Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:22:10 — 23.5MB)

14, Blood Smeared on My Face, and The Arrow Flew Well.

Today is an episode of TSP Rewind, commercial free versions of past podcast episodes.

Today’s episode was originally, Episode-1869- Growing Up in the Florida Swamps and Pennsylvania Woods and originally aired on September 13, 2016.

The following are the original show notes from that episode

Today we get a lighter show and I think we could use one.  I was happy to see this subject come in second place in the polls for September’s shows.  Those of us that grew up in the 70s and 80s may be the last generation of children who knew true freedom as children.

We walked to the bus alone, many of us rode bikes several miles to school and to other activities.   We didn’t have social media and the internet, we grew up with sling shots, bb guns and old sing shot shotguns, that kicked like hell but were small enough for us to shoulder properly.

We broke bones, skinned knees and fell out of trees, as long as no one was dead or paralyzed we just went on with life.  Scratches, scars and pain were teachers who taught us swiftly the consequences of stupidity.

In this world a young blonde boy named Jack Spirko Jr. (his friends called him J.J.) grew up in two very different places.  Until he was 14 he wandered the Florida swamps, the shores of the St. Johns river and argued with Alligators on golf courses.  In the summer of 1986 he and his father piled into a very old Oldsmobile Station Wagon painted with honest to God black tire paint.

With them they carried guns and the old man’s entire life savings in cash.  19 hours later they pulled into the Grandparent’s drive way.  The boy and his father spent the summer finding the family a new home.  The father returned to Florida to retrieve the rest of the family, the boy stayed behind and worked on his skills with a bow and took his hunters safety course.  Later that year he would take his first deer with a bow.  We will walk with this kid and remember what it was like growing up in the woods not so long ago.

Join Me Today to Discuss…

• It was always the woods for me
• The Apartments with a lake
• The tree branch that did not hold
• The day the shark cleared out the beech
• The crab that left his mark in my big toe
• The apartments on the swamp
• The “big bass”
• Catfish like hot dogs
• Friends hit by a car on the way to the bus
• Risking serious injury for fun
• The forts, oh the forts
• The move to PA
• The days of practice and the first deer
• The little pond no one really knew about
• The secret place where the native brook trout swam
• Of bluegills and yellow perch
• The first buck and the first buck with a bow
• Year of the squirrels
• The first car
• The beer parties and the giant hammock
• The decision to leave
• Home isn’t that way any more, no where is

Locations Discussed Today

• The Apartments in the Swamp
• Jacksonville University – You can see the apartments with the lake just on the other side of University Blvd.
• Where the Gator vs Golf Ball Incident Occured
• Where I caught “the big bass”
• The Pond No One Knew About
• Minersville High School – Where Mikey stole the “Marlin Perkins net”
• Pottsville High School – Where I went to school
• Where we used to park to access the place with native brook trout in Blackwood – Now it is a fricken strip mall

Resources for today’s show…

• Follow Life With Jack on Instagram
• Join the Members Brigade
• Join Our Forum
• Walking To Freedom
• TspAz.com
• TSPC on Discord
• TSPC Group on Telegram (group chat)
• TSPC Telegram Channel (just messages from me)
• Jack on Flote
• Jack on MeWe
• Join Me on Odysee
• Buy Crypto Safe and Easy on CoinBase
• My Favorite NoKYC Crypto Exchange CoinEx
• SOE Tactical Gear – Where I get all my cool shirts
• Get the Exodus Wallet
• TipLightning – Learn about the Lightning Network

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon.

Want Every Episode of TSP Ever Produced?

Remember in addition to discounts to over 40 vendors who supply stuff you are likely buying anyway, tons of free ebooks and video content, MSB Members also get every edition of The Survival Podcast ever produced in convenient zip files in blocks of 24. More info on the MSB can be found here.