Favorite toys as a child ?
When I was pretty young, My Great Grandmother and her two boys had a homestead out on Lake Cocolalla, and when us and some of the boys from the other cousins and second cousins showed up for a big "get together" we used to play with the "guns." It never once occurred to ANYBODY that one of us kids would find, try to find, or maliciously attempt to actually LOAD one of 'em.
One that stands out was an old single shot "trap door" Army rifle, one a non--descript bolt action, and a couple of pistols. One was a break -action I think Smith.
Parents today would cringe. We killed thousands, maybe millions, of mobsters, injuns, Japs, Germans, and anyone else we could think of that "needed killin"
Lake Cocolalla, S of town, and a closeup of the much--rebuilt part of the original land. This was where my Mother's side of the family settled. When my Father's family came to the country from Beautiful downtown Burbank, they settled on a little place for a few years immediately N of this, also adjacent to the creek to the left. Some of the "outlaws" of the family lived there for years in a log house. I can still remember very young, about 4-6, going there and seeing them
When I was a teenager, the woman who became my "step Grandmother" owned a place on this lake further E along the shore. We used to boat and ski, fish, etc, on the lake.
But I'll NEVER forget that old "trap door" rifle/ carbine. Us kids would race to try and get "it" I sure wish to hell I had it now. But after "Gramma" died, one of "the boys" bought out the other, and kept the farm. He got married, lived a VERY few years, and died. His wife was completely unfriendly to the rest of the family, and none of the family "trinkets" ever made it anywhere at her hand.
Similar to this old girl:
When I was pretty young, My Great Grandmother and her two boys had a homestead out on Lake Cocolalla, and when us and some of the boys from the other cousins and second cousins showed up for a big "get together" we used to play with the "guns." It never once occurred to ANYBODY that one of us kids would find, try to find, or maliciously attempt to actually LOAD one of 'em.
One that stands out was an old single shot "trap door" Army rifle, one a non--descript bolt action, and a couple of pistols. One was a break -action I think Smith.
Parents today would cringe. We killed thousands, maybe millions, of mobsters, injuns, Japs, Germans, and anyone else we could think of that "needed killin"
Lake Cocolalla, S of town, and a closeup of the much--rebuilt part of the original land. This was where my Mother's side of the family settled. When my Father's family came to the country from Beautiful downtown Burbank, they settled on a little place for a few years immediately N of this, also adjacent to the creek to the left. Some of the "outlaws" of the family lived there for years in a log house. I can still remember very young, about 4-6, going there and seeing them
When I was a teenager, the woman who became my "step Grandmother" owned a place on this lake further E along the shore. We used to boat and ski, fish, etc, on the lake.
But I'll NEVER forget that old "trap door" rifle/ carbine. Us kids would race to try and get "it" I sure wish to hell I had it now. But after "Gramma" died, one of "the boys" bought out the other, and kept the farm. He got married, lived a VERY few years, and died. His wife was completely unfriendly to the rest of the family, and none of the family "trinkets" ever made it anywhere at her hand.
Similar to this old girl:
