OH! For heavan's sake, 7 SECONDS

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

SF VIP
Location
The Sticks, Northeast PA.
I was zapping some hot dogs in the microwave. I was thinking that in 4 days I'll be offcially 70. Don't know why, but I hate being 69. When I looked down, there was 7 seconds left to nuke my doggies. OH! For heaven's sake, 7 long, miserable seconds! Then I thought that when I was a kid, you needed a frying pan, a stove, oil and a lot more than 1:30 minutes. The it hit me- the changes I've seen in one life time. As a kid,we had only one black phone with a black cord, and it sat all by itself on its own table. You lived in fear of making a toll call! Hell, I remember when we not only had TV channel ,4, but then channel 6. Two channels. Yeow !
I accept that I'm an old geezer, but ; it's cool to witness the changes in one life time.
 

Yup, I feel ya...modern technology like the frickin' "Jetsons" of course it's bewildering. Just pat yourself on the back for what you DO figure out. Really it's okay darlin'
 
I remember 3 channels. We turned on the the "TV set" and then had to wait for it warm up. Then we sat down to watch a program, and if we wanted to change the channel we had to actually get up and walk across the room and turn the channel knob! At about 11 p.m. all channels went off the air. To the tune of the "The Star-Spangled Banner."

We had a record player. You turned it on and then had to turn the turntable a few turns with your fingertip to get it to warm up.

The telephone rang, and kept ringing until somebody answered it. If no one answered by, say, the time you knew (or figured) it took the woman of the house to come in from the clothesline in the back yard, you figured no one was home, so you hung up and waited to try again.
 

"Party lines" with the nosy old lady listening to everyone's calls. She had emphysema and you could hear her breathing. My dad would say, "Mrs. Ferguson, quit listening in on our calls" and she'd say, "I am NOT listening to your calls!"

A long-distance call was always something very, very important.....birth, death, serious illness. Everyone would gather around the person on the phone and try to listen in. The person on the phone would relay the information: "It's a girl! Seven pounds, ten ounces!"
 
The first transatlantic flight was not until the late 30's. I can remember traveling back and forth to Italy on a ship. Not everyone had cars and used trolley cars, trains and subways to commute to work. There were no school buses....would have had to walk over a mile, if my father did not drive me to high school. Walked home though.
With wringer washers.....wash day took the whole day. The following day all was ironed...sheets, starched pillow cases, underclothing. Refrigerators had to be defrosted. A long process. There were not any processed or frozen foods. Yet I cannot remember any women not looking well groomed, their houses immaculate. Where did they find the time and/or energy?
 
fuzzybuddy said:
I was thinking that in 4 days I'll be offcially 70. Don't know why, but I hate being 69.
Click to expand...
I hated those "9" years too. For some reason I felt like I was over the hill? As soon as the next "0" birthday came I was "over the hump," and was fine with my age. Weird!

As far as phones, we lived in a very small town (300 which including rural families). We had two phones -- one in front room was line for one small town exchange to the west, one in the kitchen was for one small town exchange to the east. My dad was an insurance agent at the time and needed both to avoid long distance calls on either. Each had a different ring sound. That was technology to the max early 1950's style!
 
Happy Birthday Rick! I imagine that you'll have a great day planned! Maybe a wonderful afternoon with your family? Or maybe sky-diving to mark the day in a big way? Seventy years is kind of momentous isn't it? Do you remember when you used to look at 70 year olds like they were some weird, slightly amusing dinosaur? Gosh, I sure do and here we all are.....in that weird, (sometimes not so amusing) demographic now! Anyway, Happy Birthday whatever you decide to do to mark the day!
 
we gathered around the radio and listened to Intersanctum. Fibbber Mcgee and Molly, and The Shadow. When we got our phone we picked up the receiver and asked for the number.
 
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