When I was a small boy growing up in Beaver City Nebraska summertime was so good!
There was no TV, no video games, no computer games; no swimming pool; just some basics toys, athletic equipment and our imaginations.
As a smaller boy, lots of play was in the dirt with my cars and trucks. Although there was just a few of each, 'miles' of roads and ditches were created and used.
Another game was 'Guns'. This could be played as 'Cowboys and Indians', 'Cops and Robbers', and sometimes as things we had read in the paper such as 'Arabs and Jews'. Of course we had absolutely no idea what the latter was all about. This game could be played by yourself with a good imagination or it could be played with others. If it was played with others, there was always the argument about whether you had been shot or not. 'You missed me', and 'It was just a flesh wound' were the favorite ways of keeping the game going longer!
As you got older baseball became a part of your summertime life with the 'Midget' team and with pickup games in the vacant lots.
Of course having a bike was essential to get all over town to make sure you didn't miss out on anything. Things like houses being re-roofed, a house or shed being built, or as happened one summer, streets being paved!
A part of being a little older was trying to get some spending money. The main sources were finding pop and beer bottles in the ditches around town and in the near countryside; and mowing grass for anyone that would let you. Later I had a paper route . . . that was big bucks!
You knew summer was almost over when the County Fair was held in August. As a town kid you envied the country kids because they brought their cattle in to show and competed for ribbons. Everyone enjoyed the midway and the free shows in front of the grandstand.
The day after Labor Day was it! Summer was over and it was back up the hill to school . . .