Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Memory Lane

I'll begin with some of the things that I remember, and you can add to the list: (Because of spam, your comments go to a moderator who approves and posts them later.)  There is no need to send them twice.
  • Outhouses
  • 2-holer
  • Mule teams
  • Cream separators
  • Butter churns
  • Flat irons; heated on wood stove
  • Wood cook stove
  • Clothes line
  • 1-room school
  • Sleeping on the hay rack (hay wagon) because it was too hot inside the house
  • Chicken house
  • Nation-wide broadcast at 8 PM on Sunday evenings (do you know who?)
  • Lone Ranger on TV
  • Horse-drawn plow
  • Party-line crank phones & the operator
  • Rationing (of almost everything) - ration stamp books
  • Manure spreaders
  • "Cake" - for feeding cows in winter
  • Sewing bee
  • Large holiday dinners with the whole family
  • Shipping cattle by train
  • A nice little town with 3 filling stations, 2 new car dealers, 3 implement dealers, 2 drug stores, 5 grocery stores,  a grade school, a high school, a hospital, 2 hardware stores, a dry-goods store, a weekly newspaper, a weekly livestock auction, a blacksmith shop, a 'sleepy' city marshal, a one-room jail, a volunteer fire department with a truck, and  numerous other businesses
  • Saturday night dances
  • High school plays
  • Rodeos
  • Local baseball
  • Swimming in the river
  • Hunting in the woods
  • Fishing in the river
  • Exploring on Lookout Mountain and many other places
  • Turkey shoots (without the turkey!)
  • Labor Day parades
  • Alumni Banquet
  • Sidewalk roller skating (and in the Hewins Park Pavilion)
  • 5 cent Cokes, in glass bottles
  • Penny candy
  • 20 cent hamburgers and 15 cent hot dogs
  • 19 cent per gallon gas
  •  Saddle horses and real cowboys
  • Farm "hands" -- workers who were very patient with curious little boys
  • Dads who could make or fix anything -- because they had to
  • Milking the cow(s) by hand
  • Being happy to see deep snow
  • Waiting for the rural mail carrier to bring the mail
  • Picking walnuts and pecans off of the ground in the woods
  • Getting news of relatives who were away at war

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The bananas sound great. I would love to get there and try them.
I remember most of the things you list about the old days, now that you mention them, and I remember them very fondly. But I also want to mention some good new impressions from a visit to Cedar Vale last week: A high-quality clinic, EMT's and an ambulance in town, and 911 service; an expanded Hilltop Café that serves beer with (and without) the meals; a vibrant library that actively serves a lot of kids and adults, and provides easy access to all the information in the world; a well-stocked grocery store with reasonable prices, with good fresh meat and produce; a gas station/convenience store that really is convenient; and still and of course, a pharmacy that takes very good care of people.
And still great people.
-- Jim Robinson

Jay D. Mills said...

Thanks Jim. I also just received this from Morris:
Jay, -- Thanks for your recent posts. Enjoyed the banana info as I've always liked bananas. (Is it true they grow "upside down"?) Also enjoyed your list of things you recall about CV and growing up. The only thing I might add is bike riding. We spent quite a bit of time on our bikes. Keep up the good work. -- Morris.
*** Yes, Morris, bananas grow "upside" down. Or maybe we just hang the stalk 'upside' down from nature. ;-))