# Are You Older Than Dirt?



## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

'Someone asked the other day, 'What was your favorite fast food when you were growing up?'
'We didn't have fast food when I was growing up,' I informed him.
'All the food was slow.' 

'C'mon, seriously. Where did you eat?'
'It was a place called 'at home,'' I explained. !
'Mom cooked every day and when Dad got home from work, we sat down together at the dining room table, and if I didn't like what she put on my plate I was allowed to sit there until I did like it.'

By this time, the kid was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going to suffer serious internal damage, so I didn't tell him the part about how I had to have permission to leave the table.
But here are some other things I would have told him about my childhood if I figured his system could have handled it :
Some parents NEVER owned their own house, never wore Levis, never set foot on a golf course, never traveled out of the country or had a credit card.
In their later years they had something called a revolving charge card. The card was good only at Sears Roebuck. Or maybe it was Sears & Roebuck.
Either way, there is no Roebuck anymore. Maybe he died.

My parents never drove me to soccer practice. This was mostly because we never had heard of soccer. I had a bicycle that weighed probably 50 pounds, and only had one speed, (slow)
We didn't have a television in our house until I was 16.
It was, of course, black and white, and the station went off the air at midnight, after playing the national anthem and a poem about God; it came back on the air at about 6 a..m. and there was usually a locally produced news and farm show on, featuring local people..

I was 21 before I tasted my first pizza, it was called 'pizza pie.'
When I bit into it, I burned the roof of my mouth and the cheese slid off, swung down, plastered itself against my chin and burned that, too. It's still the best pizza I ever had.

I never had a telephone in my room.
The only phone in the house was in the living room and it was on a party line. Before you could dial, you had to listen and make sure some people you didn't know weren't already using the line.
Pizzas were not delivered to our home But milk was.
All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys delivered newspapers --my brother delivered a newspaper, six days a week. It cost 7 cents a paper, of which he got to keep 2 cents. He had to get up at 6AM every morning.
On Saturday, he had to collect the 42 cents from his customers. His favorite customers were the ones who gave him 50 cents and told him to keep the change. His least favorite customers were the ones who seemed to never be home on collection day.
Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in the movies. There were no movie ratings because all movies were responsibly produced for everyone to enjoy viewing, without profanity or violence or most anything offensive.
If you grew up in a generation before there was fast food, you may want to share some of these memories with your children or grandchildren Just don't blame me if they bust a gut laughing.
Growing up isn't what it used to be, is it?
MEMORIES from a friend :
My Dad is cleaning out my grandmother's house (she died in December) and he brought me an old Royal Crown Cola bottle. In the bottle top was a stopper with a bunch of holes in it.. I knew immediately what it was, but my daughter had no idea. She thought they had tried to make it a salt shaker or something. I knew it as the bottle that sat on the end of the ironing board to 'sprinkle' clothes with because we didn't have steam irons. Man, I am old.
How many do you remember?
Head lights dimmer switches on the floor. 
Ignition switches on the dashboard.
Heaters mounted on the inside of the fire wall.
Real ice boxes.
Pant leg clips for bicycles without chain guards. 
Soldering irons you heat on a gas burner.
Using hand signals for cars without turn signals. 

Older Than Dirt Quiz :
Count all the ones that you remember not the ones you were told about.
Ratings at the bottom.
*1. Blackjack chewing gum*
*2.Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water *
*3. Candy cigarettes*
*4. Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles *
*5. Coffee shops or diners with tableside juke boxes * 
*6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers *
*7. Party lines on the telephone*
*8 Newsreels before the movie *
9. P.F. Flyers
10. Butch wax 
*11.. TV test patterns that came on at night after the last show and were there until TV shows started again in the morning. (there were only 3 channels... [if you were fortunate] ) *
*12. Peashooters *
*13. Howdy Doody * 
*14. 45 RPM records *
15. S& H greenstamps 
*16. Hi-fi's*
*17. Metal ice trays with lever *
*18. Mimeograph paper*
*19. Blue flashbulb*
20. Packards
21. Roller skate keys
*22. Cork popguns *
*23. Drive-ins*
*24. Studebakers*
*25. Wash tub wringers *

I remembered all the ones is bold.

If you remembered 0-5 = You're still young
If you remembered 6-10 = You are getting older 
If you remembered 11-15 = Don't tell your age
If you remembered 16-25 = You're older than dirt!

