12-24-2009
( Reply#: 4293 ) |
tom w |
Bob; What a great thread!! I learned a really lot. If you get close to Orlando, gimmie a e-mail and I'll try to grab Kelly an we'll have a cup. Merry Christmas Tom |
12-24-2009
( Reply#: 4302 ) |
BobK |
I sent you an email Tom. I tried to change my email in my profile but it wouldn't change.
Bob
[img]http://home.comcast.net/~rkekeis/Bob1.jpg[/img] |
12-25-2009
( Reply#: 4303 ) |
tom w |
Bob et al;
When I didnt recieve your e-mail, I sent myself one too. The messages sent from Sheptalk are not being recieved. Please contact thru your I.P.S. not Sheptalk. My e-mail address is correct. Dont know what the problem is but this might explain a lot of things. Thanks for understanding, gang. Have a blessed holiday. Tom W |
12-25-2009
( Reply#: 4304 ) |
Tom J |
quote:
Originally posted by tom w
Bob et al;
When I didnt recieve your e-mail, I sent myself one too. The messages sent from Sheptalk are not being recieved. Please contact thru your I.P.S. not Sheptalk. My e-mail address is correct. Dont know what the problem is but this might explain a lot of things. Thanks for understanding, gang. Have a blessed holiday. Tom W
Our host, Mr. Clavin, moved Sheptalk to a new server a few days ago, so maybe some things are still not "as they should be." I will send him an Email via my normal email account and ask him if he knows what is going on.
Tomster |
12-25-2009
( Reply#: 4305 ) |
Paddy |
I went 15 for 15. For No. 16, does anyone remember the signs for the Ice Man? They were about a foot square, and had "25," "50," "75" and "No Ice Today" printed along the edges. They were placed in front windows for the Ice Man to read as he came down the street. He wore a thick leather shoulder cover for carrying the ice. When the sign requested ice, he would chip off the requested amount, hoist it onto his shoulder, carry it to the house and place it in the ice box. |
12-25-2009
( Reply#: 4306 ) |
tom w |
Paddy; We always gathered around his truck because he would chip off some chunks for us to chew on too. I remember when they put fresh tar on the roads, we could pick up a piece and chew it and spit for hours. Also when it rained in the summer, we would stuff newspaper in the street drains so that we could splash around in a little deeper water. They stopped us when the polio epidemic came. When I was real young, my dad bought the Sunday paper at Rovi's (sp?) and he would read us the Sunday funnies. Inside on the top half of page two was a one picture cartoon with the little story to the right side. The name was "The Little People" or something like that. Stories about the tribulatiions of tiny people that lived in a field. I have looked but never found any trace of the cartoon since. Does anyone else remember? Might have been around 1944-47. Tom W |
12-25-2009
( Reply#: 4307 ) |
BobK |
Is this it Tom? http://www.toonopedia.com/little_p.htm
Bob
[img]http://home.comcast.net/~rkekeis/Bob1.jpg[/img] |
12-26-2009
( Reply#: 4308 ) |
Bill Bucko |
The Teenie Weenies occurred to me.
By the way, the quiz seems too easy. Especially no. 9. Why not ask if we remember 78 RPMs? I do. I remember two titles in our house: "The Tennessee Waltz" (Patti Page, 1950) and "Mr. Sandman" (The Chordettes, 1954).
Bill
Warren G. Harding Class of '63 |
12-26-2009
( Reply#: 4309 ) |
tom w |
Bob it's yammo@bellsouth.net.
Bill; That sounds right too!!! Wow!!! We had a 4 record album of "A Christmas Carol" by Basil Rathbone and a Gene Autry Christmas album. And my dad had a bunch of records featuring a famous pianist from Europe. His name was Paderefski and the records were only stamped on one side. The garbage man was REAL happy the day I threw them out. Tom W
|
12-26-2009
( Reply#: 4310 ) |
tom w |
Yeah it is Teenie Weenies. Now I can finally show my wife the cartoon that Ive been talking about for the past 31 years. Thanks again. You guys are champions!! Tom W |
12-26-2009
( Reply#: 4311 ) |
BobK |
Tomster, that wouldn't be Cliff Clavin would it?
Bob
[img]http://home.comcast.net/~rkekeis/Bob1.jpg[/img] |
12-26-2009
( Reply#: 4312 ) |
Tom J |
quote:
Originally posted by BobK
Tomster, that wouldn't be Cliff Clavin would it?
Bob
[img]http://home.comcast.net/~rkekeis/Bob1.jpg[/img]
Our host is Mr. Jim Clavin, who lives in NJ, I believe.
He tried to send me an Email through Sheptalk after I made him aware of the possible problem, but it didn't go through.
He sent me an Email by normal means, which I did receive, and I told him that I did not receive the Sheptalk Email. This may have something to do with the server move.
Tom |
12-26-2009
( Reply#: 4313 ) |
BobK |
I was kidding about Cliff Clavin. He was the postman on Cheers.
Bob
[img]http://home.comcast.net/~rkekeis/Bob1.jpg[/img] |
12-26-2009
( Reply#: 4314 ) |
Tom J |
Oh, sorry. It has been a LONG time since I was a regular TV watcher. I wouldn't be able to name a single character from Cheers.
Tomster |
12-27-2009
( Reply#: 4324 ) |
Paddy |
Number 17: Wringer washing machines. The hours that I spent feeding clothes through the wringer were full of fear that I would get tangled in a sheet and the wringer would squash me flat as a pancake.
Which leads to Number 18: Clothes lines. Every back yard had them, replete with the cotton bags that held the wooden clothes pins. Every kid did their share of hanging the wash. |
12-27-2009
( Reply#: 4327 ) |
Tom J |
quote:
Originally posted by Paddy
Number 17: Wringer washing machines. The hours that I spent feeding clothes through the wringer were full of fear that I would get tangled in a sheet and the wringer would squash me flat as a pancake.
