Do you remember?

[Kepy]

• when TV stations signed off at midnight with the national anthem;

• when the only telephone in the house was a big, black rotary dialer on a stand in the living room;

• when Mom used a soda pop bottle with a sprinkler cap to “steam iron†clothes;

• when most cars had two pedals on the floor, one for the clutch and one for the brakes;

• when the headlight dimmer switch was on the floor;

• the driving permit test included learning hand signals for turns and stops;

• candy cigarettes;

• juke boxes;

• butch wax;

• metal ice trays with levers to break the cubes apart;

• cameras with flashbulbs;

• cameras with film;

• S&H Green Stamps;

• wringer washing machines?

 

• doing chores by the light of a kerosene lantern;

 

• buying 5-cent bottles of  Coke from a machine;

 

[Wilson's Woodworking]

All but the last three YES!!! My grandmother’s wringer wash machine set outside by the time I came around and pop was a dime. The kerosene lanterns hung in the barn above the new light switch. They now hang in my house as a reminder of my Grandparents.

 

I remember when I was a senior in high school they put in the first computer I had ever seen. It took up a room bigger then my bathroom and ran on MS DOS. Now my cell phone is over 100X more powerful than that computer was.

 

Times sure have changed and people have gotten a whole lot lazier.

[Multifasited]

I have one few can remember ,Hey! leave that alone that's my job!! Or when hitchhiking was safe means of travel !

[Fay Prozora]

I remember all of that plus a candy bar was a nickel and a stick of gum was a penny. I also remember fizzies and Turkish taffy and drive in movies and the little speaker you used to hang on the window of the car and the whole bit. Then they all wonder why the world is so fat! We had to make up our own games when we were kids as we had toys, but mostly from thrift shops and the like. For t he most part we made up our own games and fought over the bikes. In fact, the other night I had a silly dream about a frog toy that I had when I was about 3 years old.

[marmoh]

Now that was a walk down memory lane. 

[rjR]

To some of us old dogs; we actually used all of that stuff!

 

First vehicle(tractor) I ever drove required cranking by hand-- no electric starter on it! McCormick-Deering 10-20.

 

Our "electric lights in the house were "6 volt" ran from batteries carried in and out of the house to the "Windcharger" wires hanging down in the grainery!

 

When I started making sawdust I had a "coping-saw" also a drawknife of Dad's that I "borrowed"-- without his consent!

 

I still have that drawknife; although it does show a "bit" of wear/abuse.

 

Anyway, puppies; rural NW North Dakota in the 40's was a rather backward area.

Edited March 17, 2014 by rjR

[Ron Johnson]

REMEMBER WHEN:

> Milk, bread and pastries were delived to your home by closed in van drawen by a horse. Your order left in trap door with money.

> Your weekly allowance was two bits.

> Family entertainment after dinner was gathering around the radio.

> Arriving home from school to the aroma of fresh baked bread, buns and dough boys fresh out of the wood stove oven.

> Watching your mother iron clothes with cast iron heated on wood stove.

> Paper route to help supplement weekly allowance.

> Trading comic books.

> Being able to wear your best patched clothes to Sunday School.

> Fishing with a stick.

Yes, memories of yesterday that I wouldn't trade for anything. Never had much but we were happy and appreciated what we did have.

[Bendita]

Its to funny to read all these comments about used to be or had or did I thought the same until the day I moved here to Mexico and find a lot of the stuff you folks mentioned are still very real here. Its not the inconvenience of doing with out that I've noticed the most but the enjoyment of the simplicity of life, work under the table no drivers license or insurance, cash only you can buy cigarettes by the piece here even eggs actually everything is just simplified. It seems in general people are very content here of course there is the odd one who thinks that things are a lot better on the outside but they have never tried it just saw it on TV.

[sullyscroller]

I remember going fishing as a family, drive in movies every saturday night , static straps on the back of the car. station wagons ( why were they called "station" wagons ?), hand held grass clippers, TV antenna -- i have one now rather than cable,

 

sully 

[Multifasited]

Washing clothes for a family of four took all day ,with heating the water ,drumping the rinse tubs ,fels naptha soap shaving s all clothes and sheets were stiff ,starching the sheets and shirts sprinkling the clothes with a converted soda bottle ,flat irons ,everything hung out winter and summer ,dirt roads ruined many a wash from the dust in the summer.Weekend travel was good for at least one flat tire most times two ,patching tubes along side the road in the country ,nearest gas station ten miles ,bumper jacks (the widow maker) and tire tools required ,cars w/ tar paper roofs ,after a while we kids would get the holest tube to make rubber guns out of   after trip to western auto to get a new one and brushes for starter and generator .full service gas stations hand cranked bulk oil and gas in remote areas . all windows open with wind vents ,was summer A/C .You could not speed over 45 and stay on the roads 25-30 was cruising !Historic fact 1957 only 30% of the roads in Georgia were paved ,Yea the kid's today missed a lot !! 

