Thursday, September 12, 2013

Tobacco Stick Cowgirls

 
I heard on the news the other day that there is a new Rehab program for those out there who are addicted to the Internet. Really? It makes me long for the good old days when our parents made us play outside till dark and the last game was Ain't No Mad Dogs Out Tonight. Of course there were only three channels on the tv, and like now, you couldn't always find something of interest to watch so we went out happily. Now 500 channels and nothings on, so the kids (and adults) spend too much time in front of the computer. I have noticed over the past few years that there are a lot of remakes of movies, quite a few tv shows are "borrowing" plot lines from shows in the 60's and 70's and it raises the question of "has everyone lost their imagination?" I worry that our kids are spending so much time in front of a computer screen that they may be losing the ability to think for themselves and make up games to play, complete with storylines.

I long for the days of road building for the toy trucks which my grandfather, Dwight Douglas gave us as children. He wanted grandsons so badly but settled for his tomboy grand daughters. We learned to build roads, make dams,and build little villages out of sticks and stones as we played happily in the long dirt drive in front of his house. At the end of tobacco season there were glorious games of cowboys and indians...I guess in these days of political correctness, those games are relegated to the distant past. My grandmother would go into the rag bag and get out some of Daddy Dwights threadbare socks, give us buttons and other scraps and we would lovingly create our horses heads. We would stuff them with cotton batting and tie them onto tobacco sticks that had been deemed to used for tobacco hanging anymore. This was long before Build a Bear you understand. We would sew matching (sometimes) button eyes and two little (again sometimes) buttons for snorting nostrils, a few buttons for a mouth (sometimes smiling, sometimes snearing) and if we were lucky add a bit of fringe for his mane. They had names like Sassafrass, Buddy or even Silver if you were lucky enough to be The Lone Ranger (of course we said The Long Ranger, even then we didn't listen well). We whipped around that old farm house with the smoke house as our Saloon, the woods as our hideout and the dirt road up to the barns as our raceway from the bank holdup. Listen, I told you we were tomboys...Becky, Kay, Patsy and Cathy, Teressa and Crystal. Toni and me (sorry Alice you were to little to enjoy our games) we were the Wild Bunch. Yes. those were the days, the wonderous days before Internet Rehab and Legal Marijuana....the great brain drain. In my heart we will always be the Tobacco Stick Cowgirls...

9 comments:

ancient one said...

we just tied strings on our sticks and pretended they had heads.. and we played cowboys and indians.. we had boys and girls playing..thanks for the memories..

Vee said...

Oh are there pictures of that happy little crew with their marvelous steeds? Fun story! I am chatting just a little bit about this issue tomorrow.

Vee said...

No, no, not about making stickhorses.

Akelamalu said...

It was fun making our own fun wasn't it? :)

Lee said...

The most important thing for Cowboys & Idndians was to get your bow strung correctly. Otherwise it would break mid battle, or worse, on your first shot. How do you play Ain't No Mad Dogs Out Tonight? We kenw to watch for mad dogs but that mostly happened when it was light and we were outside. Night time was for indoors and bed. :-)

Sally said...

We played similar games and also stayed outside until dark. Back then (and I'm a lot older than you) children were to be seen and not heard. I loved it because I was a nosy sneak and listened in every chance I got. At least until I was 14 and fell in love. :)

Lovely story; I love when you post.

xoxo

Hilary said...

Lovely, nostalgic post, Sandi. I have to say my kids played outside most of the time and I still see the kids on our street enjoying physical activity. They know their computer stuff for sure but they appreciate the art of real play. I'm grateful for that. Fine post. :)

Vagabonde said...

A fun post! I was in Paris then but in the “cite” (an enclosure outside where our apartment buildings were) we played also cowboys and Indians. Metro Goldwyn Mayer was in one of the buildings on the ground floor – I think they repaired films there and dubbed them into French – and we could hear the movies from an open window. My best friend’s brother was a cowboy so I was an Indian and he made me run all over the cite yard. We had no TV but my father liked to go to the movies to watch western (in French) and I went with him. It certainly was a fun time. Now I worry about teens constantly on their cell phones.

Suldog said...

Actually, marijuana is quite good for the imagination. It also helps truly sick people to feel better.

Aside from that, though, I agree with you. The world would be much better off if we had a bit more of what we used to and a bit less of what we now seem to feel is essential. Staring at a screen all day has never been a particularly productive enterprise for most, barring the very few who invent further uses for that screen.