Which leads to Number 18: Clothes lines. Every back yard had them, replete with the cotton bags that held the wooden clothes pins. Every kid did their share of hanging the wash.
Oh, wow! I had not thought about those bags that held the clothes pins in years and years! I know exactly what you are talking about.
You hardly ever see a clothes line any more.
I also remember very well those wringer type washing machines, and I remember the cool sounds they made as the clothes were being washed.
Tom |
12-27-2009
( Reply#: 4328 ) |
dilligaf717 |
I know that the P.C. police would crucify my parents today, but, I remember them putting one of my younger brothers in a harness and hooking him to the clothesline to keep him from running wild when he was very young. You know, it didn't scar him a bit, probably saved him from being run over in the street. He was a wild child.
Still runnin against the wind. |
12-27-2009
( Reply#: 4329 ) |
BobK |
I've got a wringer washer. It was the mother-in-law's and it's great for wringing out the cloths when washing the vehicles.
Bob
[img]http://home.comcast.net/~rkekeis/Bob1.jpg[/img] |
12-28-2009
( Reply#: 4341 ) |
duane |
quote:
Originally posted by Tom J
Oh, wow! I had not thought about those bags that held the clothes pins in years and years! I know exactly what you are talking about.
You hardly ever see a clothes line any more.
Tom
Our laundry room is replete with such artifacts. Don't have the wringer washer any longer (but mom swore by hers until she died several years ago and I sold it). But our modern laundry room has the (no longer used)tools of the past on display.
Wooden clothes pins,
cotton, stay-open clothespin bag,
bottle with sprinkler for ironing (1958 bottle from Charles H. Mayer & Company Quality Beverages in Calumet City, IL),
several flat irons, to be heated on kitchen wood stove, (and we've got the kitchen wood/gas stove too)
Kirk's American Family Laundry Bar soap,
Fels Naptha Laundry soap,
RIT dye,
Argo powdered starch,
Bon Ami scouring powder,
ZUD rust cleaning powder,
Glass Wax (remember making Christmas decorations on windows with glass wax and stencils?)
Whitex bluing,
Satina Ironing aid,
Brown glass bottle of Hi-lex bleach,
a couple of Washboards
and a large "balia" or galvanized wash tub (have pictures of me in that when I was a kid.)
But the pride of my collection is a worn-smooth "poking/agitating stick" that my grandmother used. It is made from the stem of a pine tree, approximately 1" in diameter, and on the end is a whorl of 5 smaller stems coming out. These are about 3" long. She used this to poke at and agitate clothes that were "soaking" Being a Forester, I love the idea of how she made that poking stick!
Somewhere in my collection of photos are two that I will be adding to the laundry room decor. One of my grandmother from Paw Paw, MI outside on laundry day sometime in the 1940's (double tub and hand wringer at the ready) and another from the 1960's of my mom and aunt hanging clothes on the temporary clothes lines they would put up in the back yard on washday. |
12-28-2009
( Reply#: 4355 ) |
Roger D |
WOW! Your poking stick comment reminded me of the poking stick I made for my mother in 7th grade shop class at Clark Jr. Sr. High during the '56-'57 school year. She used it until 1963 when she bought an automatic washer dryer set. She gave my wife and I her wringer washer in '64 when we got married. We were glad to have it.
Roger D. |
12-28-2009
( Reply#: 4357 ) |
Roger D |
Mam oh Man the memories just keep coming. I remember the pig shape cutting board I made in shop class at Morton in the '57-'58 school year. When my mother broke up housekeeping '02 and moved in with us she gave us the cutting board. Mr. Frazier was the shop teacher, he had two or three fingers missing. Supposedly he cut them off on a table saw.
Roger D. |
12-28-2009
( Reply#: 4363 ) |
Tom J |
quote:
Originally posted by Roger D
Mam oh Man the memories just keep coming. I remember the pig shape cutting board I made in shop class at Morton in the '57-'58 school year. When my mother broke up housekeeping '02 and moved in with us she gave us the cutting board. Mr. Frazier was the shop teacher, he had two or three fingers missing. Supposedly he cut them off on a table saw.
Roger D.
I guess he was a truly dedicated teacher and showed the students what could happen if they weren't careful. [:p] |
12-30-2009
( Reply#: 4395 ) |
nitti |
quote:
Originally posted by BobK
Someone asked the other day, 'What was your favorite fast food when you were growing up?'
'We didn't have fast food when I was growing up,' I informed him.
'All the food was slow.'
'C'mon, seriously. Where did you eat?'
'It was a place called 'at home,'' I explained. !
'Mum cooked every day and when Dad got home from work, we sat down together at the dining room table, and if I didn't like what she put on my plate I was allowed to sit there until I did like it.'
By this time, the kid was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going to suffer serious internal damage, so I didn't tell him the part about how I had to have permission to leave the table.
But here are some other things I would have told him about my childhood if I figured his system could have handled it :
Some parents NEVER owned their own house, wore Levis , set foot on a golf course, traveled out of the country or had a credit card.
My parents never drove me to school. I had a bicycle that weighed probably 50 pounds, and only had one speed, (slow).
We didn't have a television in our house until I was 19.
It was, of course, black and white, and the station went off the air at midnight, after playing the national anthem and a poem about God; it came back on the air at about 6 a.m. and there was usually a locally produced news and farm show on, featuring local people...
I never had a telephone in my room.The only phone was on a party line. Before you could dial, you had to listen and make sure some people you didn't know weren't already using the line.
Pizzas were not delivered to our home... But milk was.
All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys delivered newspapers --my brother delivered a newspaper, six days a week. He had to get up at 6AM every morning.
Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in the movies. There were no movie ratings because all movies were responsibly produced for everyone to enjoy viewing, without profanity or violence or most anything offensive.
If you grew up in a generation before there was fast food, you may want to share some of these memories with your children or grandchildren. Just don't blame me if they bust a gut laughing.
Growing up isn't what it used to be, is it?
MEMORIES from a friend :
My Dad is cleaning out my grandmother's house (she died in December) and he brought me an old Royal Crown Cola bottle. In the bottle top was a stopper with a bunch of holes in it.. I knew immediately what it was, but my daughter had no idea. She thought they had tried to make it a salt shaker or something. I knew it as the bottle that sat on the end of the ironing board to 'sprinkle' clothes with because we didn't have steam irons. Man, I am old.
Older Than Dirt Quiz :
Count all the ones that you remember not the ones you were told about.
Ratings at the bottom.
1.Candy cigarettes
2.Coffee shops with tableside juke boxes
3.Home milk delivery in glass bottles
4. Party lines on the telephone
5.Newsreels before the movie
6.TV test patterns that came on at night after the last show and were there until TV shows started again in the morning. (there were only 3 channels [if you were fortunate])
7.Peashooters
8. Howdy Doody
9. 45 RPM records
10.Hi-fi's
11. Metal ice trays with lever
12. Blue flashbulb
13.Cork popguns
14. Studebakers
15. Wash tub wringers
If you remembered 0-3 = You're still young
If you remembered 3-6 = You are getting older
If you remembered 7-10 = Don't tell your age,
If you remembered 11-15 =You're older than dirt!
I might be older than dirt but those memories are some of the best parts of my life.
Don't forget to pass this along!!
Especially to all your really OLD friends....
Another for the list - penny baseball cards. We'd buy them at Janc's on the way to the Ace. One card and a piece of gum in a wrapper - vs 5 cards and 1 piece of gum in the wrapper. No brainer, who would pass up the extra gum.
Now, baseball cards, we won't discuss price and no gum - the taste is gone forever. |
12-30-2009
( Reply#: 4401 ) |
Dave |
We also had a wringer washer and a poking stick. By the time I remember, the poking stick was pretty much retired and the washer was only used to wash bushels of cucumbers being made into pickles. (No soap, please!) My parents made lots of pickles.
|
12-31-2009
( Reply#: 4414 ) |
duane |
My mom continued to use her Maytag wringer washer and hang clothes in the yard (summer) or in the basement (winter) up until the time she died. There were several times when I offered to buy her a new washer/drier combo and her response was "don't buy them because they will only sit unused in the basement. I LIKE my old Maytag!" I remember she would use Fels Naptha flakes (came in a soap box) for washing until they quit making soap flakes. Then she went to regular detergent. |
01-16-2010
( Reply#: 4711 ) |
EastHammondBoomer |
I got spanked by a man who wasn't my father. The more I cried, the happier it made my mother. I was being held in a position which was confining. The man: Dr Angelo Bonaventura; the place: St Catherine Hosital in East Chicago (Da Harbor); the date: January 16th, 1959. Yes, today I celebrate my 51st year of walking on the 3rd planet from El Sol. That's 18,628 days (including leap years). 18,628 blessings. 18,628 opportunities to help another in need. 18,628 chances to say Thank You for this day which HE created.
Last year at this time I was employed at a company which had a mojority of personnel UNDER the age of 40. My own supervisor was thirty-something and he never let me forget the fact that I was older than him. He knew I was in the navy so my nickname was "Old Navy" [:D].
I have pasted part of an email which I sent to those under-40 coworkers. I know a lot of you here on this forum can share even more intersting and much-missed memories and facts but please excuse my wanting to share this with you all. Here's part of that list I passed around:
After half a century of life on this planet, I can still remember:
· the day:
o JFK was shot
o Lee Harvey Oswald was shot
o RFK was shot
o MLK was shot
o Elvis died
· the first lunar landing
· flash cubes for cameras
· transistor radios (and that groovy flesh-toned single ear phone
that came with it!)
· the first hand-held calculators (hey look! you can spell “shelloil”
upside down!)
· the first pull tabs on cans (yup, no more can opener needed for
that Pabst, Hamms or Strohs)
· the first twist-off caps on pop bottles (or do you say soda
bottles?)
· the Vietnam war on the daily evening news (my uncle came back from
that war with post-traumatic stress disorder)
· the fall of Saigon
· the Beatles' debut on Ed Sullivan (really big shoo)
· Woodstock
· Alberto VO5, Dippity-Do, Hai Karate (hazmat?)
· lawn darts (good family fun – it was also beneficial to know
your blood type)
· all gas stations having attendants (no self-serve)
· when gas stations still didn’t carry unleaded gasoline
· TV commercials for cigarettes (“Winston tastes good like a
cigarette should” and “I’d walk a mile for a Camel”)
· rotary phones
· S&H green stamps (we’d get them with every purchase at the local
A&P or at the Sinclair gas station)
· the Berlin Wall going up (it came down in 1989)
· the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City (I have a lot of family
there)
· shag carpeting (far out, man!)
· triangular vent windows on cars
· drive-in theaters (I also remember when “motion pictures” would
say “THE END” to let you know it was “THE END”)
· bell-bottoms and platform shoes
· quadraphonic sound systems
· 8-track tape cartridges (#9834; #9834; #9834; KLICK-KLUNK-KLICK #9834; #9834; #9834;) cool!
Even if I live another fifty years, I’ll never forget:
· August 30th, 1997 (my wedding)
· August 30th, 1999 (my daughter Isabel’s birthday)
· August 18th, 2004 (my daughter Mia’s birthday. Her due date was…
(in French accent) but, of course…August 30th!)
