Now wait a minute.....

I'm only 45 years old, and I remember everything except movie newsreels.
I'd add Studebakers, except one of my neighbors had one when I was in
elementary school. I bought Blackjack gum at the Von's & Shopping Bag
stores. Our telephone prefix was DIamond-1 (as was the fried chicken
outlet's number: Don't Cook Tonight! Call Chicken Delight!) A local drug
store sold candy "pep pills" and cinnamon flavored toothpicks. I had a sled
with wheels (Flexy) and my brother later had a Schwinn "Apple Crate". My
Dad's neighbor and coworker had an Edsel as late as 1973 which was a daily
driver. Wax coke bottles, yes - how about wax lips? Giant Sweet-Tarts from
the Helms bakery truck?

I even had a Howdy-Doody board game, but I admit I inherited that from an
older relative. Tin toy boats and airplanes that could cut you to the bone.
Toy Texaco Fire Trucks. Every radio (qty 2) and TV (qty 1) in the house
took at least 30 seconds to "warm up" when I was around 7. Neighbor's TV
had remote control, but it only worked up to three feet. Once or twice a
year the guy with the 8-pony team sold rides around the neighborhood. You
could buy farm-fresh eggs from a vending machine. Only 1 in ten houses had
built-in swimming pools (in California's San Fernando Valley.) At school,
we watched 16mm videos, not tapes. My 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Whitman, wore
White Shoulders (some things are timeless.) They still taught kids how to
use a saw and hammer in third grade (yeah, real saw and hammer) and you
didn't need a permission slip. The principle could spank you without your
parent's permission (rare.)

In my teen-age years, I worked on a ranch every summer. We had propane
lighting, kerosene heat (big house only), wood stoves in every building
that had a bed, clothes irons powered by white gasoline (like a camp stove)
which we used as door stops. An outhouse. Another outhouse. A still. A root
celar. Cisterns that we filled from a 5-horsepower pump. Marine band radio
but no telephone.  A player piano but no TV. Electricity only on wash day.
The Ford tractor was older than I (pre-1956.) Ever seen a propane powered
kitchen refrigerator? They can actually make ice in about 12 hours. We had
a water wheel, but it didn't work until years later. Our primary hay-hauler
was a 1942 military "6x6". All our groceries were delivered by a Cessna 185
"Sky Wagon".

Ah, memories!

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