| Click to Post a New Message!
Page | [ 2 ] | | |
| | |
|
Did you survive the 30 s 40 s 50 s 60 s and 70 s
Born in 41 and growing up on a farm in eastern Iowa one of my greatest memories was how beautiful the night sky was without the light polution we have today. Going to town on Saturday night was a big deal, free movies in the park usually Ma and Pa kettle. All three grocery stores, the hardware store, the International Harvester dealer, the shoe store, drug store, three taverns, barber shop, etc, etc. stayed open late. The size of the town? Less than 500 but it had everything we needed. Oh and I almost forgot the new car dealership and I think three gas stations that really wanted to fix a flat, even on Saturday nitht. Frank.
|
|
 Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
| |
|
Did you survive the 30 s 40 s 50 s 60 s and 70 s
We used to sneak out at night to go riding the country roads on our bikes. Not just once a summer but 3-4 times a week. From 12 till 3-4am. Dad always knew we were out. Ma had no clue for many years. I had one rule from Dad (the lawman) Dont get caught and embarress me, you would regret it)!!!. NEVER!!! Done anything wrong except drink too many Ten High and cokes!
Yes those were the days!Just about every thing you all mentioned was performed by myself and many other accrossed the country. It is amazing youall bring up sooo many things I did also! Must of just been a naturally occuring thing amungst boys!
Now for the damper on this shangrila.
Its easy to blame playstation and all the other easy targets for whats wrong with this country. Here is my take as a father of three living just outside a city of 90+K. Yes I am considered living in the country, although my land and other house is really in the sticks most of the same holds true there but to a lesser extent. We now live in a place where it is a crap shoot on what the kids could do or have done to them if they were to leave at 7am and come home at dark. Our kids friends parents BOTH work or in most cases anyway. MOM is not home to make sure the kids are here or there, at the other nieghbors or maybe in the school yard playing pick up baseball. Rapes, muggings, killings, drive by shootings. Drugs (even though they were prevalent in the 60's, NOT so much with 10-14 year olds) are everywhere, even in the most remote sticky places. Families need (or almost need to) have two incomes, that means less time to influence the path they will walk down. Jobs are cutting back on vacation offered to many in the lower income jobs. Over time is heavy. All this plays into reasons we need to monitor what the kids will do and will not do. The fear of your kid being abducted is real and is scary. Sexual predators being released back into society (LIKE THEY ARE CURED!!!! DAH!) PREGNANCY!!!! WOW, I have two daughters also!!! I am affraid to death of them meeting a rat ass boy (just like I was)!!! The biggest problem in my hood, is that other parents have NO clue what their kids are doing and for that matter dont care. Those are the ones you need to watch and keep your kids away from because like it was mentioned before parents are defending their kids actions and believing everything they say!!!
Remember when the guy down the street would call your dad and tell him that he heard his kid swearing on the street? WOW!!!! To this day I remember my dad. He walked calmly into the baseball field (in back of the school) With out saying a thing he walked up to me and reached back and nailed me accrossed the back of the head with a slap. What was that for!!! I yelled! He told me, "I could hear you swear all the way back at our house!" I got to tell you this! The embarresment infront of my friends and the astonishment of how he knew? That was enough to make me respect the public places I was in at future dates! I can not ever remember swearing or talking like an idiot again infront of or loud enough for any other adult to hear me. Now a day my dad would of lost his badge, had to go to counseling, and maybe pay a fine or do some time!
Yes I miss the old days also! I am affraid they will never return though in this politically correct and this corrupt society we are now entering.
PS
I believe what you said about allergies and NOT being out side enough. My wife is alergic to the world and she was sheltered from the sun when young because of some old wives tale's and because she is fair skinned. I never had allergies and was out ALL the time. Since I became domesticated and spend more time in that out I think I have a slight case of some forms f allergies now!
|
|
Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
| |
|
Did you survive the 30 s 40 s 50 s 60 s and 70 s
I grew up in the 50's & 60's and looking back, it was a good time. Everybody was in church on Sunday and a good date was Sunday night church and the drive-in at Frisch's afterwards.
You could go anywhere after dark and not worry about someone kidnapping or shooting you. There was very little evidence of evil, like the kind that occurs today.