I might be older than dirt but those memories are some of the best parts of my life.


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

I maxed out.. but I did work at McPuke's during high school.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

My wife frequently reminds me that I am older than the television, but newer than the wheel....LOL

Cheers


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## rhh7 (Mar 14, 2008)

I grew up on 10 acres, in an old farm house, several miles outside of a village of 5,000. We had a vegetable garden, a milk cow, and chickens, ducks, and guineas in the back yard. Whatever was cooking in the pot for supper, had been pecking in the yard that morning. I remember listening to Superman, Gunsmoke, and Inner Sanctum on the big radio in the living room with my Dad. We made our own butter, of course. In the summer, I read books by kerosene lantern, as the power went out anytime there was thunder within 50 miles. We had a literal "ice box", with an electric blower, and a shelf at the top for the fresh block of ice. This meant daily trips to the ice house, which was always fun in the summer, since we would bring home watermelon! Those were the days!!


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

My family ate out alot. I remember eating at "the Ponderosa". Not sure if that qualifies as fast food. There weren't any fast foods in my town that I remember until I was 10 or 11 when we got our first Mcdonalds. Most of our restaraunt experiences were the family type restaraunts that seemed to server everything. I still prefer this type of establishment over the big chain type restaraunts like Kelseys


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## ajcoholic (Feb 5, 2006)

Crap, I made 16.. but I am just 40 yrs old!

We did have a B&W television when I was a kid too. 

Kids today have everything given to them - because the majority of parents today buy everything on credit and put no value on paying for something with money earned. My kid will grow up like I did, which isnt far off of what was posted in the OP. Call me a hard ass, but I think my mom and dad did a good job. 

AJC


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## ajcoholic (Feb 5, 2006)

In Kirkland Lake, where I grew up and lived most of my life, the only fast food joint was Kentucky Fried Chicken (no "KFC" back then  ). The nearest Macdonalds was an hour away, which we were treated to mayeb once a year. We never ate out. My parents grew up poor in rural Croatia. They did not understand paying to go eat out, when there was "good food at home"


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

rhh7 said:


> I grew up on 10 acres, in an old farm house, several miles outside of a village of 5,000. We had a vegetable garden, a milk cow, and chickens, ducks, and guineas in the back yard. Whatever was cooking in the pot for supper, had been pecking in the yard that morning. I remember listening to Superman, Gunsmoke, and Inner Sanctum on the big radio in the living room with my Dad. We made our own butter, of course. In the summer, I read books by kerosene lantern, as the power went out anytime there was thunder within 50 miles. We had a literal "ice box", with an electric blower, and a shelf at the top for the fresh block of ice. This meant daily trips to the ice house, which was always fun in the summer, since we would bring home watermelon! Those were the days!!


I feel if children had the chance to grow up as you did, they would be a lot more balanced than many of them are today. I didn't grow up on a farm but my Dad was a poor (monetarily speaking) coal miner with 10 children to feed. We were close and we were happy and secure.


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## Big White Tele (Feb 10, 2007)

10....Whew....that was close.


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## Swervin55 (Oct 30, 2009)

19! I remember Quick Draw McGraw and his sidekick (Bubbalooey - spelling?), Precious (the dog), Yogi and Booboo and the Ranger, Snaggelpuss etc. I'm old too.

Swervin


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## Bevo (Nov 24, 2006)

Ponderosa, I think there is still one around my bud just went?
I actualy worked there after my first job at McDonalds where we actualy used to cook out own burgers not microwave them as they do now. (just looks like that to me)

I was in the 20's at 44 years old

Hey, did we have one dollar bills?


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

I scored 23/25 so I'm older than dirt. Many or most of those things are fond memories too. 

We ate out so rarely that I can remember San Frano's in Brantford and a restaurant at the Swiss pavillion at Expo '67. I think my Dad got to dine out more often, and my parents went to the officer's mess for a dance and a bun fight, but us kids ate at home. Mum was a good cook and we got healthy meals, though as long as I remember we were responsible for getting our own breakfasts and many of our lunches, but they had to be healthy and within my Mum's strict meal rules...we cleaned up too, happily. My parents sacrificed a lot for us.

Peace, Mooh.


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## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

20/25

I remember when the first McDonald's came to town - the slogan was "Change back from your dollar"................... I also remember when they invented dirt.........that's when we became "dirt poor"..


