I still remember my 9th birthday when my grandfather gave me an old washing machine, access to all his tools, and the command "Take that apart". I spent all day dismantling the washer down into hundreds of peices. Thankfully he didn't tell me to put it back together again!

Meanwhile back on the farm we'd take turns grabing the electric fence, shocking each other with cattle prods, playing chicken with firecrackers in fresh cowpies, building tree forts, having apple and dirt-clod wars, digging holes, playing in abandoned quarries, spending days (and nights) out in the woods, etc...

*sigh* Kids these days miss out on so much. Not mine, but other people's kids...

-Blast, fondly recalling the time a cow tried to eat DD1's dress on how she thought that was cool