Well, according to that list, I'm older than dirt..... however I don't feel that old.... 50 is the youth of old age, so I'm very, very young.
Chrisy, my mom was raised in Windsor about 7 blocks from the castle and came to the US in 1954. In 1974 mom and I went for a 3 week visit to see Grandpa before he died. At that time, they still had to put money in their tv (just like at the laundromat) to watch it. I'd never seen anything like it.
Mom didn't work outside the home until I was 11. We didn't have air conditioning until 1973 and that was a window unit for the kitchen and living room only and was turned off at night. We didn't have a telephone until 1968 (the phone company wouldn't run the lines across the river) and then we had a party line and if you called someone on your own party line you dialed the number and pushed the receiver down (old type wall phone) so you could feel the vibration and then you knew it was ringing them.
I didn't know it at the time (I thought mom was being creative and wanted a colorful carpet) but mom went and got carpet samples and put them down in the living room floor for a rug because we couldn't afford a real rug. That was in the late sixties.
We couldn't get mail service (we lived on a county road 2 miles from the highway and 2 low water bridges) so we had to have a PO box. As a 5 to 9 year old I would ride my shetland pony, Rusty, over to the post office and get the mail whenever I could. Mom sewed a little bag and I'd put the mail in it and ride back home. The rivers got up one time and the postmaster returned some of mom's mail and it made mom mad so she went on a letter writing campaign to her senator and postmaster general and we got a mailbox (still one mile from the house and I walked it many times and even (once was enough) led my bottle calf, Goldy down to the mailbox and back..... she was definitely broke to lead when we got back).
I never thought a thing about it to ride my pony, gaited mule or horse (at least) 20 miles on a daily basis......... just out joy riding and dad had to shoe her because my gaited mare wore out a pair of shoes every 3 weeks.
The maytag wringer washer, we had one.... last week mom was telling me why we had one...... we had a 40 foot hand dug well and Dad said it wouldn't hold a regular washer and Mom bought the story until they had pigs and they had to run water down to them for a mud puddle. But I do remember Mom getting her hand caught in the wringer on more than one occassion............... my sisterinlaw still uses one to this very day. She does the laundry for herself and 3 bachelor brothers.
Milk was never delivered (in the country).... we got ours fresh from the cow. Brother and I spent many a time hand churning for butter. In the summertime we also had to hand turn the ice cream.
I learned how to drive on a John Deere tractor. Then I got to drive the car down to the highway (2 miles) in 8th grade (age 14) because I was on the jr high volleyball team and we had evening games.
Nearest big town (with over 5000 population) was 50 miles away. Walmarts wasn't around, we had Mohr Value (which Walmart bought out) and that was the only time we got to eat out and we went maybe once every six months.
I remember the round picture tv and black and white. Our house was in the mouth of a holler at the end of the county road and Dad put the antenna on the hillside and we still only got 2 channels (sometimes 3or 4 if the weather was foggy/rainy)
We only had one bathroom ........... period.
We had hot meals at exactly when Dad got home from construction work, you could count on it every night. We sat down and had a family dinner. No processed food, all from scratch and we were a meat eating family.
Mom and Dad would go to eastern star meetings at least once or twice a month and I can remember being 8 yrs old at home with just my 11 yr old brother. We didn't get into stuff.
When I was 13, I got a part time job at the grocery store (12 miles away) and saved my money up until I could buy me a used 2 horse, horsetrailer ($400) and I went over it with a wirebrush and then painted it two tone blue.
Looking back, I never, ever felt poor. I didn't feel like I missed out on anything. There were a few times when money was very tight and that was one of the reasons mom went and got a job when I was 11. We never had family vacations (maybe an occasional day outing) but Mom/Dad were the stay at home type. In later years mom told me that they paid their bills first ..... and we didn't take vacations because Dad worked construction in the summer. Dad's family was all within a 3 mile radius and mom had one sister in Illinois that we visited a couple times a year.
Kids now a days have no clue, however, I think in about 5 years they may get a taste of it. I just hope it brings back morals, character and integrity.
