski, which still let us get wicked burns. Mom put vinegar on the sunburn, itchy!
ooooo no one seems to believe me about the phosphorescent (plankton?) in the edge of the water at night. are they extinct or something? they were magical, so beautiful.
Hema: yes boomers still play cribbage, our Dads played in the service, but learned it from THEIR Dads and Granddads. i was proud to play with him and his friends, they "needled" each other so bad. later i found out they were being incredibly patient to play against me. but i love crib.
March 14th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Hahaha I guess right. See I am the SHIM Spotter. (Not bragging though)
March 14th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
TwoFish:
That friend I was talking about was a business major but ended up working for the IRS in enforcement. Pack a gun and went after gangs, drug cartels, etc. When I knew him in college, he used to collect ninja stuff, knives, and other kinds of weapons. He gave me a set of Henckels knives for my wedding (with a quarter taped to the box). I hear from him maybe once a year.
March 14th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
anks.. that's right, it was walking in the smoke that seemed cool at the time..
ducks.. yeah, card games were a whole other round of cheap fun times and looking back, the number of games we played was pretty incredible.. everything from poker, to solitaire, to concentration, to canasta.. nine year-olds playing canasta... what was that about?
but for me, fishing was probably the best, spent summers at 7 and 8 as a deckhand on my Grandpops 50-ft. party fishing boat out of wildwood, nj.. made a dime a day and all the cokes i could drink.. Grandma gave me pretzel wafers in my lunch, never got seasick once.. we "drifted" for flounder.. never had a day when we didn't catch something..
once caught an 8 lb., 8 oz flounder that was as big as me.. could go all day and never get bored out on the ocean..
we once got caught in a hurricane, but Grandpop knew to sail in a circle until it passed, then head in.. everyone else who tried to come in earlier was washed up against the jetties,, just like in Forrest Gump..
it was my first job.. baiting lines, taking fish off for the tour-eye.. checking the bathroom to make sure that the bilge was pumping.. a lady asked me what my title was.. Grandpop said, "you're Captain of the Head".. so that's what i told people.. couldn't understand why they thought that was so funny until another lady let me in on the joke.. i gave that old man stinkeye for a week..
later ran into a kid whose Grandfather had told him, "you're the best Baiter we have.. in fact, you're so good, you're the Master.....Baiter..
it must be a ritual thing with Grandpas and Grandsons out on the sea..
March 14th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Ducks,
I think the water got too polluted for the plankton to survive. They probably can be found in more pristine waters.
Hanawai man used to know how to manage the watering of the cane, and then technology took over, but I believe that the cane got the best care by eyeballs checking to see they got enough moisture when they needed it, since the seasons are not always exactly wet or dry here.
Waialua sugar mill area has a place in my heart - going down "snake road" (Kaukonahua) and and knowing ahead of time which way the wind was blowing down there because you could see the smoke from the stack. I don't remember seeing the older brick stack in operation. There is a soap shop called North Shore Soap Factory located in the bagasse bin building. They have displayed things from the history: bango numbers, lanterns, bento bako, signage, etc. Check it out when/if you're down there.
Kate - I wonder if that college friend can still fold the miniature tsuru. Would be interesting to see if he still can.
Looking at that pic that Rodney posted with his string and bottle cap - did you guys wear a string around your neck from the time you woke up to the time you had to go bathe - so that you could quickly start a game with a friend of cat's cradle?
March 14th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
Uncle Jimmy - salty men, with the kids who give salty looks back when they find out the joke is on them!
Wow, one huge flounder.
So do you go clockwise or counter clockwise when in a storm like that?
March 14th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
McLovin - i guess nobody woulda suspected YOU to do such warusa stuff dass why. so sly eh you buggah.
speaking of that paper popper thing. and dunno if somebody mentioned it already but i remember that fortune teller paper thing where you folded into a shape where you put both thumbs and index fingers inside and you could open it front/back and side to side (deal). you would put four colors on each quadrant and tell someone to pick a color.
then you would to proceed deal by spelling out the color. and wherever the deal stops you would tell the person to pick a number that was writtin on each of 8 panels inside.
proceed to deal up to the number chosen. tell em to pick another numbered panel then open the panel and reveal a fortune, dare, description, etc. that would pertain to the chooser. something like that. i think girls used to play this more.
