Childhood Activities Meme
I snagged this one from primsong, and I both thank her and curse her for providing me an excuse to procrastinate on some house cleaning that I MUST get done. This is a fun meme.
Embolden the ones you did before you were 11 ¾ (as far as you can remember!)
Italicise the ones you have done since then.
1. Climb a tree - Many, many times, and I never fell out!
2. Roll down a really big hill - On more than one occasion, which either means I was really adventurous or really clumsy.
3. Camp out in the wild - It might be stretching it to claim it was "the wild", but we camped all the time when I was a kid. We were in campgrounds, and we always had some type of RV. We used to explore off the beaten path outside the campgrounds a LOT, so I think it sorta counts as the wild!
4. Build a den. - Both indoors and outdoors. My favorite thing was to stretch a blanket between our shed and the fence behind it that separated our yard from the neighbor's yard. We also built snow dens in winter, on occasion. I tried to get my dad to construct a permanent den by building me a playhouse. I even drew up plans, but he never bit on any of them. Of course now I realize that we couldn't afford that kind of thing.
5. Skim a stone. - I rarely made it past two or three skips, but that didn't stop me from trying!
6. Run around in the rain - I don't think I ever did this on purpose, but I know it happened to me a lot. I was very fond of playing in puddles though.
7. Fly a kite - I think this was chiefly memorable due to the spectacular crashes that ensued, as well as the need to retrieve kites from a variety of trees, bushes, telephone poles, and the occasional rooftop. I am often astonished that I survived to adulthood.
8. Catch a fish with a net - I've never caught one with a net, but I did with a pole a few times. We always did catch and release, because my mother hated to cook fish. That seems really cruel when I think back on it. You're a nice little fish, swimming along, you see a juicy worm and bam, you get a steel hook in your mouth. Then a human pulls you out of the water, admires you for a few moments, then slips the hook out and lets you go. It's enough to give you an eating disorder.
9. Eat an apple straight from a tree. - We did this from time to time, as well as picking them up from the ground under the tree. You really had to check those for any critters tagging along.
10. Play conkers - I've never heard of it, at least not by this name, so I think the answer is no.
11. Throw some snow - We got a LOT of snow when I was a kid. We had some huge storms during my childhood, which we rarely get anymore. I not only threw snow, I was involved in some epic snowball battles (often from behind snow forts) that involved multiple teams of children, unsuspecting pets and any unfortunate adult that happened to cross our path. We actually laid ambushes, and we didn't care who wandered into them.
12. Hunt for treasure on the beach - I was about 14-15 when I made my first trip to a real beach, in Florida. It was one of the nice beaches on the Gulf coast, where you can wade out for quite a ways and the water is still only up to your waist. I hunted for shells, largely without success. I was in the water and saw something on the bottom that looked like a shell. When I bent down to pick it up it moved! I think I levitated out of the water!
13. Make a mud pie - I didn't do this a lot, but I remember doing it when I was really young. As I got older I hated to get the mud stuck under my nails.
14. Dam a stream - I did this a number of times, while we were out camping. One memorable time we actually caused a minor flood, but since it only affected our secret fort we didn't get into any trouble.
15. Go sledging - I loved it, and haven't done it in far too long. We used to build paths, which we poured water on to make them nice and icy. Then we went down them in plastic sleds, and often barely bailed out in time to avoid crossing the road into traffic. It was a country road, so the traffic wasn't heavy, but it was still thrilling. Again, not sure how I managed to reach adulthood in one piece.
16. Bury someone in the sand - I've occasionally dreamt of doing this to someone, but I've never actually done it.
17. Set up a snail race - This one doesn't really interest me at all! I liked to look at snails, but didn't like to touch them.
18. Balance on a fallen tree - I did this often when exploring the woods. One time I remember falling off, and full length into a patch of poison ivy. Despite the fact I was in shorts and a tank top I didn't get even a small spot of a rash, which made me think I was immune. This theory was later disproved rather painfully.
19. Swing on a rope swing - At one campground we went to for years they had a rope swing next to the lake. I never did get the hang of the best point in the swing to release the rope so I could fly into the water as well as others did. I often barely landed in the water at all, or even ended up slamming into the tree it was tied to because I was afraid to let go. I kept trying though!
20. Make a mud slide. - I never made a mud slide as a child. As an adult I have drank a number of mud slides, but they were always made by a professional bartender.
21. Eat blackberries growing in the wild - Blackberries often grow wild in Ohio. As a kid I used to take a pan, and pick as many as I could find, with some hitting my mouth rather than the pan. My mom would bake cobbler or pie with the ones that made it back to the house or RV.
