Thursday Thirteen #6

13 Things I Have Great Childhood Memories About Owning (Toys, Bikes, and whatnot) 1. Bicycle. Hands down, my favorite thing. First one was a red Western-Auto bike, then I got a green, metal-flake Sears Gremlin with banana seat, high-rise handlebars, and tiny front tire. I had others, but those are the childhood ones that let me roam away from home for the first time. 2. Cookie, Cricket, Snoopy, and Sara. Our dogs we had when I was young. Seeing pics of them now hurts just as bad as pics of loved ones who have passed away. Heck, they ARE loved ones who have passed away. 3. Beanie. A little boy doll with a beanie cap and propeller. Of course the propeller broke off, but Beanie was a good friend. I think it was actually Beany(ie?) Boy, a 60's cartoon character the doll was modeled from. 4. My Big Josh doll action figure. I had the camper and all kinds of stuff. Like a muscled up Ken, with a beard, and with his own line of accessories. Accessorize, accessorize, accessorize! I wrote a post about it called "Only Girls Play With Dolls." 5. My own stereo. I inherited it from my brother when he moved out and got better stuff, but I spent many, many hours lost in music. 6. Building models. The Revell plastic models, mostly of cars, but of the occasional fighter plane as well. My all-time favorite was a huge model of Don Garlits's first rear engine top fuel dragster. It had soft rubber slicks and everything. 7. Hotwheels. My older brother and I got Hotwheels and each got a different track, the first year they came out. 1968. It was a very good year. Several years ago, on one anniversary of their introduction, I re-bought some of the originals I once had, that had been reissued. 8. Marx Electo-Shot Shooting Gallery. A fully contained personal sized shooting gallery/mounted gun that shot chrome pellets that rolled back down and into the gun like a pinball machine. I went through D batteries like Grant went through Richmond. I remember anticipating this toy, and it totally lived up to the hype in my head. 9. Big Bruiser. A battery powered tow truck I received the Christmas I was 4. It's one of the first toys I can remember playing with a lot. Not just mental snapshots, but actually playing with it. It came with a 'broken' car for it to tow. 10. My John Brodie football I received on my 13th birthday. My friends Glenn and Wes and I spent many hours running up and down our street throwing that football. It finally had the ends worn through and punctured the bladder. But that football lasted for years, and a lot of good times with my friends. I even re-laced it a couple of times myself with shoestring, and did a good job of it too. We used Wes's or Glenn's footballs when we played on grass. 11. Marbles. I loved playing marbles as a kid, and was pretty good. Except, Lisa Jeffries fairly consistently beat me. (And we played 'for keeps.') 12. A desk. I know that sounds lame, but in high school, I finally got my own room and Sainted Mother and Don C. bought me a small desk. That's where I did all of my homework, wrote, and built models. 13. Skateboard. The first one I had was a steel wheeled one I bought from my friend Wes. $5, if memory serves. Then I saved and bought a decent one from Service Merchandise. I never got good enough to ride ramps and stuff, but I put many miles on that thing and did learn some freestyle tricks. The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!