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## Alex Csank (Jul 22, 2010)

I may be older than dirt, but I still remember...uhhh, what was I saying? Oh, never mind! Say, whatever happened to that stupid rooster on Friendly Giant? Did he finally get eaten? By the way, back in the day when I was growing up, I remember that Shari Lewis with her sock puppet 'Lamb Chop'. Man, that Shari Lewis used to get me harder than Chinese Arithmetic!
lofu


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Well I scored 9, but I'm older than some of the guys who scored much higher. Either I have a poor memory (I have good days and bad) or I just lived a sheltered life.

I'll be 50 in a few weeks.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Alex Csank said:


> I may be older than dirt, but I still remember...uhhh, what was I saying? Oh, never mind! Say, whatever happened to that stupid rooster on Friendly Giant? Did he finally get eaten? By the way, back in the day when I was growing up, I remember that Shari Lewis with her sock puppet 'Lamb Chop'. Man, that Shari Lewis used to get me harder than Chinese Arithmetic!
> lofu


Rusty was a GOD among rooster puppets. Jerome was the consumate straight man (er giraffe)


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

25....guess I'm old. 5 songs for a quarter, Annette, Buddy Holly...... The screen on our t.v. was on a swivel on top of the set. Farm live was farm life. Chickens, cows, 100+ horses. The air was cleaner, water was purer and all food was good to eat. And there were drive-in movies. Swings in front of the screen and later a pick up with clouded windows. Would I go back? Well,maybefor the pick-up at a drive-in movie once in a while.


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

1. Blackjack chewing gum
2.Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water 
*3. Candy cigarettes*
*4. Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles *Not forgetting the big box coolers before the automated machines
* 5. Coffee shops or diners with tableside juke boxes *There were a few of these in Niagara Falls, and even ones that had separate entrances for Whites and Blacks.
*6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers *I was 9, never seen it before or since but this is how my cousins in Scotland got theirs
* 7. Party lines on the telephone*
8 Newsreels before the movie 
9. P.F. Flyers
10. Butch wax 
*11.. TV test patterns that came on at night after the last show and were there until TV shows started again in the morning. (there were only 3 channels... [if you were fortunate] ) *
*12. Peashooters *
13. Howdy Doody 
*14. 45 RPM records *:B I also had a hand crank gramaphone
15. S& H greenstamps 
*16. Hi-fi's*
*17. Metal ice trays with lever* Remember how your sweaty hands would freeze instantly to these LOL
*18. Mimeograph paper* Grade School, Niagara Falls, I swear the secretary pool was SO happy ALL the time!
*19. Blue flashbulb* I still have some unused in a box somewhere
20. Packards
*21. Roller skate keys* >_> oh hush!! The Mrs still likes to roller skate too.
*22. Cork popguns *Never lasted a week for me but had at least one if not more maybe more or the memory is stuck on repeat
*23. Drive-ins* Still a few around too. Hamilton and Niagara Falls have them still.
24. Studebakers
* 25. Wash tub wringers* One armed bandits!!

15, not too bad :B some of these not bolded I "know of" but were literally just before me  however were regularly talked of in the house. Of course my great aunt heated her home for years with just the kitchen stove, had to be up early to stoke it up again to get it going so when you were UP for the day the house was warm. We also had to hand pump water from the cisturn when there was no rain to fill the rain barrel for water (really, a box that was 8 x 8 x 12 over the back porch). My friends farm they also had to hand pump water, and the milk was put in milk cans that had to be carried to the pick up shed. I remember when they installed the stainless steel pipe so the pick up could pump it. I also remember when they got milking machines and stopped milking by hand.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

21

Mimeographs. You gotta love the smell of those things.

Milk bottles. Milk always tastes better from a bottle. The scene in Rebel Without a Cause where James Dean reaches into the fridge after coming home from the deadly car race, and rolls the bottle of milk across his forehead. For me, the best treat was to go shopping with my mom, and she'd order a cup of tea. They'd bring her the little bottles of cream to go with it, but she'd ask them for lemon, and of course they never took away the cream. So I got to pop the lids and drink it. Mmmmm.