· my dear sister, Dianne (Oct 30th, 1957 – Nov 25th, 2007). I pray
they find a cure for Lupus
· 7 years in the navy (visited 13 countries, Alaska, Florida and
Hawaii, saw some action in the Gulf and Libya)
o being an extra in Top Gun (the director told us “Whatever you
do, don’t look at the camera!” – um, we looked)
o sitting at the same table with Barbara & George Bush Sr. when
they visited the Enterprise (NBC News filmed it)
· successfully using the Heimlich maneuver on my mom who was choking
· childhood friends, school friends, church friends, work friends,
military friends, world friends and family friends (hmm…
is “family friends” considered an oxymoron?)
· “butterfly kisses” from both my daughters as I tuck them into bed
every night
· learning to drive in a ’68 Pontiac LeMans (wish I still had that
car!)
· telling my father I wanted a drafting table when I was 15. Instead
of him buying it for me, he got me a job at a local car wash
(Dahlkamp's) paying $2 p/h. Months later, I bought that
drafting table. Many, many years later, I thanked him for that
lesson.
· receiving my AARP card offer in the mail (okay, when do I start
getting those nifty senior citizen discounts?)
· Superbowl XX (Da Bears!!!)
· World Series 2005 (Da Sox!!!)
· NBA Championship 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997 & 1998 (Da
Bulls!!!)
· October 4th, 2004 (I quit tobacco (cigarettes and snuff) cold
turkey – if I can do it anyone can!)
· “a friend is someone who knows you very well but likes you,
anyway” & “a friend stabs you in the front”
· HIS only begotten SON
· to forgive the past – to praise the present – that tomorrow isn’t
promised
Today I just want to stay home and spend time with my wife and kids. Oh, I'll also have a sack of White Castles. Seems I'm the only one around here who likes "those things" so they allow me to indulge at least once or twice a year. Everytime I smell White Castles it takes me back to my childhood days around the White Castles on Calumet and State Street.
Thanks for sharing your funny stories on the other threads...they really made me laugh out loud (I swore I'd NEVER use that term!!!!)
Dave G |
01-16-2010
( Reply#: 4712 ) |
wvcogs |
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAVE!!!
January 16 is a date that I have to remember since it is my wife's birthday. She also was born at St. Catherine's, but eighteen years before you were.
Enjoy the White Castles and onions.
Ken |
01-16-2010
( Reply#: 4713 ) |
EastHammondBoomer |
Ken,
Ditto to your wife! Ah, yes, onions and that brown mustard!!
Thanks,
Dave Gquote:
Originally posted by wvcogs
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAVE!!!
January 16 is a date that I have to remember since it is my wife's birthday. She also was born at St. Catherine's, but eighteen years before you were.
Enjoy the White Castles and onions.
Ken
|
01-16-2010
( Reply#: 4714 ) |
Tom J |
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAVE!
That was a really, really good post! There have been some amazing changes in the world during our lifetimes, haven't there. Many of those changes were NOT for the better.
Tom |
01-16-2010
( Reply#: 4715 ) |
Roger D |
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVE!!! My wife's was the 10th. (11 years before you.
Great memories1
Roger D. |
01-16-2010
( Reply#: 4717 ) |
BobK |
Happy Birthday Dave, our daughter's 42nd birthday is tomorrow. |
01-16-2010
( Reply#: 4719 ) |
MrRazz |
Hope you had a GREAT day, Dave. Wish I was there to share some White Castles with you. You either love 'em or you hate 'em. I'm the former. Can't get them here in Kansas and oddly enough, it is my understanding White Castle got their start in Wichita. Furthest west I have found them is St. Louis.
Happy Birthday!
Tim |
01-16-2010
( Reply#: 4720 ) |
BobK |
Love'em. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/90129/the_history_of_white_castle_restaurants.html |
01-17-2010
( Reply#: 4724 ) |
MrRazz |
quote:
Originally posted by BobK
Love'em. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/90129/the_history_of_white_castle_restaurants.html
Thanks for the link, Bob. Believe it or not, there are none in Wichita. A few years ago, they had 1 in KC, MO, but it went out of business. Occasionally I have found frozen ones at the grocery store, but they don't hold a candle to the fresh ones. Remember leaving the West and moving back to Indianapolis for a short time...went out on Christmas Eve and got a sack full...I was in heaven. Often thought if I opened one in our area, I could get rich quick...until then whereever I travel, I will be looking for the the lighted castle over the horizon. Man, I am getting hungry...
Tim |
01-17-2010
( Reply#: 4727 ) |
BobK |
I'm in Florida for the Winter so no joy here. Lots of good food but no White Castles. My Dad worked two and three jobs, one full time and two part time, he loved to work, and wasn't home much and I think he lived on White Castles. |
01-18-2010
( Reply#: 4738 ) |
Jim Plummer |
Anybody know why frozen White Castles don't taste the same as fresh ones? When visiting back home, I always try to have one meal a day at White Castle. I also get somebody to send me a box of Coca Wheats every winter since they aren't sold out in Ca.quote:
Originally posted by BobK
I'm in Florida for the Winter so no joy here. Lots of good food but no White Castles. My Dad worked two and three jobs, one full time and two part time, he loved to work, and wasn't home much and I think he lived on White Castles.
|
01-18-2010
( Reply#: 4740 ) |
S C Jones |
Jim, I've never tried a frozen White Castle--we have a White Castle in Nashville, so I haven't had to try a frozen one. I'd guess, though that it is the way W C fixes the fresh ones is maybe a steam heating process that makes the bun so soft. The frozen ones probably get a bit dry in the process???? NOW, as for Cocoa Wheats! We don't have those here, so I buy Cream of Wheat once a year and Hershey's Chocolate Syrup. Cook the C of W and then put in the Hershey's. MMMMM good! I lived in El Paso, TX for a year back in the 70's and that is the only other place I have found Cocoa Wheats.