You could carry a firearm anyplace, could spank you kid in public, a handshake and your word was good enough. The doctor would make house calls, as would the milkman. If you didn't work, you didn't eat. You could repair your own car.
No cell phones or IPAQs or computers. Life was simpler and moved much slower. Dave
|
|
Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
| |
|
Did you survive the 30 s 40 s 50 s 60 s and 70 s
I will have to admit ashamedly so that in my youthful years that a friend and I while intending to play a prank on another friend, accidently blew up the sewer. Blew the man hole covers plumb off the grates for about 2 blocks and about burned every exposed hair off of our bodies, not to mention the concusion blowing us off of our feet and about 20 feet back on our butts. Real "Nobel Prize Laureats" we were at that age. No property damage done or anyone hurt but we became true "Super Men" from the "rust stains" in our draws during the unintended event. My Dad royally reamed my butt for that and WELL deservedly so in addition to some hard labor punishment. Later on over Dad's strenuous objections I pursued a career spanning over 20 years training and deliberately doing more of the same for "Uncle Same". I consider myself truly fortunate & blessed to have survived to live to talk about all of it. We do INDEED learn and change who and what we are as we do our best walk the path the Good Lord has for us in this life. I guess he knew what was best for me in the following years as he blessed me with 3 daughters to keep me from ulcers in my laters years!  !!!!! Or at least I am hoping that is the case in the future! ;O)
|
|
Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
| |
|
Did you survive the 30 s 40 s 50 s 60 s and 70 s
Absoluely loved it (says another kid growing-up in the late 50's and into the 60's), and it is so very true. It got me reflecting about growing up on the farm, working with dad, and just being a kid. Thanks!
There are a great deal of messages "in there" that I have been using with my own kids (ages 6, 9, 11, and 14) over the years even though I'm an older and hopefully wiser dad (we married late and had kids later than most other parents). Of course, my wife being 7 years younger thinks I'm whacked at times. But, maybe there's others things that explain the differences: I'm from the north (WI, MN) and she's from Texas ('nough said), she's almost from a different era, I grew-up on a farm then moved to a lake area where she grew-up in the city, we are from different disciplines (I'm an engineer, she was a RN), and so on. The kids are surviving even though they can only use their Game Boys for a while like when on a road trip of over several hours or special occassions, the play station is used about two hours a month, they HAVE TO go out and play or ride thier bike or just do something, they need to explore thier world from their perspective. They have known the difference between "right and wrong" for many years; my wife and I are constantly doing "course corrections" where they can maintain course for reaching adulthood contributing as thinking, rationale beings and (hopefully) not some social misfits.
There's a good one that I've been using lately, especially with the three boys, the older ones, when I think they are going to do something "boneheaded" or just as a general caution: "Don't do anything that would bring disgrace to you mother". That usually at least gets them to thinking for a split second.
|
|
Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
| |
|
Did you survive the 30 s 40 s 50 s 60 s and 70 s
We used to grab some blankets, hike up the top of the nearest hill and sleep under the apple trees looking up at the stars - and the lights across new york and into connecticut. Or we would play basketball in the barn late into the night while snow was coming through the barn door. We chose from several ponds during the winter for a bonfire (started with an old tire) and ice skated into the night. Swimming meant diving into the pond of choice and swimming to the deepest part to grab a handful of mud to prove you made it. I wish my kids could have had these experiences.
|
|
Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
| |
|
Did you survive the 30 s 40 s 50 s 60 s and 70 s
1*Going to town on Saturday night was a big deal,
hardwood
2*We used to sneak out at night to go riding the country roads on our bikes.
brokenarrow
========================
1*I was born in 1940 and remember this well.
2*My cousin & I used to go for long daytime rides on the country roads on our bikes.
We had a problem with dogs chasing us so we statred carrying our bb guns with us.Needless to say that took care of any dog that decided to chase us.
|
|
Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
| |
|
Did you survive the 30 s 40 s 50 s 60 s and 70 s
We used to grab some blankets, hike up the top of the nearest hill and sleep under the apple trees looking up at the stars
ncrunch32
=================
Back in the first half of the 1960s my friend and I did that on a piece of land in the country.
Today I live on that piece of land.
Been here for 39 years.
