14-18, would have been the 60's. I was raised in the country in SW Louisiana.
We got some guys together and played touch football. We all owned guns, so we shot a lot, pistols and rifles for me, I never liked shotguns. We went snake shooting a lot on farmers land, who had a pond and wanted to take their kids out there, but they had too many snakes. Me and a couple of buds would go walk around the pond and shoot the snakes.
By 15, I was working in a gas station during summers, washing cars, oil changes and grease jobs, mount and balance tires, fix flat tires (I still will plug one of my tires if the tire store refuses to fix it to try and force me to buy a tire, I use a plug kit from the auto part store, heck, I still change my own oil). I worked 12 hours a day, 6 AM to 6 PM, six days a week. I would have been bored at home, so making money seemed like a good deal. I made $1 per hour. Up at 4:45, leave house at 5:25, open station at 5:50 after a 15 mile ride into town.
Legal drinking age was 18, so we started at 16. I just got knee crawling drunk about 3 times a year, sometimes after a breakup with a young lady.
Umm, is anyone going to tell me she didn't use a horse? LOL!
