My idea of a rural utopia once I reach my older years would be pretending (OK I rarely have to pretend) to be grumpy and chasing lots of Blonde and Redheaded teenagers off my property. Seriously.
Around 16 or so years ago there used to be teenagers out here. They would be all over the countryside and the old guys would complain about them making ruts and starting campfires while they consumed beer and played grab-a$$ somewhere. About 35 years ago I was one of them actually.
I vividly remember the last group that was around. They used to pull into the access drive down in the back of the pasture and party half the night away. I took the Massey down there and graded the gravel away then ran a disc over it before a big rain storm. Sure enough they came in there and got stuck the next night. They had to walk miles to find someone to pull them out because they were afraid to come ask me. I laughed about that for a week then someone stole all my ex wife's concrete garden gnomes from the yard.
They turned up a week later all painted in bright yellow and hunter orange.
One October I put a gate and chain with a lock across the access road. Two nights after that every jackolantern that had been left out in a five mile radius ended up in my driveway.
Man that was some great fun seeing what those kids would come up with next.
Between our aging population, super strict laws and regulations and I am sure video games I never see any kids out anymore. It makes me rather sad. All the cities, large and small, claim their school kids numbers are growing but not so out in the rural areas even though White fight is still accounting for new houses nestled into parceled out old farms every year. They built the McMansions but don't seem to bring the kids with them or produce them after they get out here.
And then we wonder why our politicians recruit the unwanted of the world to come here, including terrorist.
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!!
I'm doing my part. The wife and me have 4; and they all our ours. The oldest fets asked all the time which are her siblings and which are through marriage.
ReplyDeleteOur curcle of friends have 5; 3; 2; 2 but trying for #3.
But then thete are people like my sister... 1 child who is going to be an only becauae any more restricts her and her husbands ability to travel and go out and have fun.
It says bad things when people stop having kids.
Exile1981
Exile - Mrs.PP's siblings are that way. Both in their middle to upper 50's, never married and no kids. There are far too many out there like that as you point out.
DeleteMy family comes from a tiny town in northern MN, named Blackduck. The town mascot is, of course, a large concrete black duck. For as far back as I can remember, every spring the local teenagers would whitewash the duck. The town fathers would try to catch them and the kids would apply whitewash without getting caught. Except for the last few years. Nobody bothers to carry on the long standing tradition any more. Sad, really. I understand that area will be getting its quota of refugees, though. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteVicki, that area will be getting some artwork of a decidedly different style soon, I hear.
DeleteVicki - We used to attack the neighboring town's stadium each year and paint it deep in our schools colors. Sadly no one does that anymore.
DeleteMatt - Let us hope that once they have to brave a Mn. Winter without federal heating assistance they change their mind about colonizing that part of N.America.
that all sounds like fun, we only see eveidance of tyre marks on the mountain road of youngsters having done donut turns and handbrake turns, in there cars but we dont hear them, I dont think there are many youngsters in the area
ReplyDeleteDM - I haven't seen a youngster getting in trouble around here in years. Not even signs of four wheeling these days.
DeleteYou can hardly expect kids to get up to hijinks when they can face a lifetime criminal record for whitewashing the duck.
ReplyDeleteCan hardly expect parents to let 'em out of our sight, either. When my 4 aren't doing work for me (under direct supervision), then they're in the house reading books, playing with Legos, playing video games, or doing homework where I can watch them every second.
I hate that it has to be this way, but these are the times we live in.
Anon - I hear ya. I am sure those laws and restrictions do have something to do with it too. Boys especially take some harsh hits for doing things that we thought of as normal boy behavior 20 years ago.
Deleteour besty b gets a wistful look in his eyes when he talks about growing up in our sister village of fourchu. he said there were at least 60 kids there and in framboise (our village). they all went to school here in framboise (the school closed in the mid 70's) and he said all of the kids played together after school and on weekends. his parents held "fourchu fun day" every year after fishing season and it was filled with families and kids. he still runs fourchu fun day every year and we are lucky to see 10 kids and half of them come from other communities. there are 3 kids in our village and 5 in fourchu. most of them will graduate from high school and move to our small city or leave the island in order to find work. it's very sad.
ReplyDeletefor the record, we have tried for 15 years to have kids. i would have had 15 kids if it was in the cards but we believe in what will be, will be. we have 3 adult "kids" here, in their early 20's, and they call us their second parents. and that ain't too shabby.
sending much love buddy! your friend,
kymber
kymber - It's terrible that some couples want kids and can't seem to get them. I hate to hear about it while so many make the choice not to. I only had one myself (that could be proven) but I raised two others and they still call me dad so I know what ya mean.
DeleteHeh! My grandfather used to drive a gasoline truck for the farmer's coop back in the sixties. The farmers usually had 100 gallon above ground gas or diesel tanks. One of his customers had some kids that would come at night and steal gasoline. He got really tired of that so he started dumping water into the gas tank, then just draining it out when he needed to fill a tractor or whatever. One night sure enough, the kids got as far as the end of the driveway (probably a quarter mile long) before the car conked out. Never had problems with missing gas again...
ReplyDeleteExtexan - Those tanks seem to be a thing of the past around here these days but I remember when every farm had one. I even remember when they had to start locking them up too.
DeleteSounds like those kids got what they deserved though.
I remember getting into some mischief when in high school, we had some mischief during homecoming, I just laughed. You know things are getting bad in the Metro area when you start seeing black familys move out to the rural areas. Out here you need a car, very limited on demand bus service. That doesn't bother me too much but when I see Muslims i start to worry.
ReplyDeleteRob - A black guy I worked with a few years back said his mother fled Detroit because of all the Blacks. We don't see many minorities of any type out here except the occasional Black guy after some White girlfriend. They don't mix cause they know what will happen but they still try and slink in and out.
DeleteI'm still producing! Number three trouble maker on the way soon! I love the idea of your little battles with the local youths, wonder if you had a nick name!
ReplyDeleteKev - Oh it got better. When I put up a past and chain across the entrance they stole the post one night. I then went and painted some 2x4's gray and when I saw them down there placed them across the gravel road they used. They ran over them and scare the hell outta them :)
DeleteTwo days later someone snuck up here and stole all the apples off our tree. Funny thing was the dog we had at the time knew em all and would play with them and not bark when they came sneaking up on the place.