quote:
Originally posted by Jim Plummer
Anybody know why frozen White Castles don't taste the same as fresh ones? When visiting back home, I always try to have one meal a day at White Castle. I also get somebody to send me a box of Coca Wheats every winter since they aren't sold out in Ca.quote:
Originally posted by BobK
I'm in Florida for the Winter so no joy here. Lots of good food but no White Castles. My Dad worked two and three jobs, one full time and two part time, he loved to work, and wasn't home much and I think he lived on White Castles.
|
01-18-2010
( Reply#: 4742 ) |
nitti |
quote:
Originally posted by S C Jones
Jim, I've never tried a frozen White Castle--we have a White Castle in Nashville, so I haven't had to try a frozen one. I'd guess, though that it is the way W C fixes the fresh ones is maybe a steam heating process that makes the bun so soft. The frozen ones probably get a bit dry in the process???? NOW, as for Cocoa Wheats! We don't have those here, so I buy Cream of Wheat once a year and Hershey's Chocolate Syrup. Cook the C of W and then put in the Hershey's. MMMMM good! I lived in El Paso, TX for a year back in the 70's and that is the only other place I have found Cocoa Wheats.
quote:
Originally posted by Jim Plummer
Anybody know why frozen White Castles don't taste the same as fresh ones? When visiting back home, I always try to have one meal a day at White Castle. I also get somebody to send me a box of Coca Wheats every winter since they aren't sold out in Ca.quote:
Originally posted by BobK
I'm in Florida for the Winter so no joy here. Lots of good food but no White Castles. My Dad worked two and three jobs, one full time and two part time, he loved to work, and wasn't home much and I think he lived on White Castles.
Never had a frozen slider, but have the same problem with reheated ones.(no longer can finish a Crave case)Nothing will make them as good as new, but I can get them decent by putting them - box and all - in a plastic bag, sprinkling a little water on top of the boxes, then tieing the bag shut.(i twist it then wind tape around the twist to make it air tight.) I then microwave for a couple minutes (time varies with quantity) and it re-steams them.
|
09-09-2010
( Reply#: 6071 ) |
TestPattern |
What a hoot reading this topic. It got me thinking.
Here are some more "Older Than Dirt" memories that come to mind:
* The guy with the knife sharpening cart who walked the streets and rang his bell
... (if you remember this one you are really, really old!)
* Wooden tomato baskets from the grocery store.
* Severe punishment preceded by the words "go get the razor strap."
* Old cloth flour bags.
* Going to Janc's to test TV tubes.
* Wooden bushel baskets from the fruit and vegetable stand.
* Dad's shaving brush.
* Sock hops.
* Wooden canes from the OLPH carnival.
* Squirt gun fights.
* Bicycle driven ice cream carts.
* Battle of the Bands.
* The rage for the hula-hoop and frisbee.
* Fire Department inspection of your home.
* Buying "on account" at the corner store (okay, this one was in EC near grandma's house.)
* Trying to pole vault with a clothes line pole.
* Playing marbles, for "keeps."
* Plaid stamps.
* Glass sets collected from service stations.
* The Nash Rambler automobile.
* Sledding at Kennedy Avenue and Interstate cloverleaf.
* Putting batteries in the oven to help recharge them.
* Jelly jars used for milk glasses.
* Garfield Goose tv program after school.
* Comic book stands.
* Buster Brown and his dog Tige.
* Inner tube patch kits.
* Dino the Sinclair dinosaur.
* Hay ride outings and the CYO.
* Water powered rocket set, that you had to pressurize by pumping.
* Having to go home when the street lights went on.
* Mothers going to ceramics class and all the stuff they made.
* Christmas caroling door-to-door.
* A red "radio flyer" wagon.
* The arcade target shooting gallery game at the back of Hill's ($0.10.)
* Ice skating at Hessville or Gibson Park.
* A first skate board, with steel wheels, that squared off with use.
* Penny loafers.
* Helping wax the car.
* Triangular tipped can openers.
* Hunting for worms after a rain so you could go fishing.
* Becoming old enough to get your first pocket knife.
* Pulling stickers from your pant legs.
* Spit wads on the ceiling.
* Keds shoes and PF Flyer hightops.
* Hunting for pop bottles to return for deposit (2 cents each.)
* Desk top football with that triangular-folded piece of paper.
* Glass milk bottles with paper caps or the cardboard pull caps.
* Robert Hall clothes store.
* The day mother's defrosted their freezer compartment.
* Playing "kick the can."
Hopefully, they will inspire some more memories. |
09-09-2010
( Reply#: 6072 ) |
Tom J |
Getting up from the couch and walking to the black and white TV set to turn the channel selector knob to one of the four or five TV stations that we could get. |
09-09-2010
( Reply#: 6073 ) |
BobK |
I hid my Dad's razor strap. He only used it on me and I figured that without the strap I was safe. I forgot about the wide belt that he wore.
Bob
[img]http://home.comcast.net/~rkekeis/Bob1.jpg[/img] |
09-09-2010
( Reply#: 6074 ) |
BobK |
I'd go with my uncle to Riverside Park after a heavy rain with flashlights with red cellophane over the lens. We would pick up cans full of night crawlers. When we didn't go there we would stick two metal rods into his yards a few yards apart and plug them into 120 volt socket and pick up the worms as they came to the surface.
Bob
[img]http://home.comcast.net/~rkekeis/Bob1.jpg[/img] |
09-13-2010
( Reply#: 6076 ) |
TestPattern |
As kids we could sit on the couch, but usually took possession of the floor.
We thought that parents only had kids to change the TV channel, mow grass, shovel snow and rake leaves.
