remember when...

[bigv]

-Playing marbles

- snowmobile suits

-came home when the street lights came on

-couldn't hunt geese after noon.

-Ben Franklin general store

-when a real good lab pup, best of breedings cost $200.

 

[Kurtr]

and one goose was the limit and it was a big deal when you got that one

 

[wfginsptr]

This was an ice auger

 

[Browneye]

As a youngster when we made homemade ice cream at thanksgiving or Christmas. Also grew up with a coal stove in the house so a lot of times woke up in the morning cold till we made a morning fire or it burning so hot you had to crack the windows in the dead of winter to keep from overheating.

 

[LBrandt]

Bid ass wood burning stove in the kitchen. Mom could bake 8 loafs of bread at a time or two Big turkeys. Many a frost bite calf or litter of pigs got warmed up in a washtub on the open oven door. You did what you had to back then.

 

[raider]

i remember waking up to the sounds of bottle calves and lambs in the kitchen...

powdered milk...

going to town every 2 weeks for groceries and to do laundry at the laundromat - those wheeled carts made great bumper cars...

grandpa and grandma only using the outhouse in the dead of winter, even in a modern home...

cancer was a death sentence...

 

[tikkalover]

When all the kids in the neighborhood would get together for a baseball game in a vacant lot and play until it got dark and then go play a massive game of hide and seek.

JayKay, when I was 18, one hot summers day my dad was working in the yard and said "man a cold beer would taste good" but he was out. I told him I could go buy him some, he just looked at me and laughed. I got in the pickup and drove the 2 blocks to Kellies Bottle Shop and came back with a case, I can still see dad as I got out of the pickup with his case of beer with his bottom jaw on the ground.

 

[Davey Crockett]

Haha Laundromat , Being the youngest wasn't all peaches and cream. When I was little I got in a big cloths dryer once on a dare and they put in a dime and they left the door open and used a pen to start it. Only took me about two turns to lose my brace and start tumbling. ouch.

 

[db-2]

Really have enjoy the stories. Probably as much as the one who have told them. Some were part of my life but some a bit before me and some after. I would of thought at 72 i was one of the oldest on here but guess not.
Brings back some solid memories of when life seem to be easier and simpler.
And then we had this butthead from Russian who was going to bury us in his life time. Never happen but the folks would talk about it and worry.

My kids have never caught a gopher with twine, cut the tail off, let it go and then collect the bounty, nor have they shine any rabbits as there is not any.
My sisters can tell about cranking the separator by hand but for me it was electric. Bitch to take apart and clean all the parts.
My kids are getting in their late 30 to 40. Once in a while they have mention some good memories as i hope it would be. would be interesting to know what they would say 30 years from now and compare it to someone who would write, tape or whatever about yesterday. Good start on here.
Wish my grandparents had wrote some down when they came from the old country.
My memory was getting a TV, REA and not 32 volt and my first transistor radio ($75, still have) without tubes while theirs would be getting some electronic whatever.
Still have my record player with the handle for the power (crank) and this weekend maybe we can play some Red Ryder records with the grand kids on it.
And just maybe we can all hold hands with one holding the sparkplug on the gas motor while the other cranks the crank on what I assume was oil cool with the big flywheel out in the open gas motor that ran the pump jack. One of the dumbest things I feel my brother felt we should do every so often. But then every so often we did it as he was the oldest. He said it made it grow with each jolt (there's more to that story). db

 

[Davey Crockett]

Good stuff db You have me by 10 years but I think we were 10 years behind times on this side of the mountain and we had the same fun. I remember when they came and took the crank telephone out and put in the rotary dial . our number was 34653 . we had another old crank phone that we used to play with and give shocks when we cranked it. My dad cultured my mind with fun mechanical stuff. He had an old armature tester that could throw a spark about an inch and he taught me how to charge up ignition condensers with it. The shock got weaker as the day went on but I set them on the teachers desk and watch it fly when they picked it up. I taught my boys a lot of the same tricks and then came computers and they were teaching me tricks.

 

[thecatwalker]

Selling grandpas sweet corn out of the back of his old chevy at the cenex station for $1 per dozen. Not $5 or $6 like you see now.

The TV had 13 channels and i was the remote

Dad and i playing cards in the kitchen with the oven on and open because our house was so damn cold.

Digging earthworms out of the garden to fish with.

Taco Tuesday at taco johns you got 3 tacos for a dollar not just 1 !