22. Take a look inside a tree - I forgot how much time I spent in the woods as a child. I liked looking into hollow trees, because I always hoped to find a cute furry creature living inside. Of course if I had I doubt it would have turned out like a Disney film, so it's probably just as well that they were always unoccupied!
23. Visit an island - I don't remember ever being on an island as a kid, but I've been on a number of them since childhood.
24. Feel like you're flying in the wind - I used to ride my bike hands free, and I think this is what I imagined was happening at the time.
25. Make a grass trumpet - I'm not even sure what a grass trumpet is!
26. Hunt for fossils and bones. - I tried so hard to find fossils, but don't think I ever did. I did find bones on occasion, but they were not ancient, just unlucky small critters that hadn't outrun larger critters.
27. Watch the sun wake up - I am so NOT a morning person, but even I have managed to see a sunrise. I see it regularly now, as I drive to work. It makes the long drive more bearable.
28. Climb a huge hill - I have climbed many huge hills, sometimes after rolling or sledding down them.
29. Get behind a waterfall - I didn't do this until I was about 16-17, when we did a band trip to Niagara Falls. We did the scenic caverns tour, which takes you behind the falls. It was awesome. We had gone there a few times when I was a kid, but we never got to do the paid tour things, due to the expense.
30. Feed a bird from your hand - I've hand fed a squirrel a few times, but never a bird.
31. Hunt for bugs - My favorite thing was to catch lightening bugs, and put them in a jar with breathing holes punched in the lid. It was like having a magical lantern.
32. Find some frogspawn - I remember catching tadpoles several times, but I don't think my mom ever let me keep them long enough to watch them reach the frog stage.
33. Catch a butterfly in a net - I tried to catch one a few times, but never managed it with a net.
34. Track wild animals - I used to follow the footprints, and try to figure out what type of animal it was.
35. Discover what's in a pond - I've always loved water, and as a child I spent as much time in it as possible. My favorite things were finding tadpoles, small turtles, and on occasion a freshwater clam. At least that's what we called them, because they looked like a clam. They may have been a different type of shellfish!
36. Call an owl - I think I used to make who who sounds, but I'm not sure that really qualifies.
37. Check out the crazy creatures in a rock pool - Not really, due mainly to growing up inland.
38. Bring up a butterfly - I did keep one for a few days that I had found with an injured wing, but I never raised one.
39. Catch a crab - Never, and I probably would be too afraid of getting pinched to touch one!
40. Go on a nature walk at night - Some of the adults in our camping group would take us out at night. My favorite one was as an adult, when some of my family and I did an owl walk at a local state park. They took us through the woods, and shone red lights into the trees so we could see the owls sitting, or even flying around. The red light lets you see them, but doesn't bother them at all.
41. Plant it, grow it, eat it - Yes, but mainly as a helper for my dad. To this day I am just not a gardener.
42. Go wild swimming - One campground we stayed out a lot used one of their lakes as the swimming pool. There was a rumor that the far side from the swimming "beach" contained water moccasins, which is one of three poisonous snakes that live in Ohio. I remember 4 of us floating on a huge inner tube once, and accidentally drifting over to that side while we were distracted by whatever we were discussing. We almost had a meltdown when we realized where we were, because we were convinced that hoards of water moccasins were going to attack us. I think we set a new inner tube speed record in getting back to the "safe" side.
43. Go rafting - It was a small raft, and it was on an absolutely still lake. I wanted to go white water rafting when I got older, but never managed it.
44. Light a fire without matches - Oh how I tried. It looked so easy when people in the movies rubbed two sticks together, but it must be movie magic.
45. Find your way with a map and compass. - I don't think I've ever used a compass.
46. Try bouldering - If this is rock climbing, I have done it in a very mild way. There were some very large boulders, but there was no equipment required.
47. Cook on a campfire - Hot dogs, hamburgers, hobo pies, marshmallows (often for s'mores), chicken, corn on the cob . . . I'm making myself hungry. We used to take fresh corn on the cob in the husk, wrap it in layers of soaking wet newspapers and put it right on the coals. In my opinion it is still the best way to cook corn.
48. Try abseiling - Not even close! I'm not crazy about heights, but would probably have done it on a small cliff.
49. Find a geocache - This didn't exist when I was a kid. I learned about it as an adult, and even subscribed to receive email about it, but never actually tried to find one.
50. Canoe down a river. - Many times. I really love canoeing, but haven't been in a long time. The best part is trying to make your friends' canoe tip over while preventing them from making yours tip over. This usually resulted in both of them tipping over, which was really a pain if you were in deeper water, since it was hard to get back in.
