Here I am

The good ol' days

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Subject: In the Old Days





"Hey Dad," one of my kids 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. "Grandma Stewart cooked every day and when Grandpa Stewart 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 in 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:



My parents never owned their own house, wore Levis, set foot on a golf course, traveled out of the country or had a credit card. In their later years they had something called a revolving charge card. The card was good only at Sears Roebuck. Or maybe it was Sears AND Roebuck. Either way, there is no Roebuck anymore.

Maybe he died.



My parents never drove me to soccer practice. This was mostly because we never had heard of soccer. But also because we didn't have a car.



We didn't have a television in our house until I was 11, but my grandparents had one before that. It was, of course, black and white, but they bought a piece of colored plastic to cover the screen. The top third was blue, like the sky, and the bottom third was green, like grass. The middle third was red. It was perfect

for programs that had scenes of fire trucks riding across someone's lawn on a sunny day.



I was 13 before I tasted my first pizza. It was a Luigi's Pizza on the west side of Cleveland and my friend, Ronnie, took me there to try what he said was "pizza pie. " When I bit into it, I burned the roof of my mouth and the cheese slid off, swung down,

plastered itself against my chin and burned that, too. It's still the best pizza I ever had.



We didn't have a car until I was 15. Before that, theonly car in our family was my grandfather's Plymouth. He called it a "machine. "



I never had a telephone in my room. The only phone in the house was in the living room and it 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. I delivered the Cleveland "News" six days a week. It cost 7 cents a paper, of which I got to keep 2 cents. On Saturday I had to collect the 42 cents from my customers. My favorite customers were the ones who gave me 50 cents and told me to keep the change. My least favorite customers were the ones who seemed to never be home on collection day.



Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in the movies. Touching someone else's tongue with yours was called French kissing and they didn't do that in movies. I don't know what they did in French movies. French movies were dirty and we weren't allowed to see them.



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 ain't what it used to be, is it?
 
Scary........

Whats scary is that we have two or three generations now that know nothing about cooking! If they couldn't open a can, run a microwave, or drive through, there wouldn't be a meal... ... .....



Just imagine giving them a pig, flour and eggs and asking them for Pork Noodles?
 
How many of you...

used to wear "darned" socks. I remember, once we got a TV, my mother usually had a light bulb and numerous socks to repair while we watched.
 
oh man i am a youngin' [still ain't 21. . ]. i grew up on gijoe and transformers on our color rca tv. then it was alf [i still watch that though now that family channel shows] there was also the original star trek series. , then the next generation, and the other two and now the new series. [i am a trekkie i think ;)] i remember when we got our first vcr. it lasted like 12 years. now i have become the electronic's nut so i have all kinds of junk in the basement. HD tv and dvd and surround sound and other stuff. i wish it were all as simple as it was when i was a kid... it's bad when you have 6 remotes for one room... :)
 
956,

I still remember when we got our first TV in 56 or 57. Big ole thing in a wood cabinet. Remember when the first McDonald's came to town. Never got to go to it until my friends parents took their son and me for the first time when I was almost 17(in 1969). Mom quit school during the depression to help feed the family. If I didn't like my dinner, she would say "either you eat it now or eat it in the morning", and she wasn't kidding! Food wasn't wasted. Most kids don't believe you when you tell them these things.

WD
 
I'm 38, and my parents didnt have a color TV until I left the house. Guess that was cause for celebration. About 1983 or so.

It didnt have a remote!!

When I met my wife, she loved coming to my house for dinner. Every meal was a sitdown affair. She was totally blown away that my mom fixed a complete meal for EVERY meal.

When I was growing up it was special to go to Mc Donalds, or to have pizza for dinner.

Eric
 
Kind of a little off topic,



My mom has been trying (and I mean trying) to teach me to cook. :rolleyes: She told me she's not going to do it forever and that I need to learn to do it for myself. :{ This cooking thing isn't easy. :( I did make some chicken and wild rice yesterday and it wasn't to bad, even had some home canned grean beens with it. :) Tomorrow I'm trying pottroast with taters and carrots. ;)



That's one, tell them about canned foods or fresh made jam, or froozen corn. Yum,yum:D For that matter tell them about having a garden to get fresh veggies out of. Nothin better than fresh veggies that you grew your self. :)



Ha, I'm still a youngin and I remember all that stuff. :D



Darrell
 
Polio shots? The invention of the transistor? Sonic booms? Prop driven airliners? Hush puppies? Brill cream? Spankings in class?
 
