Hi friends. Being shuttered at home the past two days reminded me of rainy days when we were kids. And what better time to have a lighthearted recollection of how we spent our indoor time when we were young. My best friend, Randy, and I created lifelong memories with some of our inventions. We were highly competitive and made up games that entertained us for hours.
Remember the typewriter handle you pushed when you reached the end of the row and heard the ding? Randy and I spent 2 hours at a time throwing a ball of Silly Putty at that handle from six feet away and keeping score. Then there was Drolf, a game Randy invented and named. We sat on opposite ends of a hallway, each holding a drumstick which acted like a hockey stick and hit a ping pong ball on the ground trying to pass each other’s drumstick, much like a hockey goalie blocks shots on goal. The goals were imaginary lines on each end of the hallway. Drolf, if you’re curious, is a combination of drumstick and golf. Those two games were a whole day’s entertainment for us.
Drawing a box on the inside wall above my garage door made a basketball hoop that we shot a ball into, making our own indoor basketball court. Then there were afternoons where with a baseball glove on my left hand and a broom in my right hand, I defended my goal, which was our washer and dryer behind me, from Randy’s hockey shots on goal. Add to all these creative games we invented other games like Skittle Pool, Knock Hockey and Cribbage and we were great for a couple straight rainy days.
On a sunny day, we’d prop the welcome mat from our front doors against the fence to make our strike zone and play pitcher versus hitter. We usually used a tennis ball so as not to break any windows in our or our neighbors’ windows, but one day, and don’t ask me what the heck we were thinking, we were using a hard rubber ball. Randy hit a pitch over the fence of our small yard for a homerun and right into the jalousie window of my neighbor, shattering it and making a loud noise. Terrified, Randy sprinted towards the back door of my house where he ran into my Dad who had heard the noise and knew what happened. The rest of that afternoon, Randy and I went to the hardware store across the street, bought a new jalousie and installed it in my neighbor’s window.
Climbing Randy’s tree and getting sap all on our hands and toying around in his garage was another full day of fun. One sunny day, a middle age violin teacher was coming to his house for to give his sister a violin lesson. Randy didn’t like him, so he proposed a dastardly boyhood act. We attached a hose to the side yard faucet and ran it all the way to the front yard walkway, where we attached it to a whirling sprinkler. Randy hid behind the hedge and when Mr. Monde’ arrived, violin case in hand, he fed me the go signal and I turned the faucet on all the way. Mr. Monde’ wasn’t amused but we were hysterical.
I hope this happy look back tickles nostalgic memories for you and brings you a smile. Please share your own innocent childhood inventions and memories with me in the comments section. We could all use a happy story right about now.
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