Embolden the ones you did before you were 11 ¾ (as far as you can remember!)
Italicise the ones you have done since then.
1. Climb a tree - Many, many times, and I never fell out!
2. Roll down a really big hill - On more than one occasion, which either means I was really adventurous or really clumsy.
3. Camp out in the wild - It might be stretching it to claim it was "the wild", but we camped all the time when I was a kid. We were in campgrounds, and we always had some type of RV. We used to explore off the beaten path outside the campgrounds a LOT, so I think it sorta counts as the wild!
4. Build a den. - Both indoors and outdoors. My favorite thing was to stretch a blanket between our shed and the fence behind it that separated our yard from the neighbor's yard. We also built snow dens in winter, on occasion. I tried to get my dad to construct a permanent den by building me a playhouse. I even drew up plans, but he never bit on any of them. Of course now I realize that we couldn't afford that kind of thing.
5. Skim a stone. - I rarely made it past two or three skips, but that didn't stop me from trying!
6. Run around in the rain - I don't think I ever did this on purpose, but I know it happened to me a lot. I was very fond of playing in puddles though.
7. Fly a kite - I think this was chiefly memorable due to the spectacular crashes that ensued, as well as the need to retrieve kites from a variety of trees, bushes, telephone poles, and the occasional rooftop. I am often astonished that I survived to adulthood.
8. Catch a fish with a net - I've never caught one with a net, but I did with a pole a few times. We always did catch and release, because my mother hated to cook fish. That seems really cruel when I think back on it. You're a nice little fish, swimming along, you see a juicy worm and bam, you get a steel hook in your mouth. Then a human pulls you out of the water, admires you for a few moments, then slips the hook out and lets you go. It's enough to give you an eating disorder.
9. Eat an apple straight from a tree. - We did this from time to time, as well as picking them up from the ground under the tree. You really had to check those for any critters tagging along.
10. Play conkers - I've never heard of it, at least not by this name, so I think the answer is no.
11. Throw some snow - We got a LOT of snow when I was a kid. We had some huge storms during my childhood, which we rarely get anymore. I not only threw snow, I was involved in some epic snowball battles (often from behind snow forts) that involved multiple teams of children, unsuspecting pets and any unfortunate adult that happened to cross our path. We actually laid ambushes, and we didn't care who wandered into them.
12. Hunt for treasure on the beach - I was about 14-15 when I made my first trip to a real beach, in Florida. It was one of the nice beaches on the Gulf coast, where you can wade out for quite a ways and the water is still only up to your waist. I hunted for shells, largely without success. I was in the water and saw something on the bottom that looked like a shell. When I bent down to pick it up it moved! I think I levitated out of the water!
13. Make a mud pie - I didn't do this a lot, but I remember doing it when I was really young. As I got older I hated to get the mud stuck under my nails.
14. Dam a stream - I did this a number of times, while we were out camping. One memorable time we actually caused a minor flood, but since it only affected our secret fort we didn't get into any trouble.
15. Go sledging - I loved it, and haven't done it in far too long. We used to build paths, which we poured water on to make them nice and icy. Then we went down them in plastic sleds, and often barely bailed out in time to avoid crossing the road into traffic. It was a country road, so the traffic wasn't heavy, but it was still thrilling. Again, not sure how I managed to reach adulthood in one piece.
16. Bury someone in the sand - I've occasionally dreamt of doing this to someone, but I've never actually done it.
17. Set up a snail race - This one doesn't really interest me at all! I liked to look at snails, but didn't like to touch them.
18. Balance on a fallen tree - I did this often when exploring the woods. One time I remember falling off, and full length into a patch of poison ivy. Despite the fact I was in shorts and a tank top I didn't get even a small spot of a rash, which made me think I was immune. This theory was later disproved rather painfully.
19. Swing on a rope swing - At one campground we went to for years they had a rope swing next to the lake. I never did get the hang of the best point in the swing to release the rope so I could fly into the water as well as others did. I often barely landed in the water at all, or even ended up slamming into the tree it was tied to because I was afraid to let go. I kept trying though!
20. Make a mud slide. - I never made a mud slide as a child. As an adult I have drank a number of mud slides, but they were always made by a professional bartender.
21. Eat blackberries growing in the wild - Blackberries often grow wild in Ohio. As a kid I used to take a pan, and pick as many as I could find, with some hitting my mouth rather than the pan. My mom would bake cobbler or pie with the ones that made it back to the house or RV.