Where the hell were Mello-Rolls in there? There was a period where corner stores tried to get into the ice cream parlour game. Of course, you can't be scooping the ice cream out of the tub, Baskin-Robbins style, and also ringing up tins of soup, eggs, milk, and bubblegum. So stores would have these little cardboard tubes in the freezer, that unwrapped in spiral fashion, like Drumsticks, with one serving of ice cream inside the tube. You'd poke around in the freezer for the flavour you liked, bring the tube to the counter, and the store owner would unpeel it for you and stick it in a cone. Voila, ice cream cone without the mess and inventory issues of scoop and serve! And that was Mello-Roll. Some folks only know it from the Welcome Back Kotter show's expression "Up your hole with a Mello-Roll" ( The Big Apple: Mello Roll or Mell-O-Roll ("Up your hole with a Mello Roll!") )

And yo-yo guys. Being a yo-yo man was an occupation. Wham-o or whomever, would find yo-yo champs at competitions, and hire them. The champ would then hang out around school yards, and capture the attention of kids on the way home. They'd demonstrate yo-yo tricks, impress the bejeezus out of you, and then sell you yo-yos and extra strings. The very idea of someone hanging out beside a schoolyard and accosting grade school kids seems kind of shocking to folks nowadays, but I remember the guy in the alleyway between our apartment and the main street with a crowd of kids around him while he "walked the dog".

"Friendly Giant"? There was an exhibition of puppets at the Museum of Civilization about 12-15 years ago that we went to, and we were fortunate enough to not only see Polkaroo, but Rusty and Jerome, and...wonder of wonders....Uncle Chichemus and Hollyhock. I had never in my life ever seen them in anything but black and white, and seeing them in person and in colour was jawdropping.









Coffee shop jukeboxes and 45s. You could often buy 45s cheap that had been in service in jukeboxes. I'm not sure how it happened, but I have a mess of terrific blues singles I bought at the corner store that had been in a jukebox somewhere, and shown up in a "cheap records" box in Montreal. B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Bobby Bland, Otis Rush. Nuts.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

I'd love to see the look on the younger forum members faces as they read through these posts....they likely call out asking

"Hey...Mom, Dad...do you know about any of this stuff on the list?"..............."Really!"

Cheers


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

Hahah Dave, when I introduced the kids to Gilligan's Island I saw that look of WOW THIS SHOW IS TOTALLY AWESOME! There is a history that is, amazing as it sounds, disappearing and doing so fast. We live in the age of information, and yet seem to retain far less information than ages past. Trades are not only being lost (cast iron workers and stone masons for example) but being lost and not remembered/recorded. One of the laments on the Antique Radios Forum is how the "old guys that made it" didn't record how they did, or what they did, or why leaving a void in understanding of a technology that was THE technology up until just a decade or two ago.

So yes, it is a good thing to say to your parents "tell me about"...


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

This thread is certainly bringing back some memories! There are mention of some things I have not thought about in years or have totally forgotten about. I hope you guys keep them coming.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Candy cigarettes--well the Popeye ones are still around, just called Candy sticks.
Popeye Candy Cigarettes
Popeye Candy Sticks

I also remember the Bubblegum cigarettes--wrapped in paper--and you could puff out the powder on them, and it looked like smoke.

If that stuff caused kids to smoke--I should have been a chain smoker. And probably dead.

But I've never been a smoker.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

I was re-reading the thread and got to the James Dean part when I reached for a cigarette wondering if I could still light it like back in the day. Took three tries but I got my Zippo to open and light on my jeans. Does Zippo still have a true "lifetime" gaurentee? If it's a zippo and it's broke they repair it....free. Is there still Thrills gum. I see that color and I smell that smell. And do guys still have a silver dollar shape embossed in their wallet? Does anything taste better than handcranked ice-cream? This summer at my brother's we did that......all the grandkids had a turn at the handle. Everyone had a taste and thought it was pretty good.....then went back to their Iphones and laptops and such. So my brother and my son and myself killed about a gallon of the best ice-cream going. Memories.


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

How's about the FIRST Ipod.... well those small am/fm pocket radios, you know the ones in the leather cases..... I had that thing apart a million times...


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## Tarbender (Apr 7, 2006)

Black Jack Gum - my mouth is watering just thinking about it! Talk about bringing back memories... One of my 'chores' was to stick the S & H Greenstamps into the books. On payday, Dad would take us to the local drug store for icecream floats. How did I get so old so fast??? One of my favorite quotes by the Hawk, "I'm so old I remember when the Dead Sea was only sick." - Thats how I feel after this little test! Some great memories!


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

A stack of 45s, each with a little plastic insert, set up on the "automatic record player", to drop, one after the other, as they play. After about 4, the angle was usually too steep for the turntable arm to track very well.