Wow, a subject I can get into!

I graduated from high school the first week of june in 1953, and left for the Navy two weeks later.

When I got out, my folks had acquired a telephone a TV------AND indoor bathroom!!!!!!!!none of which were in the house when I left.

I ate in a resturant for the first time after I was in high school and could pay on my own. Still remember that trip to the "Highway Cafe" in our little town in the Yakima Valley in Washington, I could hardly eat for looking around; all these strangers eating at adjacent tables, a strange feeling. There was no such thing (at least around there) as "fast food"-----of course deer were pretty fast before you converted them to food-----that was basically the only red meat that ever showed up around our house.



I try to tell my grandkids about the differences between now and when I was growing up and they look at my like I have gone "round the bend" and maybe they should dial 911. The idea of life without all sorts of electronic gadgets, TV, computers etc, and nothing to worry about but what sort of recreation or play to be involved in is beyound their immagination.



My brothers and sisters and I just accepted that by the time you were 12 or 14 years old you had some sort of part time job, and that a job was just part of high school. I worked in a grocery store 4 days a week from 3 pm till 9 pm,(a job was a accepted reason to skip last period if it was study hall, and many of us arranged it that way so we could get to work), and most Saturdays and Sundays from 9 am till either 6 pm or 9 pm alternating. It allways worked out to 40 hours or more each week. One half of my earnings went to assist with family expenses. and it never occurred to me that it was unusual or unreasonable.

Ah well, enough of that, but inspite of it sounding like difficult times, I allways thought I was having a great time.

While some of the more affluent kids thought military basic training was tough, I felt like it was a lark and gained 15 pounds before I finished basic. It was like one big game, and there was lots of food.



Vaughn
 
Reading these posts has been e real trip down memory lane for me. I remember everything the older set has brought up. Here's a few things to add to the list;



Wash boards.

Ice box ( instead of that new invention, the refrigerator ).

Shoveling coal for the furnace ( before we had oil deliveries ).

The horse drawn grinder wagons ( to sharpen knives and such ).

The old hand water pump in the back yard.
 
Now

Now we are cooking. All my wifes boys (five) can cook. I can ( but don't like the wife to know about it ) . The boys wives (all but one) on the other hand are pretty worthless in the kitchen. I do enjoy cooking, but find if I don't stay organized, the mess is unbearable. I am a good breakfast chef and enjoy seeing peoples faces when I take over the kitchen, the grandkids (who can hardly sit down for a whole meal) have a cow.



Everybody is in too big of a hurry (including myself) the best times of your life are sitting down with family... ... .....



I have two grandsons who think the world owes them a living. They won't go to work unless it pays over $10. 00 an hour. I have been trying to convince them that the Military is the place to be. But, the Mommys have their little boys under their wings (however misguided) and think they will be just fine, just a phase.



I have a grand-daughter (inlaw) that is knocked up at 18 and her boyfriend can't find a job, mainly because he sits on his a$$ all day and watchs soaps, plays video games, and drinks Daddys beer. Everytime I see the kid I want to grab him up by the throat and rid the world of one more parasite!



I started working at 12 and have worked ever since. I dropped out of highschool at 16 and went to work fulltime as a plumbers aprentice. Ended up in the military at seventeen, got out at 20 and got my GED. The longest I have ever been without a job is 60 days! I have had some crappy jobs, but a paycheck is a paycheck. I drew one weeks unemployment in my lifetime! I have and would again work for minimum wage if needed. I cannot understand for the life of me how people can sit on their duffs and let someone else support them.



Sorry guys, I didn't mean to rant. But it is a sore spot right now. Well, I gotta get ready for work... ... .....
 
