re: The 1970’s were glorious

Yeah, those late 60's and early 70's were the best years of my life, and yes, we did drink out of the hose pipe. And we had hot water heaters. And we would get paint off our selves with a rag soaked in gasoline. To say life was much simpler then, would be an understatement. There were no mass shootings, there were no "trans" people, climate change was actually the changing of the seasons, no one had a cell phone attached to their body, respect for law enforcement was taught by concerned parents, and country music was really that: country!
As kids, we found the simplest of things to do and turned it into fun. Like getting up onto the roof of my uncles house by climbing the tv antenna pole.
Remember those antennas? I was the one my dad would send outside to turn the antenna for a clearer tv picture. Back then it was either channel 2 or channel 9 out of Baton Rouge. Buckskin Bill was our local hero. Out of New Orleans we'd get WWL where Margus the Magnificent was showing. Miss Linda's Romper Room and Johnny's Follies. Also, later in our teenage years we'd watch John Pela.
We would play army, cause no one ever plays Navy, right? We'd spend lots of time in the woods building treehouses and camping out in tents. In the winter time, we'd actually play war with real bb guns. No head shots was the rule, but the heavy winter jackets protected us from bb stings.
Played lots of backyard football, baseball, tag, red rover-red rover and hide and seek. Had many backyard fish fries and barbeques with neighbors, family and friends. Teenage dances at the local VFW home where slow dancing was top of the order for us guys looking for a kissing partner.
The draft ended but I volunteered and met many heroes from a war that politicians prolonged to enrich themselves. Started hating Hanoi Jane, Jimmy Carter, and draft dodgers like Bruce Springsteen. You could actually go into a store without hearing spanish spoken or seeing 3 or 4 mexicans pushing a buggy. Hitchhiking was the best way to get around if you had no other options.
Man, the memory juices are really flowing now, but like all good things they must come to an end.