Edited March 17, 2014 by Multifasited

[amazingkevin]

soda machines with cold water for drinking on the side of the machine.4 wheeled roller skatesCoaster wagons,Sling shots Juju bee's,Black jack gum,Drive in burger stands,35 cent movie-houses,Rubber tired trolley cars connected to wires above,Rope swings ,Drawing on sidewalks with chalk,A&W stands,Balloon tired bicycles,baseball cards with gum in it,Cracker jack,Shooting marbles at school during recess  Walking to school,Octagon t.v. screens,Crystal radio sets,Toy electric trains with 4 sets of rails,Erector sets,Lincoln logs,Slinky's,Everybody sat down for a meal together,Kazoo's,Making passing gas sounds with your hand under your arm pit,Looking at the moon thru a empty cardboard tube,Pf flyer tennis shoes,Poll parrot shoes,Iron on pacthes for your worn out pants knees,Ball and jacks game,Oh my !

[Dan]

Kick the can, freeze tag, and wiffleball, catching lightning bugs, riding bikes after a rain, trading baseball cards, dressing up for church, cherry bombs and M80's, sarsaparilla.

[Fay Prozora]

And using clothes pins to pin playing cards to the spokes on the wheels of the bike to make that motor sound when riding it. I also remember guess what boxes. Those had about a half dozen pieces of saltwater taffy and a prize in the box and a puzzle or game on the back of the box. I do remember milk deliveries and such too. Didn't we have a ball in those days? Throwing cow pie at each other on the farm just for fun. Oh that was so much fun. My brother put a firework on a pile of cow pie one day and lit it and my younger sister went up to it and it blew up in her face. Yesss those were the good ole days.... Fay

[amazingkevin]

Sure fells good to reminisce the days long gone!Thanks all for the memories !  

[rjR]

BUT--NONE of us want them back!

 

We would just like to have known then what little we actually know NOW!

 

I especially do NOT want to be in that hayfield racking at 110+ degrees; as I was a few times on open tractors. OR even worse fixing fence that had to get done as the pasture was out of use until the fence was repaired in the rain!

 

Or milking very unclean cows in the spring/fall when the rain and other conditions had made mud the "Good Part"!

[Multifasited]

Every  generation going back to the beginning of time ,I am sure had the good old days ,and the next ,had it better in many ways ,how many generations in two thousand years ,I now sure ,It's still a work in progress ,and I'm sure it will continue to be till the end .So enjoy what you can ,remember the good things ,but don't completely forget the bad ,they are still with us ,different names ,same game ,We have gone from some one stealing chicken's to some one stealing Air liners ,and some of your basic freedoms All things considered ,It's been a hell of a ride ,I would not have wanted to miss it ,at least most of it !

[Fay Prozora]

One more thing I remember is when the dr. made house calls. Can't forget that. Sis and I hid under the bed in our parent's room because we knew we would get a shot and those hurt  back then. Piece of cake now a days.  Good night   Fay

[wombatie]

Hey Kepy I remember all of them except one and I don't know what it is.   Butch wax.

 

Marg

[Nick@tinkers-cove]

Here's a bit of a curve-ball...I grew up in the late 70's / early 80's and my US memories are Ritchie Rich comics, Sea Monkies, Charlie Brown & Snoopy, and of course Sesame Street. (It's nice to think of the hot street summers where all the kids of all races danced around in the fire hydrants and got on together)

[Kepy]

Hey Marg, butch wax was used to keep you flat top haircut straight.

 

I also forgot going to the general store in the evening to visit with all the neighbors and a treat.  If you only had a nickel, you could get a double dip ice cream cone but if you had a dime, you could have an RC cola with a bag of peanuts.  Those peanuts were surely good when put in the cola.

[ike]

I remember installing a FM converter to the car so we could hear FM on the AM radio. I remember getting picked up for drinking (under Age) and the police followed me home so I would go home and be safe. I remember collecting pop bottles for the 2 cent deposit Then buying riffle shells. Dad signed a note that I could buy riffle and Shot gun shells at the age of 15.

[Fay Prozora]

Rem,ember those big fat radio tubes??? I remember having ot take them to the store to test them on that machine they had. You plug it in and if it lights up then it was good. If not it was a bad tube and had to be replaced. There holes for different sized tubes. Bus tokens was another thing I remember too.   Enjoy the trip down memory lane...  Fay