The Old Folks Home

[chickadoodles]

when mrs oz gets back from Bali, I will requst she snag some if she can

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Oh man chicken canoe....we must have grown up in the same family!!! Except, we were 3 girls, no boys.


1. Candy cigarettes- in fake cig boxes.
I didn't like the candy cigarettes but they had them at the penny candy confectionary my sister and I would stop at on our way walking to the show on Saturday where they played the newsreels before the movie.
2. Coffee shops-actually existed and were like diner-ettes. Serving coffee, breakfast goods and most diner grill foods, many by the bus stops, no music.
We only saw those when we traveled. We never went out when we were at home.
3. Cigarette vending machines on every corner...anybody could purchase them.

4. Don't remember milk deliveries at homes in the 60's Kansas City Mo.
Our milk was delivered to our back door in the 50s in North St. Louis
In Germany, they delivered beer, soft drinks and bread. The beer delivery came from the nearest brewery about 15 miles up river. No one locked their doors so the guy would come all the way into our top floor apartment, drop off the beer and pick up emptys. You could leave money in the empty case if you weren't going to be home or they would just wait till next week to get paid. They still left the beer since that was more important than the money.
Quite the honor system.
I remember if you didn't leave the money in the empty milk bottle they wouldn't leave more milk till the last was paid for.
My uncle bought a horse once. The owner didn't tell him it had been pulling a milk delivery wagon its whole life. He couldn't figure out why the horse would gallop to the front of a house and come to a dead stop. After much prodding it would take off again only to stop at the next house. Only after he asked the guy that sold it to him did he understand why.

5. Party lines- and telephone numbers with alphabet prefixes indicating the neighborhood. Ours was "WE1-9013. Everyone on the block was on the party line.
Ours was EV (evergreen) my sister and I would listen in on neighbors conversations.
My grandparents had a fishing lodge and farm on the Gasconade River and they still had one of those crank phones that you spoke into and held the earpiece and the switchboard operator would connect your call.

6. Only went to 2 movies in my childhood. King Kong and Sound of Music. That was it.
One of my older sisters would walk with me up to the local theater. The Rio Show on Riverview Blvd. It was sandwiched between two other buildings. They tore it down and the vacant lot is still there. The lot can't be more than 50 ft. wide and about 100 ft. deep.
7. Neighborhood schools. Elementary usually K-6. Middle 7-8. HS 9-12. We walked to school. NO buses back then. I think my dad drove my oldest sister to HS, then he went off to work. I think.
I lived about 4 miles from school and I took a public bus in the morning and walked home in the afternoon.
8. TV-consisted of black and white, one set, 3.5 channels, antenna. On at 6am, off at midnight. We had the 3 local stations and one PBS, which signal was spotty most times.
We had ABC, CBS and NBC. I would wake up in the morning and lay in front of the TV watching the test pattern waiting on the national anthem, the farm show and then cartoons as well as "It's Howdy Doody time, it's Howdy Doody time"
9. Did have Howdy Doody...very often. We didn't get alot of shows on our stations back then. Kansas City was kind of boonie-ville back in the 60's.
My favorite cartoon was Tom Teriffic and Mighty Manfred his wonder dog.
10. LP records-mom and dad had the turntable and their collection of LP33 and 45's. Remember the good 'ol days? 50's Christmas music, funky christmas tree, Burl Ives, etc....
Our turntable was in a cabinet with the B&W TV along with a tube radio. I think that stuff was more about the furniture than the electronics. Then we got the HI FI.
We also had an old Poulsen telegraphone wire recorder. It just recorded on thin strands of wire. We had grandparents' and great grandparents' singing on them.
11. We didn't have a hi-fi.
Our Hi-Fi had a big cream colored wood cabinet. I remember my parents making a big deal out of the fact that we had one.

12. Metal ice cube trays, glass tea pitcher with brewed tea, sugar bowl with real sugar granules, sugar cubes with tiny icing picture thingy's on them.

13. The pop bottle sprinkle thing on mamas ironing board. Usually a Coke Bottle. I got to keep her board, and I think I have the sprinkle top somewheres.
I ran across the sprinkle top just a few weeks ago. My aunt used a real iron that she kept on the wood stove.
14. Grandmas antique treadle Singer sewing machine...which she used all the time and I learned to sew on.
I'd have to fix it when it broke. We also had a treadle grinding wheel.
15. Did have Studebakers..not sure what dad drove. Mom didn't drive, grandmas didn't drive. The ladies used taxis, buses, walked, or stayed home. Mom did ironing jobs, babysitting jobs, elder care jobs, house cleaning jobs.
Never had a Studebaker but I remember you couldn't tell if they were coming or going. My first car was a 1950 Dodge 2 seater, Wayfarer Sportabout convertible with a flat 6 engine and fluid drive automatic stick shift.
16. The old wringer tub in the basement. I remember it, because when mom got the new fangled automatic washing machine, I was about 4 or 5 I think. I remember seeing mom and grandma use the wringer one, and it's wooden ringer on the top. It was drained into the basement drain.
I remember my sister doing laundry and getting her arm stuck in the wringer.
17. Fast food-wasn't called fast food back then. Dad liked to go to Zestos Ice Cream once in a while. Mom loved Woolworths luncheonette, and Dad would take us to this place upthe road called "Sandy's" I think. A pic of a Scottish girl dancing was on their sign. But that was a very rare occasion.
We NEVER went out to eat. I was driving before I had a pizza for the first time.
Woolworths, S.S. Kresgees and the Ben Franklin 5&10.
18. Neighborhood drug store- Katz and many others. One could go inside and shop for hours. All the neat stuff inside. I miss those places.
We had a Katz too.

