Rockford Summers

One of the thrills of summer was to be able to sleep in the backyard. Not tents, but jungle hammocks. Dad bought two from army surplus. Putting them up was a bit of a chore since all of the lower limbs on the trees had been cut or broken off. Lou and I usually slept in them and, speaking for me, didn't get a wink of sleep all night. The hammocks could be unsteady unless you were situated just perfectly center. RJ, the WWII history buff, would reminds us of how the Japs would bayonet our soldiers in jungle hammocks. Oh, great..... After dark, RJ and DJ would creap out in the dark and scream into your netting. After that, your mind worked overtime thinking about things crawling around under you- or maybe inside the netting already. If you did get sleep, you awoke with your face planted clearly in the mosquito netting staring down at the ground and any bedding is all over you as if you were a passenger on the Titanic at the time of hitting the iceberg. But, looking back, it was great fun.

DJ comment: Yes, Japanese sneak attacks late at night were a hoot! Almost better than the pink box. Banzai!! But RJ and I also had a few sleep outs in the jungle hammocks.  Most of all, I remember feeling that when I zipped the mosquito netting closed that I was zipping the mosquitos in with me! Plus, the netting allowed almost no breeze, so you would sweat and swat mosquitos all night.  So yes, no sleep at all....