Did you ever skitch?

[rhino]

There ... skitchers unite ... or should I say confess?

a skitcher help group is forming ...

[HAPe4me]

I am well over 50, but the only Skitch I remember was Skitch Henderson. what are you talking about, youngster?

[mstar1]

Skitch?

Do you mean smush?

watch out for the manhole covers and the dry spots

[TOMMYZ]

Never did and always thought it was a little too risky. ( FYI, I'm 49 ) Do kids still do it some places and what do they call it ? My 17 year old daughter said kids don't do that. We're in the Chicago suburbs.

[dmiller]

Skitch is a new term to me too.

Granted my 50+ year old memory cells aren't firing on all cylinders,

but I can safely say I've never heard that one before.

:)

[bowtwi]

Lemme shout it from the rooftop! I'm still under 50!!!! Not for too long, as 48's creeping right up on me next summer, so I'll say it any chance I get!

I don't know nothin' bout skitchin' no sheet or whatever that was ol' man rhino was speakin' of... really, I don't!

Truly, I thought it was a personal cuss word or catchall word known only to rhino, maybe even a special language understood only by them Illi-noisy-uns over there.

(I can say that, cause my momma and my brother were both born in that state, which explains a lot!)

It's not my fault I was born in WI - just lucky that way.

[washingtonweather]

in the snow!!

[doojable]

I have a skitch book......

[GodsGirl2]

Watch out for rocks too. Of course I wouldn't do anything illigal.. though it wasn't when I was younger.

My sister and I used to also do it with our bike and a radio flyer down a big hill. Its amazing we never broke anything.

[waysider]

"Skitching is-----"

Oh, wait. Are all the youngsters out of the room?( Wouldn't want to plant any ideas)

All clear? Good. Let's begin.

The year is 1962. It's been snowing off and on for weeks. The snow plows have long since stopped trying to expose the bare pavement and are content to leave the streets with a thin layer of ice. It's way past sunset and the street light at the corner is burned out. We wait anxiously in the bushes beside Mrs. Finklefarkles' front porch. Suddenly, a lone car approaches the stop sign at the corner and dutifully comes to a halt. As it resumes its journey , we slip stealthfully from the bushes and squat down out of view and grab hold of the bumper. We "skitch" behind for as long as we are able.( though as mstar1 pointed out, one must always be on the lookout for manhole covers and dry spots. )It became somewhat of a skill,actually, to be able to feel the dry spots and simultaneously stretch out and let go. As we became of driving age ourselves, the game escaladed considerably but there may be young 'uns lurking about so you will have to just imagine how it evolved.

O.K.----With that out of the way, it's safe once again for the youngsters to come back into the room.

[Tom Strange]

never heard it called that... but I didn't anyway... too high I guess...

[J0nny Ling0]

Ditto what Tom Strange said. Although, I allowed my nephews to "skitch" a ride on my bumper one time in Oklahoma, where there were no hills to sled on. But they didn't call it "skitchin". They called it "bumper ridin......"

[likeaneagle]

My brother was a skitcher, in the streets of CHicago..thier fav winter past time..

[T-Bone]

I tried snow skitching a few times [think I was 17 at the time] – until I hit a dry patch of road [or it might have been a big pothole]. Thereafter I KNEW what slamming on the brakes felt like – literally – especially my knees, hands and face…The craziest thing I’ve seen – a few years ago in Manhattan – kids on roller blades skitching on the back of UPS trucks – did yah hear me? I said “in Manhattan”!

[Sushi]

I am well over 50, but the only Skitch I remember was Skitch Henderson. what are you talking about, youngster?

I'm still under 50, and the only Skitch I know is the one stated above.

[Belle]

I'm under 50, but I've done the bee bop, does that count?

Is skitching anything like cow tipping?

[sprawled out]

i'm surprised that it's not a new york term! (but not just a new york activity.) maybe that's newyork-centric of me, but it's what i thought.

and whatever you call it, it sure was DUMB. but fun!

[Belle]

Okay, I cheated... I googled it.

I'VE BEEN SKITCHING!!

Once.... My freshman year in college it snowed on April Fool's Day. Big snow - LOTS of snow - in Mississippi! It hardly ever snows in Mississippi. But April 1, 1987 it snowed something like 3 inches in a very short period of time. Classes were cancelled and we hit the streets and hills and the cafeteria lost all their dinner trays. :P We blocked off the street in front of the guys' freshman dorms and it was strictly reserved for skitching. It was a hilariously fun day!

[likeaneagle]

Belle- Were you located by the GAS PUMPS!! heehee:)

[sprawled out]

Big snow - LOTS of snow... something like 3 inches

perspective is everything

[Belle]

Why Sprawled, I 'spose yer right.

[doojable]

I've skitched, stitched, itched, sketched, scratched, and spit.

Do I get my diploma now?

[mstar1]

Big snow - LOTS of snow... something like 3 inches

:blink:

Sorry to reiterate-my eyes popped out of my head when i read that--thats not snow thats springtime!

--Cmon up to New England Belle we'll show you snow! :)

[waysider]

I kept thinking I had left something out and then it hit me: Leather soled shoes.

When I was 13, all I wanted for Christmas was a pair of leather soled "engineer boots".

There under the tree that year was a Red Ryder BB gun. No! Wait! I'm confusing movie fantasy with real life. There under the tree was a brand spankin' new pair of Engineer boots.

It was one of those Christmases that lives forever in your memory. If my folks had any idea

I needed them to skitch, I doubt they would have bought them.

Since skitchin' was best done under the cover of darkness, we needed a daytime activity as well.

Thus, "cannonballing" was invented. To cannonball, one needed only to find a sledding hill that

had become too icy from overuse. Starting from as far back as we could, we would run full speed

to the crest of the hill. At that point we would leap into the air and land on the downward slope just as we tucked tightly into the "cannonball" position. There were no manhole covers or dry spots but usually plenty of ruts and rocks. And to think that all you really needed was a good pair of Engineer boots and a bit of a daredevil attitude.

[Ca_dreaming]

Loved to skitch............To old now. Back in the day we would get a little toasted and ride the bumpers to where ever, of course hitting a dry patch was a pain in the A$$.