Am I old yet?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

My daughter's going to the Chiang Mai flower festival this weekend.
http://chiangmaibest.com/chiang-mai-flower-festival/
http://www.tatnews.org/chiang-mai-flower-festival-2014/

She also got blessed by a Buddhist Monk today.

 

[Arielle]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Arielle

Gardening question---

Looking for a reputable source to find the last frost dates for my region. In the past years the zone has changed according to some sites, but not others. WOuld like to use a reliable source. Suggestions??

also-- running into data for 32 , 28 and 24 degrees??? huh?

The hardiness zone maps are a suggestion based on historical data of the last killing frost but cannot predict future events. They're merely intended to be a guide for timing of starting seeds indoors and to watch for fruit flowering.
Some suggest our last killing frost for my area is April 7 others say it is the 15th. Most of the last 10 years or so, it has been early to mid March. If I had treated those guides as gospel, I would have missed planting early enough a lot of the time. I just know that a frost is possible in the middle of April but probably won't happen so I go by long range forecasts, plant early, yet still have cloches and row covers ready.

Since this is the Old Folks Home, I thought I'd share what a friend sent me this morning.

I remember each one of these.

Older than dirt.
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.
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 10. 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: 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.
How many do you remember?
Head lights dimmer switches on the floor.
Ignition switches on the dashboard.
Pant leg clips for bicycles without chain guards.
Soldering irons you heat on a gas burner.
Using hand signals for cars without turn signals.
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.

I've seen these lists before. Wouldn't you know it, got a 15.

ROFL

I am older than I thought!!!!!!!

I actually I'm laughing-- thanks for the memories! So many forgotten items.
I"m at 10, if I count my grandma's ringer washer. SHe would n't let our fingers near the two roller bars, and had it set up at the utlity sink in her basement, then hung up all the wet clothes on clothes lines right there in the basement!! She died about 1969 . . . still miss her.

Howdy dudy were reruns.

Still have the metal trays but without the levers-- as chick feeders!

Neighbor had the party line.

OMG-- what a rush-- the announcement of the end of another day of TV and only 3 stations!! THen the snow and endless buzzzzzzzzzz.

Home delivery ig glass milk bottles--- that ended about 1970. BUt now I can pick up or have delivered from a local small dairy!

I actually tell my kids about the candy cigaretts to my kids now to help them understand how "cool" cigarettes seem . . . . . yup, I'm an older mom, old enough to be a grandmother!

I may be too old to tell my age, but I"m not too old to run all the way to the bus stop this morning thru the snow!!

THanks for the laugh!!!!!!!!

 

[Arielle]

Oh and we still have a record player and all the records that we purchased as late teens and early 20's. None since. THe built in radio still works well!!

 

[ronott1]

Gardening question---

Looking for a reputable source to find the last frost dates for my region. In the past years the zone has changed according to some sites, but not others. WOuld like to use a reliable source. Suggestions??

also-- running into data for 32 , 28 and 24 degrees??? huh?

@Hangtown Farms might know; he manages a Nursery.

Hopefully he will drop in here and let us know.

 

[IttyBiddyRedHen]

I had a typo in my post. We did NOT have Howdy Doody (sp) I never even saw the show till I was older and married, in the 80's.

 

[ChooksChick]

Okay, it may seem like I only come to complain about the weather, but

GADS, IT'S COLD OUT THERE!!!!!
We got 14.1" of snow out of this lovely little thing and it's currently -10 with a -22 wind chill. I'm DONE. (grabs snow shovel in a huff and stomps off)

 

[chickadoodles]

I am getting more excited! I put 7 eggs in two bators and 2 were not fertile they were still clear after two weeks in the bator so I threw them out. And two of the three in one bator hatched and lived one did not hatch and did not make it. Not sure why. My other two were suppose to hatch today and last night one hatched and the other one just hatched! My hatching is getting better!
100* dry for 18 days then 99* and 70% humidity.

 

[getaclue]

Now THAT was a walk down memory lane. I remember all of them except Howdy Doody. On another note, my 2 year old grandson loves scrambled eggs for breakfast. My daughter got this bug that's going around, and was too sick to come over, so she ran out of my fresh eggs. Her husband bought eggs at the grocery store. She scrambled him some eggs and served them. He took a bite, scrunched up his face, and said "yuck, that's not grandma eggs." "I want grandma eggs." His Aunt came over, and got some eggs for him. He knows the difference, and you can't pass off those nasty imposter eggs to him. LOL!