March 15th, 2009 at 6:01 am
TwoFish.. i think it was counter-clockwise.. had to think real hard and google to discover that the CW seems to be that you go with the wind and avoid the northeast quadrant just next to the storm track direction which is usually northwest because that's where the storm track strengthens the winds most .. but kind of remembered that he said that we're going "with the wind"..
boy i sure a lot of enhanced respect for Grandpa after seeing what happened to the other boats who didn't wait to come in..
i guess they say that the safest place for a boat in a hurricane is at sea.. it was also strange that in the big tsunami a few years ago many of the people skin-diving or boating offshore survived ok..
oooh, when weather turns ugly, you better be in the right place at the right time or have you wits about you, and preferably both..
March 15th, 2009 at 6:16 am
you know, most of the mischief that's been touched on here was incidental/ accidental mischief that occurred in the course of just trying to explore the world with a different risk/reward profile than our parents had.. thinking about ank's fooling with .22 rounds.. wow, you are lucky to be alive..
but what about volitional mischief? you know, everything from spitwads in class and upwards from there..
i'll fess.. as kids, it seems we started by ringing doorbells.. later we had at least one episode with toilet paper.. in high school, the more advanced forms of torture seemed to develop.. calling people on the phone and holding a mock radio contest..
one poor guy, a store owner in our town had given one of our guys a hard time for some forgotten reason, and for a year they tortured him with unwanted pizzas, chinese food deliveries, a "death" bouquet, fire and police calls to his house.. i was really on the periphery of this group, so only saw this happen once in a while, but they'd have friday night parties and come up with more and more creative ways to torture this guy.. that was real mischief.. i guess i should have ridiculed them and talked them out of it, but it seemed pretty funny at the time.. funny cruelty at someone else's expense is ugly in retrospect.. kind of an example of the anonymous pathways of evil behavior..
March 15th, 2009 at 6:50 am
twofish, we drove to Waialua grandpa's house on weekends and in the evening we drove back on that snake road. My brother and I would be lying on the back of our truck looking up in the moonlight sky with the clouds, stars and the overhanging ironwood trees...was kinda spooky looking...a very vivid memory.
On occasion on our weekend visits, we went to the old Waialua theater to watch movies and the theater was made of totun (sp?) corrugated iron and was really noisy whenever it rained, could hardly hear the movie. Also went to Koga theater and Haleiwa theater...best part was sitting up in the balcony and throwing paper below.
opso, yeah, that fortune teller paper thing...was there a name for it? Mostly a girl thing, like that memory book thing where each page had a different probing adolescent questions like your favorite color or cutest guy. I thought girls were good at cat's cradle too and could get into the real complicated configurations.
March 15th, 2009 at 9:38 am
opso.. first time through missed what you were talking about until hema reffed it.. totally remember the girls bringing this thing up to you and asking you to pick a color, then one other thing, maybe a number, and then you get an outcome.. seemed to me it was a primitive form of the match game where the outcome was "something" with one of the girl gang members, although in 6th or 7th grade, not really sure what "something" might have been.. maybe a kiss on the cheek or something equally provocative..
hema.. also remember the memory books, where we were living at the time in the south they were called slam books, and you picked an icon code and posted comments about different people, but not all that anonymous because the code key was at the front or the back of the book.. until the school outlawed them..
did you guys/gals ever play the game on loose leaf paper where you drew a line across a page and circles on each side and took turns "shooting" your pen or pencil across the page at the circles on the other side.. what did we call that game?
March 15th, 2009 at 11:07 am
We hung around Asing Park all day and what do restless 10 year old boys do? ...gamble of course. We played black jack, poker, shoot dice and pitching coins. Learned all the games from the older boys. I didn't think we were bad boys but there was a lot of gambling and smoking when we were not playing chase master up the keawe tree, flying kites, baseball, basketball, football or whatever was in season.
And speaking of coins, you guys ever tap the edge of the coin with a spoon to make one ring? A lot of guys were doing it but I gave up...didn't have the patience for it at the time.
And we would spin the coin and see whose would last the longest. You stand the coin on edge then flick the side with finger and let it spin...simple game, only cost you one penny.
March 15th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
uj, don't remember that line across paper with circles game but you must have broken a lot of pen/pencil points.
I guess it wasn't a game or maybe one battle, but recall in 2nd or 3rd grade, where I drew on one blackboard tanks and soldiers and friend drew same on another blackboard. We drew our guns firing and drew chalk lines to opposing army and drew explosions with sound effects...that was a fun thing to do. Loved to draw army tanks and battle ships.
March 15th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
i think ours might have just been called "war", aka how to pass time in detention.
yours sounds more like the "art of war".. good fun..
as far as gambling goes, remember losing a pack of football cards around the age of three or four... i think it was some kind of flip closest to the wall game..
anyway, i think that Grandma may have kicked some butt that day because it wasn't long before the cards came back..