The Cabin

[Nelson_H]

In one of my other boards, I am on. We have one thread called 'The Cabin'. It is just a place to talk, like we are at a cabin. I thought I would try it here.
There are no rules. Just talking. I will start.

When I was a kid, we could collect snails. Find an old tin can. And cook snails in salt water. We would get wire from old tire fires and make hooks to pull the snails out. I am often surprised we survived to grow old.

If no one posts, I will start talking about peat and its many uses.

 

[brianvds]

When I was a kid, we could collect snails. Find an old tin can. And cook snails in salt water. We would get wire from old tire fires and make hooks to pull the snails out. I am often surprised we survived to grow old.

When I was a kid, we sometimes hunted birds, with a slingshot or air rifle. But my father had a rule: you eat what you shoot. And so we would make a little fire and cook and eat what we hunted.

The very thought is enough to give people nightmares nowadays.

 

[Artyczar]

My brother had a bb gun when we were kids, and used to shoot birds from out the bedroom window until the landlords found out and threatened to kick us out if he didn't stop. My brother was always a bit of an idiot.

 

[TK H-H]

When I was a kid, I had a period where I loved catching frogs (by hand. I never used nets. It was more fun trying to grab them.) I used to stay at a campsite with my grandparents on weekends, and there was a big pond nearby that was just full of frogs and toads. The one day, I brought a 5 gallon bucket and caught as many as I could manage. Little me thought it was a great idea to put them all in the bucket to show off my bounty before releasing them. I pretty much filled the bucket. Unfortunately at the time, my child brain didn't consider how the poor frogs at the bottom of the bucket would fare, and I had some casualties. I still feel bad about that in hindsight...

However, when I released them, I tipped the bucket at the edge of a dock, and for a few minutes, there was a huge flare of frogs that radiated out from the dock as they swam away, and it was oddly rewarding watching them all. There were frogs everywhere.

 

[Nelson_H]

I never went to a beach and looked for sea glass. Just saying.

 

[OliveOyl]

I lived a block from the beach and never looked for sea glass.

But yeah…sometimes being kind to small(er) animals isn’t in a child’s wheelhouse, right? I’d throw salt on snails to watch them shrivel up and die; captured Japanese beetles to put inside jars (where they’d also die); threw rocks bats who swooped down close to our heads; or pulled the lights off lightening bugs (instant death!) to make “beautiful” necklaces. I once caught a fish with a string, a safety pin, and some Wonder Bread and instead of throwing it back, I carried it home to “show mom.” Fish Murder. I got my first pet, a cat named Tuffy, when I was 8. My younger sister and I would pick it up by its tail and swing it around because we thought it would think it was having “fun” like being on some carousel ride. He ran away after 6 months and hopefully, he landed with somebody who knew how to love and take proper care of an innocent cat.

Ugh. We were just little suburban savages.

 

[Artyczar]

My idiot brother did the same thing to the neighborhood cats. I was younger than him and even I was appalled!

(Not actually funny; I don't know how that laughing emoji got there.)

 

[Nelson_H]

I once found a baby rat on the beach. I thought it was lost, so I took it home to care for. My mother very quickly turned me around and ordered me to take it back.

 

[Nelson_H]

Years ago, I was working on someone's computer. I work in IT. I looked up and almost peed myself.

 

[Marksmomagain]

When we were kids we melted crayons atop the old heat registers and let the pretty colors drip down the front. We took our mattresses off our beds and sailed them down the stairs into the dining room. We colored the slate fireplace mantel and base w crayons and chalk. We fed the wild raccoons lunchmeat from our hands leaning out the living room windows. We slid down the laundry chute. Swung Tarzan-style from the upper floor railings. And that's just what we did Inside the house....

 

[laf.art]

When we were kids we melted crayons atop the old heat registers and let the pretty colors drip down the front. We took our mattresses off our beds and sailed them down the stairs into the dining room. We colored the slate fireplace mantel and base w crayons and chalk. We fed the wild raccoons lunchmeat from our hands leaning out the living room windows. We slid down the laundry chute. Swung Tarzan-style from the upper floor railings. And that's just what we did Inside the house....

Sounds like a perfect childhood

 

[Maybenartist]

I grew up in a small town named Haworth, it's in Yorkshire, UK. My playground was wuthering heights moor, the surrounding woods and streams and rivers where we would swim and try to catch trout with our hands.
I can't remember how old I was, maybe nine or ten. I was walking home through the woods and noticed something that looked out of place on the leaf covered ground. It was a small ball of whitish coloured fluff. I was intrigued so went to check it out and as I got closer I saw that it was moving slightly, when I crouched to get a better look I saw it was a very baby chick that had probably fallen from the nest. I didn't fancy it's chances of survival where it was so I picked it up and took it home.
I got an old eye dropper, opened its little beak and put drops of water in every hour or so and chewed milk and bread in my mouth, picked small pieces from it and dropped it into its ever open mouth. I asked my dad if I could keep it and he said I could if I built a small wooden cage outside for when it grew bigger. I kept feeding it and as it grew I knew it was a tawny owl. I built a small hut which I seemed to expand into a small shed as the owl became larger. I named it Tawny ( I was really astute then). My dad said it needed meat and on my way home from school one day I called in the abattoir which wasn't much out of my way. I asked a guy there if he had any meat, to which he replied smiling, what's the matter kid, mum doesn't have food?
I told him the meat was for my owl and he said, yeah right! I told him it was true and he said, show me the owl and I'll give you some meat when you want it.
I ran all the way home and I stuffed the owl, which was now the size of a small guinea pig under my jumper and ran back. The guy seemed surprised when I turned up and showed him the owl, but true to his word he gave me lots of meat over a period of just over two years.

Tawny stayed with me for around two and a half to three years, he would perch on my wrist and fly off, but he always came back. Then one day my brothers friend swung my mums clothes line like a skipping rope and he hit the owl, it flew off and never came back. I was sad for quite a while I think, but later in life I learned that owls reintegrate back into the wild really well, probably because they're quite solitary. Regardless it was two of the best years of my life.

 

[Jade]

Beautiful recollection of Tawny, Maybe, thanks for sharing! You took such good care of that little owl!

I'm from the UK too... But down "sarf"!

 

[laf.art]

I was a shandy drinking southerner as well.

I remember finding an an injured duck on one of my many walks with the dogs.I brought it home and put it into an old zinc bath filled with water. It lived there for a week or so, we fed it bits of veg and seeds I think.Anyway I went out into the garden one morning just as it
ferociously twisted its neck, it was so weird to see, and when I went over it was dead. Just didn't like its new quarters I suppose.

 

[Maybenartist]

Beautiful recollection of Tawny, Maybe, thanks for sharing! You took such good care of that little owl!

I'm from the UK too... But down "sarf"!

Thank you Jade, I've lived in Somerset for several decades now. My mum moved here when I was around 18, probably to avoid Viking raids -- I'm that old!

 

[Jade]

Thank you Jade, I've lived in Somerset for several decades now. My mum moved here when I was around 18, probably to avoid Viking raids -- I'm that old!

Haha! Nice part of the world.