Back then I never dreamed I would be spending most of my married live living on that 2.33 acres.
|
|
Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
| |
|
Did you survive the 30 s 40 s 50 s 60 s and 70 s
Speeking of those days_ Take a look at this!
----------------------
----
I came across this phrase in a book yesterday "FENDER SKIRTS". A term I haven't heard in a long time and thinking about "fender skirts" started me thinking about other words that quietly disappear from our language with hardly a notice.
Like "curb feelers" and "steering knobs." Since I'd been thinking of cars, my mind naturally went that direction first. Any kids will probably have to find some elderly person over 50 to explain some of these terms to you.
Remember "Continental kits?" They were rear bumper extenders and spare tire covers that were supposed to make any car as cool as a Lincoln Continental.
When did we quit calling them "emergency brakes?" At some point "parking brake" became the proper term. But I miss the hint of drama that went with "emergency brake."
I'm sad, too, that almost all the old folks are gone who would call the accelerator the "foot feed."
Didn't you ever wait at the street for your daddy to come home, so you could ride the "running board" up to the house?
Here's a phrase I heard all the time in my youth but never anymore - "store-bought." Of course, just about everything is store-bought these days. But once it was bragging material to have a store-bought dress or a store-bought bag of candy.
"Coast to coast" is a phrase that once held all sorts of excitement and now means almost nothing. Now we take the term "world wide" for granted. This floors me.
On a smaller scale, "wall-to-wall" was once a magical term in our homes. In the '50s, everyone covered his or her hardwood floors with, wow, wall-to-wall carpeting! Today, everyone replaces their wall-to-wall carpeting with hardwood floors. Go figure.
When's the last time you heard the quaint phrase "in a family way?" It's hard to imagine that the word "pregnant" was once considered a little too graphic, a little too clinical for use in polite company. So we had all that talk about stork visits and "being in a family way" or simply"expecting."
Apparently "brassiere" is a word no longer in usage. I said it the other day and my daughter cracked up. I guess it's just "bra" now "Unmentionables" probably wouldn't be understood at all.
I always loved going to the "picture show," but I considered "movie" an affectation.
Most of these words go back to the '50s, but here's a pure-'60s word I came across the other day - "rat fink." Ooh, what a nasty put-down!
Here's a word I miss - "percolator." That was just a fun word to say. And what was it replaced with? "Coffee maker." How dull. Mr. Coffee, I blame you for this.
I miss those made-up marketing words that were meant to sound so modern and now sound so retro. Words like "DynaFlow" and "Electrolux." Introducing the 1963 Admiral TV, now with "SpectraVision!"
Food for thought - Was there a telethon that wiped out lumbago? Nobody complains of that anymore. Maybe that's what castor oil cured, because I never hear mothers threatening kids with castor oil anymore.
Some words aren't gone, but are definitely on the endangered list. The one that grieves me most "supper." Now everybody says "dinner." Save a great word. Invite someone to supper. Discuss fender skirts.
Someone forwarded this to me. I thought some of us of a "certain age" would remember most of these.
Just for fun, Pass it along to others of "a certain age"!!
|
|
Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
| |
|
Did you survive the 30 s 40 s 50 s 60 s and 70 s
Ibrown59; I guess by todays standards most everyone in our neighborhood when I was a kid would have been considered below the poverty level but we were happy, never missed a meal, never was cold. Most everything we ate came from the garden or was butchered at home. I don't remember not having a telephone, but I do remember the REA coming thru with a power line, and getting "Indoor Plumbing" when I was about 16. (my dad would'nt use it at first he said it wasn't necessary.) But I guess one of my fondest memories was the food, no "store bought" pie crust, it was made with real lard, Canned meat, fried down pork, fresh chicken, and of corse real butter and real cream on our oatmeal. Wow, I'm getting hungry. Oh, and dad smoked "Talor Mades" on Sundays and rolled his own the reat of the week. Even tho we cant escape the troubles and turmoils of todays world, those memories give us "Old Folks" some comfort now and then. Frank.
|
|
Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
| |
|
Page | [ 2 ] | | |
Thread 114393 Filter by Poster:
2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
|
()
Picture of the Day
DennisCTB
Unanswered Questions
Active Subjects
Hot Topics
Featured Suppliers
|
Gas Generator Weather Protecti
08-05-2005, 20:41 
Reply
Digg It 
Del.icio.us 
