I think most of us older guys have had any number of hobbies - it would be interesting to know what all we've done....
My first hobby was collecting girl friends:biggrin:
Actually, my first real hobby was coin collecting - I started that just after getting married I collected modern coins until I had gotten all of the Lincoln Cents, Jefferson Nickels, Mercury dimes (I was one short) Washington Quarters and Franklin Halves. In those days you could find almost everything in circulation.
Next, I bred and raised Standardbred (Trotters and Pacers) race horses for a few years but had to give that up after the 5th and 6th kids came along - I had a good job but not good enough to afford both the kids and horses. This hobby makes pen turning look like chump change.
The third thing that was really a hobby was walking, I joined a walking organization and logged as many as 1500 miles a year for a few years. I still walk a lot but not nearly that much. Best thing about this was it was really affordable.
I then collected cast bank trucks...Only a couple a year but this held on for about 22 -23 years. Again it didn't cost a lot of money but finding room for them was a problem. At the same time I collected small cast cars - I gave these up when we moved into a mobile home and had no room.
Remodeling rooms in my house was really a hobby for me as well, I did all the work myself and truly enjoyed it - this went on for about 10 years when I ran out of rooms.
I had what some would call a hobby farm where we raised, Beef, hogs, lambs, turkeys, roasting chickens, laying chickens and kept a milk cow. We also made about 1000 bales of hay a year. I never really thought of this as a hobby because there was a lot of work.
Power boating was a hobby for a few years and to those who think this is expensive try boating where a $35K -$40K boat is just the down payment. And, it can "drink" 100 gallons of gas in a single afternoon along with slip fees, insurance maintenance ---- of course you also wind up getting GPS, Depth finder, Fish finder, Radio, half a dozen or so rods and reels, life jackets and on and on. Cost was about $10K per year with an Ocean Going boat. Could have been a lot more because mine was only a 24 footer.
I also collected toy soldiers and still have a small collection of them depicting the American Revolution.
Living where we do, we also collect a lot of sea shells - this is a hobby anyone can afford.
I also made cottage furniture until I got to the point where we didn't need any more in our house. That was fun and I suspect we have about 25 or so pieces that I made here in the house and probably another dozen or so pieces outside.
As a side to the above I like to make real and faux bird houses and we have them all over the place as well as giving dozens of them away.
I also did income tax preparation as a semi business and part hobby. I charged for some but did some for family and friends at no charge...I never did more than about 40 a year so it wasn't a real business although it always showed a profit.
I also collected 33 1/3 records and made a couple of amplifiers for playing them , two were kits but the third one was from scratch. Gave them up when we got to where we just didn't have room for them and my record changer broke so we had to play them one at a time.
So how about you.....
My first hobby was collecting girl friends:biggrin:
Actually, my first real hobby was coin collecting - I started that just after getting married I collected modern coins until I had gotten all of the Lincoln Cents, Jefferson Nickels, Mercury dimes (I was one short) Washington Quarters and Franklin Halves. In those days you could find almost everything in circulation.
Next, I bred and raised Standardbred (Trotters and Pacers) race horses for a few years but had to give that up after the 5th and 6th kids came along - I had a good job but not good enough to afford both the kids and horses. This hobby makes pen turning look like chump change.
The third thing that was really a hobby was walking, I joined a walking organization and logged as many as 1500 miles a year for a few years. I still walk a lot but not nearly that much. Best thing about this was it was really affordable.
I then collected cast bank trucks...Only a couple a year but this held on for about 22 -23 years. Again it didn't cost a lot of money but finding room for them was a problem. At the same time I collected small cast cars - I gave these up when we moved into a mobile home and had no room.
Remodeling rooms in my house was really a hobby for me as well, I did all the work myself and truly enjoyed it - this went on for about 10 years when I ran out of rooms.
I had what some would call a hobby farm where we raised, Beef, hogs, lambs, turkeys, roasting chickens, laying chickens and kept a milk cow. We also made about 1000 bales of hay a year. I never really thought of this as a hobby because there was a lot of work.
Power boating was a hobby for a few years and to those who think this is expensive try boating where a $35K -$40K boat is just the down payment. And, it can "drink" 100 gallons of gas in a single afternoon along with slip fees, insurance maintenance ---- of course you also wind up getting GPS, Depth finder, Fish finder, Radio, half a dozen or so rods and reels, life jackets and on and on. Cost was about $10K per year with an Ocean Going boat. Could have been a lot more because mine was only a 24 footer.
I also collected toy soldiers and still have a small collection of them depicting the American Revolution.
Living where we do, we also collect a lot of sea shells - this is a hobby anyone can afford.
I also made cottage furniture until I got to the point where we didn't need any more in our house. That was fun and I suspect we have about 25 or so pieces that I made here in the house and probably another dozen or so pieces outside.
As a side to the above I like to make real and faux bird houses and we have them all over the place as well as giving dozens of them away.
I also did income tax preparation as a semi business and part hobby. I charged for some but did some for family and friends at no charge...I never did more than about 40 a year so it wasn't a real business although it always showed a profit.
I also collected 33 1/3 records and made a couple of amplifiers for playing them , two were kits but the third one was from scratch. Gave them up when we got to where we just didn't have room for them and my record changer broke so we had to play them one at a time.
So how about you.....