Back when

Remember the washing machines with the gasoline motor and kick starter? A big treat in the summer time was going to town and getting a big block of ice, wrapping it in blankets to keep from melting so fast and having iced tea to drink, also making ice cream. Our first refrigerator was kerosene powered as was the cook stove after the wood burner went out. Burned wood or coal to heat in the winter. Farmed with mules till we got the first Farmall in 1940. Only had battery powered radio for entertainment and were not allowed to turn it on unless parents were present to conserve the battery. Kerosene lights until 1943, never had indoor plumbing while I was home. Wouldn't trade my upbringing for anything. bg
 
Then there was the Helms bakery trucks, the guy would blow a whistle and we would get those yummy eclairs!



There was a little guy driving around in a three wheel Cushman with a tiny "shop" in the back and he would sharpen knives and scissors!



Charlie the gardner would bring us those cast iron Briggs and Stratton engines and we built a go cart outta plywood.



There is a magazine out there called "Reminesse" (sp) that has photos of yesteryear... . man get me a time machine!



Mike
 
I'm 38 and was talking someone the other day about how sad it is that all of the old time recipes are slowly disappearing ... ... alot of respies my grandmother knows are now lost forever, becasue they were in her head, and god bless her she can't think that clearly now.....



noone and I mean know one has ever been able to top her cooking, her pork roast, homemade biscuits and gravy, etc. etc. .



Its really sad to see how things have changed do drastically in just 20 or so years since technoloy has grown,,,,,,I often wonder how bad it is that now so many kids and parents stay cooped up inside the house (me included) watching tv, playing games, surfing the inet, instead of stepping outside to visit with their nieghbors or walking down to the corner store for an ice cream... its truely sad that stuff has goneto the weigh side.....



It would be neat to see someone develop a neighborhood that was designed like 30-40 years ago, where technology wasn't allowed, just to see how people interacted,,,,,they would have to talk and be creative to find things to keep them busy, like board games, block parties, etc.



kerryp
 
Good thread '956Wheel



Grandma used to say "Doc... Doc... Well and able, take your elbows off the table"



I remember drive-in-movies that I wasn't allowed to attend. When I got a little older I snuck out to see Valley of the Dolls. Deep Throat would have been better.



We didn't have a TV until I traded an old amplifier for a non-working TV - That was when I was 15. We did get to go to the neighbors to watch Walt Disney though.



Grandma cooked with suet and Mom cooked with lard. My favorite dessert was Suet Pudding.



We shook the milk before drinking it unless you wanted cream on your berries.



Grandma made lye soap using ashes from her cookstove and suet from her cows.



I was in my teens by the time the first pizza place showed up in my area. We had to drive twenty minutes to get there.



McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts came to being at about the same time as the pizza place. We always had a hard time deciding whether we would drive 20 minutes to get a pizza or 30 minutes to get hamburgers or donuts.



We had a full curb service A&W though, and we went there ever Wednesday night after prayer meeting, in the summer.



Fourth of July fireworks were the highlight of the year.



Many evenings were spend standing out by the mailbox gazing at fireflies and stars and talking to neighbors.



Since there was no TV - We played doctor, army and cowboys and Indians. We road bicycles at breakneck speeds through trails in the woods. We played in sand piles not in sand boxes.



Swimming was done at a lake that we drove a long ways to get to, unless we snuck out and did some skinny dipping in the creek, jumping off of the rail trestles, which we were forbidden to do.



Doc
 
I remember all those things too, as a kid growing up on a farm in the middle of nowhere. Good ol days? No I don't think so, long hard days with very little pay, go home to do more work before bedtime, get up and start all over again the next day. Hardly wait for Saturday to come around so you could go into town and sometimes if you had an extra quarter see a movie show.

Good ol days, heck that was yesterday, it seems.

Would you trade places, if you could go back would you?

Not me, not in a million years.

The good ol days will allways be just that, a memory of days gone by. :(
 
Good ole days.

Back in the early '50s my folks had a TV with remote... . but we

grew up and moved away from home. If you lived in the city

your mailing address had a zone number... ... what's a zip code?

Our phone number was alpha/numeric... 15F12, it was a party line

and our ring was one long and two short rings..... we didn't need

an answering machine, if we weren't home one of our neighbors

would answer the phone and let the caller know we weren't home

I spent 2nd and 3rd grade in the same two room school house

that had only recently been upgraded to indoor plumbing. Things

seemed a lot simpler then.
 
I still put the phone to my ear, before dialing, to make sure someone else isn't on the line. Old habits.....
 
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