The sound of a record finished playing, and the needle sitting in the "endless groove" at the end of the side: chhhht, chhhht, chhhhht. I had a Lone Ranger single (still have it!) with a dramatic adventure that took up two sides. "He lowered his rifle, aimed at Crazy Wolf, and fired.......chhht, chhht, chhht, chhhht". Quick! turn it over, turn it over!!

What I find truly amazing is the very idea of an automobile turntable. In a world where I would yell at my sister across the house to stop jumping so that my turntable wouldn't skip (even with a couple of pennies plasticined to the arm for mass), the notion of playing records in your car while you hit everybump, pothole, and expansion joint known to man, seems ludicrous....but it happened!









Rabbit ears on TVs. Yes, there was a time when off-air reception was all there was, and it was maybe 3 or 4 channels, and you absolutely had to hold the "rabbit ear" antenna" just so to get clear reception. I can remember so many hockey and football games where my role was to sit close to the TV holding the antenna the right way so that my dad could watch the game. And of course, while it seems bizarre now, tubes were often purchased at the drug store. Usually near the entrance, in my experience, would be a stand with a tube tester. You'd bring your assorted tubes in and check them out to see which one or ones were bad. Once identified, the pharmacist would unlock the little door underneath the tester where they kept their tube stock, and rummage around to find a replacement. You could also buy replacement record-player needles at the drug store. But just the all-metal kind, not the ones with diamonds or sapphires in the tip.

For me, the world is divided up into those who watched Ed Sullivan on Feb 9, 16, and 23, 1964, and those who didn't. For a while, I used to feel "old" when I realized that some of my students weren't born until after Woodstock. But when I started realizing that some of their _parents_ weren't born until after Woodtsock, THAT hit home.

The wonderful cartoonist and writer, Lynda J. Barry, has a way of capturing what it is to be 12 better than just about anyone on the planet. When Peter Gzowski was interviewing her some 15 or more years ago, he asked her how she managed to recall so much of that age. She replied that it began with objects. "Make a list of all the favourite shoes you ever owned, or all the cars your family had", she said, "and all those objects will bring back associated memories".


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## marcos (Jan 13, 2009)

Great stories on here. Thanks FlipFlopFly for taking me down memory lane. I remember going down to the corner store where my mom had a charge account. I just took anything I wanted and the lady put it on a piece of paper and my dad would pay the bill at the end of the week.Those were the days !!! I remember almost everything mentioned on this post so, that makes me older than dirt and proud of it.LOL.


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

There is only one question in that stack that if you answer yes to, will confirm that you are old as dirt. Do you remember party lines. Yes, I do. I am old as dirt.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Call me grumpy, but for me a "real" telephone weighs a couple of pounds, is made of black bakelite, and has a curly cord......for that hendrix tone, of course.


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## Swervin55 (Oct 30, 2009)

Robert1950 said:


> There is only one question in that stack that if you answer yes to, will confirm that you are old as dirt. Do you remember party lines. Yes, I do. I am old as dirt.


Longs and shorts, one ringy dingy, two ringy dingy...


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

Hahaha Party Lines are still in use in remote communities or were as of 1994. Many of my first nations friends had them on the reserve.

Where those S&H the square yellow pads with the black line checker board pattern, about 4 or so inches square, you had to stick on the green stamps with the white writing? If so, I remember those in the drawer under our telephone... that was olive green, and a guy FROM BELL would come to your home and actually FIX IT FOR YOU after INSTALLING IT FOR YOU!!


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

marcos said:


> Great stories on here. Thanks FlipFlopFly for taking me down memory lane. I remember going down to the corner store where my mom had a charge account. I just took anything I wanted and the lady put it on a piece of paper and my dad would pay the bill at the end of the week.Those were the days !!! I remember almost everything mentioned on this post so, that makes me older than dirt and proud of it.LOL.


Memory lane is great, isn't it? There were five things on here I don't know about but I think it's because of where I lived (a little village in N.B.) that I don't know about them.


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## naisen (Nov 25, 2009)

My kid brought home a pack of those candy cigarettes on halloween! I never found out who was giving them out but I had myself a sick chuckle as i confiscated them. They didn't even taste that good. 
I turn 40 this week and i feel older than dirt but thanks to this thread i realize YOU guys are older than dirt, not me ...and thanks for that!