 

[KDM]

I'm not quite 50, but lots of those stories I remember having to do when I was a youngster as well. The open oven door, the wood stove heat that was either colder than ice or hotter than blazes. Wet shoes/liners/hats/gloves lined up under the wood stove to dry and coats hanging along side. Splitting wood with a maul you swung with your arms instead of a machine where you push a button with your fingers. Fixing fence where you carried your tools in a tool box instead of in the back of a side by side. Hauling garbage to a pit to burn it and having it get away from you every couple of years and burn half the section down. Picking rocks by hand for a couple hours and having your ears ring when they hit the loader bucket. All for a cold 16 oz Old Milwaukee at the end of the job when I was 8. Neighbors calling at Zero dark thirty in the morning that their cows are out and they needed help, so the whole family got up and out the door we'd go. Great memories!! Those times were special, but given my druthers, I'd rather of had the thermostat, wood splitter, side by side, rock picker, and better fences that we have now. I would have been able to fish and hunt LOTS more. (Grin)

 

[PrairieGhost]

Bid ass wood burning stove in the kitchen. Mom could bake 8 loafs of bread at a time or two Big turkeys. Many a frost bite calf or litter of pigs got warmed up in a washtub on the open oven door. You did what you had to back then.

That sure brought back memories. My dad had a heart attack when I was in the seventh grade and I had to take care of the farm. We had about 80 Herefords cows and 30 yearlings. I would set the alarm for 1:00am and get up to check for new calves. It was about -10 that March and I didn't loose a calf. One calf did loose it's rear foot, both ears, the end of it's nose and it's tail, but it lived. Had a big hump in it's back from moving around the pasture with only one hind foot. We knew the sales ring would not give a decent price for that calf, but turns out that big hump was backstrap muscle so we enjoyed it. He laid behind the wood stove for a day and a half.

And then we had this butthead from Russian who was going to bury us in his life time. Never happen but the folks would talk about it and worry.

People had bomb shelters in their basements and school would often have a drill where you got under your desk or went into the isle and kneeled with your head between you knees. Us kids called it the bend over and kiss your ass goodbye position.

 

[db-2]

Yes Davey I thought you were younger, it's just your stories are about 10 to 15 years farther back from my experience. Grew up on the prairie. The experience you talk about sound like the people I know and have talked about with who were raised in the brush of the Turtle Mts.
By the way, not to brag, but also found a spark as you did and as my brother said, the jolt did help things grow.

KDM old mill, still drink it since 1966 (I was 20 then) and the two worst jobs on the farm was building hay stacks and picking rocks by hand. At first with an old wagon with Oldsmobile wooden spoke rims and then a farmhand loader and we would see who could make the loudest ping.
Maybe pitching out crab in the chicken coop was no fun either. Strong stuff.
And it is nice to see that the cowboys finally in the last few years now owe a pickup, all the same color with an endgate still on.
My mother's statement when we finally got a thermostat on the wall for the furnace, no more coal/wood furnace to start up the first thing in the morning.

PG, I never did understand hiding behind a desk when they showed the movie of the blast destroying everything. Guess it was to shield one from the bright light as one waited for the blast to burn oneself up. db

 

[Duckslayer100]

Born in 1984, I'm a tweener as far as generations go. I remember watching reel-to-reel in school, chalkboards and projectors. Then I remember our first DVD -- it played "discs" the size of records. Truly incredible technology for a kid who just got a Nintendo for Christmas and was used to blowing into the cartridges to make them work right.

The first color computers were mind blowing.

But my favorite memory, by far, were weekend outdoor shows. I didn't care about the cartoons so much, however they did help pass the time until Babe Winkelman, In-Fisherman TV, Tony Dean Outdoors and the rest came on Channel 41 in the cities. I couldn't get enough of that stuff!

Now every hunting and fishing show I could ever dream of wanting to watch is a simple Google search away.

Kids got it so easy these days

 

[Davey Crockett]

db it was always an adventure driving through the east side of the hills when I was a kid and it made me feel blessed with what we had. Many kids on that side grew up in a one room tar paper shack with a big wood pile right by the front door.
Mostly walkers and if they had a car it was most likely broke down along the road or if not it was smoking pretty bad or steam coming from under the hood.
Almost every yard had the 3 pole tepee for pulling engines. Dad had hired men from over that way that would come and cut oak fence posts to sell and help fence with woven wire and shear sheep. They always had a few commodities or sale. We would go fishing at a couple lakes over there and stop and visit some of them and they were good people , Always horse trading. Then before we knew it they were driving brand new and our vehicles were the old ones.

- - - Updated - - -

Canada seemed way behind times not sure why but everything seemed older to me. it was just different but they caught up fast .

 

[db-2]

There were plenty of 3-pole trees on the easy side to. db

 

[Colt45]

I remember every Sunday evening we would get to watch Mutual of Omaha's wild kingdom, followed by the wonderful world of Disney. Mom always made blueberry turnovers, it was our treat for the week. Always had to adjust the rabbit ears on the tv cause the screen would turn to snow. 13" black and white was all we had, think we got 4 channels with the rabbit ears.

 

[7mmMag]

Picking all the dandelions in the yard so dad would take me out driving around to shoot jackrabbits

 

[257Bob]

We got our first TV before WDAY started broadcasting programming, I'd turn the thing on and watch the test pattern. I don't recall how long it was before Ch 4 came to life but there wasn't much choice of what to watch, black and white, off the air at midnight.