Here are a few more memories:
* Grill-mounted running lights on cars.
* Dad watching the Gillette sponsored Friday night fights.
* A first transistor radio.
* Clutch Cargo and Tom Terrific.
* The "poetry" of Burma Shave signs along the roadway.
* Hand cranking a car window up or down.
* School patrol boys, then patrol girls.
* Doing a "fire drill" - running around a car at a stop sign or stop light.
* Alfred E. Neuman and Mad magazine.
* Anticipating the outcome of a "cliff hanger" serial, like Superman or Flash Gordon.
* When roadway or railroad construction work was marked at night by oil pot lamp warning lights
[IMG]http://i55.tinypic.com/ejiic4.jpg[/IMG]
... (that looked like "Acme" bombs from Road Runner cartoons.)
quote:
Originally posted by Tom J
Getting up from the couch and walking to the black and white TV set to turn the channel selector knob to one of the four or five TV stations that we could get.
|
09-13-2010
( Reply#: 6077 ) |
Tom J |
Oh, yeah, those Friday night fights with the Gillette commercials. I will never forget them. I watched those fights with my dad.
Remember Sharpie the parrot on those commercials? I loved that jingle they used in those commercials.
Oh, and I loved those Burma Shave signs you mentioned, TestPattern.
Tom |
09-13-2010
( Reply#: 6079 ) |
S C Jones |
TP, I saw one of those oil pot lamps this afternoon after reading your post. It was marked with Toledo, OH. and a bright red. If I hadn't read your post, I would never have known what it was---at an antique store for $40.00, if I remember correctly.
* When roadway or railroad construction work was marked at night by oil pot lamp warning lights
|
09-14-2010
( Reply#: 6080 ) |
Bill Bucko |
quote:
Originally posted by Tom J
... Oh, and I loved those Burma Shave signs you mentioned, TestPattern.
Tom
"Listen, Birds ..."
"These signs cost money ..."
"So perch a while ..."
"But don't get funny!"
Bill
Warren G. Harding Class of '63 |
10-30-2011
( Reply#: 7276 ) |
TestPattern |
quote:
Originally posted by Tom J
Getting up from the couch and walking to the black and white TV set to turn the channel selector knob to one of the four or five TV stations that we could get.
The first TV remotes I remember were wired with a 20 foot long cord.
Here are some other random "Older Than Dirt" memories:
* The plastic visor shading film applied with water at the top of a car's front windshield, before they started tinting the glass.
* Snowflakes pattern stencils, that you dabbed with "Window Wax" on the glass to decorate windows at Christmas.
* When leaded gas was called "Ethyl."
* When gas station attendants enjoyed joking that they "pumped Ethyl all night."
* When grocery stores boxed your purchases "recycling" old containers instead of bagging groceries.
* Drive-in theater window mounted heaters.
* Mini reel-to-reel tape recorders, (I got one for Christmas one year.)
* Kerosene camping lanterns.
* Coal chutes and coal bins in the basement.
* A Howdy Doody puppet set - now worth some good money!
* The Hamm's Bear in early TV beer ads.
* Going to the store to buy cigarettes for your father, no questions asked.
* The first time playing Pac-Man.
* The inclusive wall-mounted aluminum dispenser for wax paper, paper towel and aluminum foil.
* "Smoking" cattails.
* "Punks" that you'd buy around 4th of July.
* Highway waysides where you had to hand pump water yourself, and yes, those old outhouses as a public convenience.
* "Two-Ton Baker" advertising for Riverview.
* Snakes, Snaps and Party Poppers.
* An aluminum Christmas tree with its color wheel, and (GULP) pink ornaments!
* The first flocked Christmas trees.
* Old public telephones with a separate speaker and a hanging receiver.
* A first safety razor.
* The early webbed lawn chairs.
* Movies featuring Ma and Pa Kettle or Blondie and Dagwood.
* Parents storing their hats in the huge original hat boxes, on the top shelf of the closet.
* A Gilbert microscope or chemistry set.
* Saturday night when kids got their weekly bath.
* Vitalis hair tonic - GEEZ, they still sell that stuff!
* A slot in the back of a medicine cabinet to dispose of used safety razor blades - blades just dropped into the wall between the studs.
* Replacing a starter in an early fluorescent light.
* "Mr. Machine" and "Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots."
* When an early camera had a bellows.
* Hand waxing of a kitchen floor, followed by buffing with the old Bissel.
* Kukla, Fran and Ollie.
* TinkerToy, Lincoln Log, MiniBrik and Erector building sets. |
10-30-2011
( Reply#: 7277 ) |
wvcogs |
Let me try a couple old ones that I remember:
.. Watching Saturday night wrestling (or rasslin) on channel 9 with Gorgeous George, of course
.. Making "rubber guns" from a piece of wood, pieces of an old inner tube, a clothes pin, and a nail (Did anyone else do this?)
.. Throwing coffee grounds out the back door trying to make a fishing worm farm
.. 78 RPM records playing in a round top Wurlitzer jukebox
.. 6 oz. Coca-Cola bottles with the town name on the bottom
.. Putting a card in the window to tell the ice man how much ice you needed for the ice box, 25 or 50 pounds |
10-30-2011
( Reply#: 7278 ) |
Paddy |
* The first step in preparing a chicken dinner was buying live chickens, having the store clerk break their necks in front of you, and taking them home to pull off the feathers.
* Having the Hammond Health Department put a quarentine sign on the from door because someone had chicken pox.
* Having shacks at every railroad crossing with guards who lowered and raised the bars by hand. |
10-30-2011
( Reply#: 7279 ) |
TestPattern |
quote:
Originally posted by Paddy
" ... was buying live chickens, ..."
