Back in the 1930s and 1940s, when we were young, the things we enjoyed so much and looked forward to would be very dull and boring to kids today. When we had time off from school or working in the fields, we took advantage of every free minute.

If we found an old car tire, we rolled it around for hours. If we found two of them, we raced to see who could roll it by hand the fastest. That was a lot of fun, but old tires were hard to come by.

One thing I loved to do when not in school on a rainy day was get one of Mom’s old quilts, go down to the barn and climb up into the loft, where the loose hay was stored. I wrapped up in the quilt and buried myself in the loose hay.

Listening to the rain hitting the tin roof and smelling that fresh hay, it wasn’t long until I drifted off into that peaceful place we called Dreamland. What a joy it was to wake up from a good nap in the hay and listen to the rain.

There were three of us boys that became lifelong friends: Richard and William McElyea and I. We did so many things together. One of our favorites was hunting at night for the opossum.

We met in the dark at William’s house. Sometimes his dad, Gene, went with us. It was always a joy to have him along. When he did not go, he sent us off with a scary story, but that never stopped us from going anyway. Sometimes, we were joined by my brother Jimmy and William’s brother, Frank Bee.

The best night for hunting was when it drizzled rain. We hunted about half the night. By then, we were cold and wet. The three of us would huddle around the lantern to try to get a little warmth.

When we went home, I would ease into the house, take off my wet clothes and get into that featherbed. Then, I’d move my cold feet over to Jimmy’s warm body. He’d grunt and move over a little, which gave me a little of his warm spot. Once I sunk down in that bed, it was not long until I felt warm and cozy. What could be any better than to be warm and listen to rain falling on a tin roof?

We were survivors. We knew every tree, bush or vine that could supply us with food, and there was plenty of wildlife, too. We made slingshots, bows and arrows, traps to catch animals and birds, and ate lots of fish.

To today’s young boys, can you believe the first thing we wanted was a shotgun or a rifle? I don’t think so. The computer and iPhone have replaced guns. Though today’s generations enjoy the life they have very much, they will never know the joy of working for a living and looking forward to the free time when they got off.

Today, kids do not have to work. They are bored most of the time. I never knew anything about being bored, because I have never been bored a day in my life.

What some people, with their high education, have done to this country is destroyed everything that made us old codgers happy when we were young. They have turned the younger population into lazy butts that are bored most of the time. No more sleeping in the hay loft. No more shaking the opossum out of a tall tree. No more sleeping in a featherbed. The worse thing they did was to rob today’s kids out of all the real fun, joy and happiness they could have had. Shame on you!

— Dale Lone Elk Casteel lives in the Coxey community, attended Clements High School and was preparing for his senior year when mobilized into active service in the Army in August 1950. When his class graduated, he was in Korea. He wrote his first story and book at age 70.