22. Take a look inside a tree - I forgot how much time I spent in the woods as a child. I liked looking into hollow trees, because I always hoped to find a cute furry creature living inside. Of course if I had I doubt it would have turned out like a Disney film, so it's probably just as well that they were always unoccupied!
23. Visit an island - I don't remember ever being on an island as a kid, but I've been on a number of them since childhood.
24. Feel like you're flying in the wind - I used to ride my bike hands free, and I think this is what I imagined was happening at the time.
25. Make a grass trumpet - I'm not even sure what a grass trumpet is!
26. Hunt for fossils and bones. - I tried so hard to find fossils, but don't think I ever did. I did find bones on occasion, but they were not ancient, just unlucky small critters that hadn't outrun larger critters.
27. Watch the sun wake up - I am so NOT a morning person, but even I have managed to see a sunrise. I see it regularly now, as I drive to work. It makes the long drive more bearable.
28. Climb a huge hill - I have climbed many huge hills, sometimes after rolling or sledding down them.
29. Get behind a waterfall - I didn't do this until I was about 16-17, when we did a band trip to Niagara Falls. We did the scenic caverns tour, which takes you behind the falls. It was awesome. We had gone there a few times when I was a kid, but we never got to do the paid tour things, due to the expense.
30. Feed a bird from your hand - I've hand fed a squirrel a few times, but never a bird.
31. Hunt for bugs - My favorite thing was to catch lightening bugs, and put them in a jar with breathing holes punched in the lid. It was like having a magical lantern.
32. Find some frogspawn - I remember catching tadpoles several times, but I don't think my mom ever let me keep them long enough to watch them reach the frog stage.
33. Catch a butterfly in a net - I tried to catch one a few times, but never managed it with a net.
34. Track wild animals - I used to follow the footprints, and try to figure out what type of animal it was.
35. Discover what's in a pond - I've always loved water, and as a child I spent as much time in it as possible. My favorite things were finding tadpoles, small turtles, and on occasion a freshwater clam. At least that's what we called them, because they looked like a clam. They may have been a different type of shellfish!
36. Call an owl - I think I used to make who who sounds, but I'm not sure that really qualifies.
37. Check out the crazy creatures in a rock pool - Not really, due mainly to growing up inland.
38. Bring up a butterfly - I did keep one for a few days that I had found with an injured wing, but I never raised one.
39. Catch a crab - Never, and I probably would be too afraid of getting pinched to touch one!
40. Go on a nature walk at night - Some of the adults in our camping group would take us out at night. My favorite one was as an adult, when some of my family and I did an owl walk at a local state park. They took us through the woods, and shone red lights into the trees so we could see the owls sitting, or even flying around. The red light lets you see them, but doesn't bother them at all.
41. Plant it, grow it, eat it - Yes, but mainly as a helper for my dad. To this day I am just not a gardener.
42. Go wild swimming - One campground we stayed out a lot used one of their lakes as the swimming pool. There was a rumor that the far side from the swimming "beach" contained water moccasins, which is one of three poisonous snakes that live in Ohio. I remember 4 of us floating on a huge inner tube once, and accidentally drifting over to that side while we were distracted by whatever we were discussing. We almost had a meltdown when we realized where we were, because we were convinced that hoards of water moccasins were going to attack us. I think we set a new inner tube speed record in getting back to the "safe" side.
43. Go rafting - It was a small raft, and it was on an absolutely still lake. I wanted to go white water rafting when I got older, but never managed it.
44. Light a fire without matches - Oh how I tried. It looked so easy when people in the movies rubbed two sticks together, but it must be movie magic.
45. Find your way with a map and compass. - I don't think I've ever used a compass.
46. Try bouldering - If this is rock climbing, I have done it in a very mild way. There were some very large boulders, but there was no equipment required.
47. Cook on a campfire - Hot dogs, hamburgers, hobo pies, marshmallows (often for s'mores), chicken, corn on the cob . . . I'm making myself hungry. We used to take fresh corn on the cob in the husk, wrap it in layers of soaking wet newspapers and put it right on the coals. In my opinion it is still the best way to cook corn.
48. Try abseiling - Not even close! I'm not crazy about heights, but would probably have done it on a small cliff.
49. Find a geocache - This didn't exist when I was a kid. I learned about it as an adult, and even subscribed to receive email about it, but never actually tried to find one.
50. Canoe down a river. - Many times. I really love canoeing, but haven't been in a long time. The best part is trying to make your friends' canoe tip over while preventing them from making yours tip over. This usually resulted in both of them tipping over, which was really a pain if you were in deeper water, since it was hard to get back in.