I grew up in Hessville. My folks would drive to a place in the then open farmlands of Highland on Kennedy Avenue, a mile or two south of Ridge Road, on the East side, as I remember. They would buy fresh eggs there. The farm also sold live poultry. Sometimes at Christmas, we would go to the farm on a Saturday to buy a live goose - dinner at the grandparent's house. On the drive to the grandparent's in the Harbor, the goose would be pecking at my brother and I in the back seat of the car. The body of the goose was wrapped in a sheet of paper with twine but his head was loose.
Once we arrived at our destination, the goose was taken to the basement, killed, the blood drained, and the feathers removed. The goose was roasted for a Sunday dinner, and the blood was used to make a soup (a Slovak traditional dish,) definitely an acquired taste. |
10-30-2011
( Reply#: 7280 ) |
Paddy |
Back then, people used everything. I think duck blood soup was called something that sounded like Chanina. At that time, butchers featured cows tongue in the cold cuts department. It fell out of favor along with duck blood soup. |
10-30-2011
( Reply#: 7281 ) |
BobK |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czernina
My mother-in-law used to make it. Last time I had any was at Warsaw Inn.
Bob
|
11-02-2011
( Reply#: 7339 ) |
tommy51 |
quote:
Originally posted by TestPattern
quote:
Originally posted by Tom J
The first TV remotes I remember were wired with a 20 foot long cord.
My uncle had an early Zenith TV with a sound-powered remote. It had five different tones. We thought it was the bees knees. When he went to buy a new one, we inherited it, but it only worked for about two years.
I still have the original Dumont TV cabinet my grandmother bought in the early Fifties. It was veneered with book-matched French crotch Walnut. My 30" Flatscreen sits on top now.
Someone mentioned baseball cards; I had a lot of them but switched over to Beatle cards, and later Civil War ones. There were Space -related cards but I forgot their name.
|
11-13-2011
( Reply#: 7410 ) |
Paddy |
Here is a real oldie. How about treadle-powered sewing machines? |
11-14-2011
( Reply#: 7411 ) |
BobK |
My father-in-law had one from when he was a shoe repairman during the depression. It was heavy duty and he would fix broken purse straps or about anything that needed a heavy duty machine. A nephew wanted it when he died five years ago. Our daughter had always wanted the mother-in-law's (Nana) wringer washer. When it came time to distribute their belongings she changed her mind so I took it. I love it, it's great for when I washing the vehicles; I use it to wring out the chamois when drying them off.
Bob
|
11-14-2011
( Reply#: 7412 ) |
tom w |
Bob and Paddy;
I too was thinking of the wringer washer when I read the above. My dad wanted to save money on soap so he saved the bar soap ends in a box. When the box was full, he mounted our old sausage maker with the hand crank on the basement table and fed the soap chunks into the grinder to make flake soap for the washing machine.
Also, my brother was monkeying around in the basement one day when mother was washing clother. Somehow he got his arm in the wringer while she was out in the back yard hanging clothes and by the time she heard his screams and got back in to release the wringer, he had a real bad burn on his arm that lasted the rest of his life. Tom W |
11-14-2011
( Reply#: 7413 ) |
Paddy |
I remember the wringer washer. When I was assigned to do the wringing, I was terrified that I would somehow get my arm pulled into it. |
11-14-2011
( Reply#: 7415 ) |
duane |
We had a maytag wringer washer. It had a red bar across the top roller that was the emergency release - it lifted the top bar up so it would quit spinning and allow some room to remove your fingers or hand.
I remember by grandmother was wringing clothes and got her hand caught. Instead of hitting the release bar, she just reversed the direction of the rollers to back her finger out. Of course, the rollers were still tightly pressed together. It pretty much pushed all the blood to the end of her fingers and her hand was out of commission for a couple of weeks. She was a tough lady and fully recovered.
My mom swore by that Maytag up until her passing 7 years ago. I offered to buy her a new washer and dryer but she swore it would set in the corner as she continued to use her trusty Maytag. She never had a dryer, but hung outside in spring/summmer/fall and in the basement in the winter.
My dad was having difficulty finding repair parts for it, until my Godmother died and she had the identical Maytag wringer washer. |
11-15-2011
( Reply#: 7416 ) |
Roger D |
After I graduated high school in Feb. '63 (MHS)I went to work at Inland. I paid my mother for my 'room and board'. She used that money to buy her first washer and dryer. When i married in '64 mom gave us her old Maytag wringer washer. We were happy to get it. The best I remember we used it until '69 when our daughter was born. |
11-16-2011
( Reply#: 7423 ) |
Jay |
duane, apparently your mother and mine were similar when it came to washing clothes. When my mom's first Maytag wringer died, my dad had to get her another Maytag wringer. Then when my dad became terminally ill and we kept him at home to care for him (by his request), I purchased her a new automatic washer and gas dryer. But she still used her trusty old Maytag wringer. In fact, for light loads, she still used a hand crank roller and washboard that mounted on our sturdy metal laundry sink in the basement. As for drying the clothes, we had a clothes line strung throughout the basement. And in the summer, we strung up a clothes line between the house and garage in the back yard.
