Older than dirt!

i remember the vegetable man use to come once a week in his truck. the meat market that only sold meat, it had sawdust on the floor. the soda fountain. they would make coke right before your eyes!! the best ice cream ever. phones came in one color only and weighed about 5 lb. we said a pray every morning in school and saluted the flag. i could run faster and jump higher. and the only fast food we ever had was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. An empty box was recycled into a fort or jail or a race car. police and soldiers were people we admired and wanted to be like. we said please, thank you and excuse me. you held a door for a woman and gave your seat up on the trolley for a lady or the elderly. i could go on and on....Sigh....Heavy Sigh..I miss those days

 

we thought nothing of carrying lumber miles into the woods to build our "forts".Like ants...best one was where we dug a large fairly shallow hole just off a trail, covered it with plywood then brush; leaving an open square hole.
it was invisible... to passers by "tunnel rats r us"...had a "fire place hole"in one wall that would just fill the place up with acrid burning newspaperlog smoke( never did figure out a working flue.)

 

8-tracks with the all important paper book of matches wedged in the corner in that just perfect way to make it track correctly. Lawn darts/slip and slides and bb gun fights for crying out loud!"Someone could lose an eye".. but we survived none the worse for wear,

 

First test I ever got a hundred on

 

With the sharp point on the end

Oh my how did we ever survive?

 

OK, lets see whos REALLY older than dirt. Of those of us that remember the LPs and 45 rpms, how many remember the thick records and haveing to crank the Victrola (if you were luckey and got the best)? How about haveing to fill the washing machine with water you heated then fill the gas tank and kick start the Matag? Bathing in the kitchen and hopeing to be early in the line up while the water in the tub was still clean and hot then haveing to empty and put away the tub after done? Johnny Poppers (2 cylinder John Deer tractors)? The choice between cold trips to the outhouse in the middle of the night and haveing to empty and clean 'the pot' in the morning? The fancy pots that fit into a hole in a chair that sat in the corner? Handpumping water? The bucket of drinking water on the kitchen table with the dipper in it?

I can CLAIM not to qualify for most of the stuf since it wasnt every day stuff when I was growing up but have personaly used/experienced about 14 on the list and as a matter of fact even have the wringer washer on the pourch and when I do the laundry frequently use it. Not a kick start or matag unfortunately but still works well with less water.










BTW I have at least 'been exposed' to all the stuff listed here as well, as in have at least spent time at relatives or some such where that was the norm.

 

Nope, however I have some albums from my folks, they were from their Victrola, they are about an inch thick and only cut on one side

 

A friend of the family had 2 Victrolas and SEVERAL boxes of the albums. I used to love listening to them.

 

As a kid I have cranked the RCA but it was left over from days before me. I do remember putting the Ice card in the window for the Ice man to see how big a block of ice we needed for the icebox.

 

Older than dirt? I thought this was a story about Ghrit.

 

And we have better insurance....

 

I never had to do it but I remember dad doing it, along with the coal man delivering bags of coal and me having to put the chute in the window for him.

Can't remember them being that thick, but I do remember large platters that played at 78 rpm's

Bender I remember the ice man vividly. We used to get the chips for free. What a treat.

Amen brother....

AE

 

I can remember my grandpa coming home ith two buckets of draft beer on a stick balanced across his shoulders. The Kenedy assasination, nickle cracker jacks with a real tin whistle prize instead of a stupid paper tattoo, nickle cokes with a bag of Tom's peanuts, licorice barrels, schwinns biclcles, sears and robucks Allstate brand motor cycles, complete fishing kits (line bobber, sinker, and hook) that wound up on a flat piece of notched wood (you cut you own pole with the knife you always had in you pocket), my first .22 was when I was four but Dad kept the bolt in his glove box until Friday afternoons when he always brought home two boxes of shorts that we would shoot at tin cans with bad attitudes in the gulley behind the house that also served as the maze through the jungle to our fort, soapbox derby, getting your ass whipped for shooting your brother with a slingshot to see if it hurt (it did), dirt clod fights, king of the hill, red rover, pop the whip, kick the can, spin the bottle, lightning-bug jars, toad ranches, firecracker experiments involving everything from frogs to baby-food jars, shooting snakes, frog gigging, coon hunts, snipe hunts, dog-pile, eenie meanie minee moe...monarch caterpillers, pet snakes, baby raccoons and squirrels, having a pony or a horse, selling the boxer puppies to buy a new bicycle, mowing lawns and shoveling snow for money to go to the skating rink or slot-car track, sneaking into the pool hall, touching a breast through her sweater, stealing watermelons or peaches, picking strawberries on the halfs, shelling purple-hulls, picking walnuts, squirrel hunting season opening day, saving to buy a box of shot-shells for dove season, new school clothes, your good pants, shining Dad's combat boots and wondering when I would have my own, the deer rifle, gin rummy, trot-line fishing, cooking whiskey, building a shed or a box-kite, flying a kite and keeping extra balls of string to keep adding to it until it went out of sight, fast-ball, dodge ball, mumble the peg, grape-vine swings, riding trees down, the cave, those damned Murphys, switches and ashes, catalpha worms, camping in the back yard, camping in the woods, hiking, my first cup of coffee,
king of the hill, snowball fights, igloos and snow forts, saying the blessing, kneeling beside your bed in prayer, good night kisses, my new best friend, my old best friend, cousins, christmas morning....I am sitting here alone in the Bahamas and almost made the mistake of feeling like I had nothing to celebrate for Thanks Giving...God please forgive me for all the many blessing I had nearly forgotten, Amen

 

God please forgime for all the many blessing I had nearly forgotten, Amen

There ya go.

 

"Run faster and jump higher"::
black "pf flyers"and you got that plastic space capsule shaped whistle with every pair.( we just called them "sneaks", not cross trainers; running shoes or "court shoes").

 

I'm 42 and scored a 17! I might not be older than dirt but we went to the same high school.
Things have changed and I'm sure every generation has said that and every generation that follows will also. But I do remember when our sports heroes where approachable and had morals. My Mom would tell me stories about the baseball players that would go to Cuba for Spring training and how they all happily signed her autograph book, not once asking for money in return.
I miss sitting down at the dining room table and having supper as we discuss our day. I miss watching Hee Haw and The Wonderful World of Disney with the whole family. I miss riding my bike, not for exercise but because it gave me freedom. I miss getting a letter in the mail from a friend. I miss my 20/20 vision, my hair and my 32 inch waist. Mostly I miss not whining about my age!