I'm Older Than Dirt...

I've been sick the last two days. Tuesday I was actually sick (I'll spare you the details) and Wednesday I was getting over being sick (just feeling really yukky and tired).

Today, I am better and I went ahead and did my Run/Walk. I did better than I expected, but I'm still tired today and I think I might take a nap before I cook dinner.

But, before I go, I had to share the following list. Leave me a comment or send me an email and let me know what your score was??

TELL ME, WHAT CAN YOU REMEMBER?


1. Candy cigarettes? And pretending to smoke them and be cool.

2. Wax coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside? The sugar water didn't really have any flavor and we'd chew the wax when we were done... also remember Big Red Wax Lips?

3. Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles? The machines were the kind that you lifted up the top (like the chest freezers) and the bottles were hung in racks by the bottle necks.

4. Coffee shops with tableside juke boxes? And it only cost a nickel for the song, sometimes even just a penny.

5. Blackjack chewing gum? Grandpa Tobey had some with him at all times. It was my favorite gum when I was a kid.

6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles, with cardboard stoppers? The dairy truck delivered the half gallon bottles of milk, set in wood and metal partitioned boxes, at like 5:00 AM and the milk sat out on the porch, regardless of the temperature outside, until my mom or dad went out to pick it up and put it in the "fridge".

7. Party lines? We'd pick up the receiver and listen to see if anyone was carrying on a conversation before we dialed. If someone was on the line, we hung up! We didn't eavesdrop!

8. Newsreels before the movie? After the newsreels came the cartoons, then the movie. It took all afternoon. It was great!

9. P. F. Flyers? The coolest shoes you could wear.

10. Butch wax? If you had a "butch cut" (a flat top buzz haircut), you needed butch wax to keep it standing up straight and in place.

11. Telephone numbers with a word prefix ? (Drexel-5505)The only telephone number I can still remember is my Aunt Sally's. The word prefix was Baldwin, followed by 5 numbers, but you only dialed the first two letter of Baldwin ~ BA (22*-****). She still has the same telephone number. Isn't that amazing?

12. Peashooters? When you could actually buy round peas, not just split peas

13. Howdy Doody? The show started the same way every Saturday morning. Buffalo Bob would say: "Say kids, what time is it?" And the kids (yes, live audience in bleacher-type seats): "It's Howdy Doody Time!" And then they would start singing, "It's Howdy Doody Time.It's Howdy Doody Time...."

14. 78 RPM Records? My parents had quite a few and they all had that "crackle" sound in the background when the played them, but they were still music and we sang along.

15. S&H Green Stamps? We saved every single stamp in those little books that we got from the store.

16. Hi-fi's? Before stereos, surround sound and whatever else there is now.

17. Metal ice cube trays, with levers? Nobody bought ice cubes and there was no such thing as an ice maker. We'd fill the trays at the sink and stack them on top of each other in the freezer. The only time we bought ice was in huge blocks that were either delivered to our house (using those huge scissor hooks to carry the blocks) or picked up by my dad or grandpa.

18. Mimeograph paper? We'd type the document (on a typewriter) onto the mimeograph paper which created a stencil, put the paper on a large drum filled with ink and as you rotated the drum around using a crank, it would draw in a blank piece of paper and create a "copy" of the document on the paper and push it out the other side. Holy cow, am I dating myself.

19. Blue flash bulbs? You could only use them for one picture and you'd have to put another one in for the next photo. And they were hot to the touch!

20. Beanie and Cecil? Beanie was a little boy with a little beanie hat with a propeller on top and his friend, Cecil, the seasick sea serpent spoke with a lisp.

21. Roller skate keys? Before skates with boots and skateboards, roller skates were just flat metal "platforms" with 4 wheels, an ankle strap and clamps. Wearing your own shoes, you would step onto the metal platform, tighten the strap around your ankle, and use the skate key to loosen or tighten the clamps that grabbed the soles of your shoes at the toe. The skate key could also be used to lengthen or shorten the platform of the skate to fit your shoe size.

22. Cork popguns? The corks were attached to the play guns with a string. You'd stick the cork in the end of the gun barrel and when you pulled the trigger, the corks would fly out. Our parents took them away from us when we cut broke the strings.

23. Drive ins? Of course. Both my parents worked at the local drive-in. They'd take us to work with them, leave us in the car (alone) to watch the movie, and checked on us periodically through the evening. Most of the time, they would have to carry sleeping children to bed when we got home.

24. Studebakers? My dad would have loved to have one, but they were too small for all five of us kids to pile in the back.

25. Wash tub wringers? I loved helping my Grandma Tobey put her wash through the wringers and hang clothes on the clothes line. I mostly just handed her the clothes pins.

I will add one more just for fun. Remember before margarine? Oleo and the plastic bags it came in? It came with a packet of coloring and you added it to the oleo and squished it around to mix it up to get the yellow color. And to think we actually ate that stuff and lived!

Now add up your score If you remembered 0 to 5, you're still young If you remembered 6 to 15, you are getting older. If you remembered 16 to 25, you are older than dirt.