Paddy, I remember my grandmother using a foot powered sewing machine right up until she passed away around 1980. And as for czarnina, my mother loved it. But finding it in quantity was difficult. We had to rely on a yearly hometown festival where the kitchen crew was Polish so they always would make and sell gallons of czarnina. My mom would give me large plastic containers to fill up so for about one month each year, she could have her czarnina everyday. In fact, my mom's last meal before she passed away was czarnina. |
11-16-2011
( Reply#: 7425 ) |
tom w |
We purchased the soup at the Cavalier Inn on Goslin Street but I hear that
Wally passed away so I don't know if it is still available there. Tom W |
11-16-2011
( Reply#: 7426 ) |
Paddy |
It's funny how the talk of food can bring back memories. I recall another Polish staple, kielbasa and sourkraut. The dish was present at every social event - weddings, funerals, holidays, grand openings, you name it. It is hard to find fresh kielbasa here in the heartland, and I miss that dish. |
11-16-2011
( Reply#: 7427 ) |
duane |
Fresh kielbasa (not smoked) is the only kind that my wife and teenagers like. We have been having a harder time finding it as time goes on, although the smoked stuff seems to be readily available. There used to be some places where we got it locally, but now my wife orders it and pierogis from Maine (and we live in the Midwest). They come frozen in styrofoam containers and we especially have them for Christmas. For Wigilia, the Polish Christmas Eve meatless meal, we still do the traditions, including breaking the Oplatki and wishing others health and happiness.
This year, perhaps I'll get up the nerve to actually make the Polish Borscht...not a beet-based borscht, but rather a tart, white creamy one made with (don't wretch here) fermented oatmeal. Then you add in cut up potatoes, kielbasa, and eggs. It's not exactly a heart-healthy dish!
Na zdrowia and Wesloych Swiat!
|
11-16-2011
( Reply#: 7428 ) |
S C Jones |
Duane,
Would you share the mailing address for the Maine business that has the
real, honest-to-goodness kielbasa? I have been trying to find some--bought
a smoked kielbasa recently out of desparation—(You know how you start thinking
about the taste of something you once had in abundance and now can't find.)—it
was flavored with salt, seemingly. The taste was like hot dog, not garlic or other
spices as far as I could discern.
I really would appreciate an address to order the real thing. I do not order over
the internet, though.
If that isn't possible, I'll understand. But, I may have to quit reading Sheptalk [;)]
|
11-17-2011
( Reply#: 7429 ) |
Jay |
Paddy and duane, you both brought up some good old Polish memories with those food items and traditions that you mentioned. However, the only thing I do that is Polish related is purchasing golumbki's (go-womb-keys) on occasion. For those not familiar with them, they are also called stuffed cabbage.
I prefer to get mine in quantity from deli's rather than single meals from restaurants. So when I'm back in "The Region" visiting relatives, I head out to Frank's Sasauges in Roxanna, or M.J.'s in south Hammond. And when I'm home here in Canada, I have two local deli sources within a few kilometers of each other. |
11-17-2011
( Reply#: 7430 ) |
BobK |
I understand the Maruszczak kids, who own an appliance store in Schererville, are now making the sausage. You might try emailing them. http://www.maruszczaksausage.com/
Also it looks like South Side Bantam in Hessville my have the sausage you're looking for. http://southsidebantam.tripod.com/services.htm
My wife's family makes Borscht at Easter with a broth made from the water that the sausage is boiled in with vinegar and corn starch? added. Then you put that in a bowl and add bit of the things from the blessed Easter basket. There is a list of the ingredients and their meaning. Some good some not so good, the good with the bad like life. I love it but we're usually still in FL at Easter. If it's a late Easter they will sometimes save us some.
Bob
|
11-17-2011
( Reply#: 7431 ) |
seejay2 |
SS Bantam is in Highland...Cj |
11-17-2011
( Reply#: 7432 ) |
BobK |
DUH! I guess I posted that too early.
Bob
|
11-18-2011
( Reply#: 7435 ) |
tom w |
Well, after reading the above, I am really hungry for some of my wife's neck-bone stew and a cold bottle of Okochim. Tom W |
11-18-2011
( Reply#: 7436 ) |
S C Jones |
Bob K.
Thanks for the names of places that may have homemade polish sausage--i have emailed one of them, but not gotten an answer. I'm already over it.
|
11-26-2011
( Reply#: 7492 ) |
Paddy |
Bus tokens! But that was back when there were buses. |
11-27-2011
( Reply#: 7494 ) |
BobK |
Transfer slips too.
Bob
|
11-27-2011
( Reply#: 7497 ) |
Paddy |
Remember the vacuum tubes used in radios and the first TV's? Better yet do you remember the adventures (and misadventures) in searching for replacements when a bulb burned out? Each tube had its own number and pattern of connecting pins, and tubes were constantly being being replaced by improved models. Finding the right tube was constant challenge. |
11-27-2011
( Reply#: 7498 ) |
Jim R |
I remember those vacuum tubes, every time the TV went out, I'd pull all the tubes and ride my bike to the 5&10 on Kennedy and Martha. Check each tube on the big machine and when I found the bad one, pull a new one of the correct number from the cabinet underneath and purchase it.
Harding K thru 7
Morton 8 thru 12
Class of 1972 |
11-28-2011
( Reply#: 7500 ) |
BobK |
I remember the tubes for the radios and TVs and also when I had my first real job out of HS it was with Prudential Insurance Co in Chicago. Before they got their first computer they had an IBM calculator that you walked into to check or change the tubes and the tubes were huge.
Bob
|
11-28-2011
( Reply#: 7501 ) |
seejay2 |
Lemme tell you a little something about tubes. It's a little late for this info to be of any use now, but here it is anyway. Back in the 70's I was building up a pretty good color TV repair business. As you well know, any TV guy would carry a tube checker with him. Any TV guy worth his salt knew which tubes to swap out without the need for the tube checker. The tube checker, portables and the 'dimestore dills', were nothing but a great money maker. I could run a tube check on a brand new TV and would be guaranteed that tubes would come up as "?" or "BAD"...CJ |
11-28-2011
( Reply#: 7502 ) |
Roger D |
I believe that I still have some of the old radio tubes stored somewhere. The "somewhere" is the problem! |
11-28-2011
( Reply#: 7503 ) |
seejay2 |
Those things are worth some serious bucks now to those people who need them...Cj |