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## Alex Csank (Jul 22, 2010)

I know I'm older than dirt because one of my Grandfathers was born in the 1890s, while the other one was born in 1900 and was a vet of the First World War (on the wrong side!). I didn't have a record player in mine, but I did install an 8-track in my first car.


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## rhh7 (Mar 14, 2008)

My first pack of cigarettes cost me 16 cents...the little old Italian lady who owned the grocery store could not see well enough to determine that I was underage. My neighborhood tavern did not check id either. I drank draft beer for 15 cents, can of beer for 25 cents. Highballs were 50 cents. I quit smoking about 20 years later, I think my last pack of cigarettes cost me $1.75.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

naisen said:


> My kid brought home a pack of those candy cigarettes on halloween! I never found out who was giving them out but I had myself a sick chuckle as i confiscated them. They didn't even taste that good.
> I turn 40 this week and i feel older than dirt but thanks to this thread i realize YOU guys are older than dirt, not me ...and thanks for that!


The ones I had recently were tasty.

But sometimes we remember things as tasting better than they did.
Sometimes they change how they make them--for the worse.


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

zontar said:


> The ones I had recently were tasty.
> 
> But sometimes we remember things as tasting better than they did.
> Sometimes they change how they make them--for the worse.


Any remember the chocolate ones .. that had papers and blew a little puff of smoke?


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

I knew 7. In Cape Breton the house I lived in until I was 7 had an outhouse and a pump for water in the kitchen. We had one of those big old Cast iron kitchen stoves (LOL not a HOMELAND appliance) and bathing was in a wash tube in the kitchen once per week. Those old wringer washers were a fright weren't they?

KFC was a twice per year treat on Mothers Day and Fathers Day. When I was a little older it was Napoli pizza on Sat nights! Anyone remember The Saturday night Movie? Hockey was the Habs on CTV or the Frech Channel if it was a home game.

Oh Yeah, we got to go out in the summer after breakfast, come home for lunch, scram again and be home for dinner, then again and be home by dark. No one worried about where you were or what you were doing. We'd play hide and seek or baseball till the cows came home. It was awesome!

Oh yeah I'm not that old, only 43.


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## Alex Csank (Jul 22, 2010)

Starbuck said:


> ...In Cape Breton the house I lived in until I was 7...


Ahhhh, so you're a 'Caper'!! It's no wonder you're musical! I remember great times in kitchens in Cape Breton - playing, drinking and singing with all kinds of really talented and fun folks.


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

shoretyus said:


> Any remember the chocolate ones .. that had papers and blew a little puff of smoke?



Chocolate cigs ring a bell but not a clear note, I may have encountered them once but it was not something in my area. The white candy ones were ok, but I also remember them tasting better back 30 years ago. I do also remember the black licorice cigars with the red round ball candies at the ends of them :B

LOL I am 41, not OVER old as well. It seems those of us in the 40's have the benefit of seeing a transition of cultures before and after the 1960's where some of us have NO experience of the life of lifestyles of peoples pre-1961, and only post-1961. Some of us have had family and generations that straddled right back to 1900 (my grandparents were born in the 1910-1919 time zone, my parents in 1941) and they continued many of those aspects of life.

I think my first colour TV was when I was 9!! In 1978/9!! First VCR was 1981. First microwave oven was 1980. We were not "rich" and so many things took us a few years longer than what they took many others around us, but the result was we lived "older" than the people around us too.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Do I get any cred if I say that I once played with the original Figgy Duff?

They played at our house party in St. John's, when I was there for grad school in '76, and once you're in the kitchen.....well, you just gahts te join in, bye, duzn't yuz?

Computers:

First use of computer was in 76 at Memorial. University computing facility was shared with Nfld Hydro, and several other public institutions. The "computer room" had a bunch of teletype terminals with rock-em sock-em *300 baud *acoustic couplers. None of that sissy 75 baud crap. At McMaster, I moved up to a PDP8i, with 4k of RAM, a hard drive with a platter the size of an extra-large pizza that could hold....wait for it....10 megabytes! There was no screen, and we had to toggle in the bootstrap program in octal every morning on startup. On the bright side, we had just about every golf game known to mankind on paper tape.

In '82, when I was in grad school at U of A, I bought myself a computer with 12k of RAM that ran at *2mhz*, and had a 32 character screen. I did much of my thesis on that. Do you have any idea what it's like to manually check the spelling of something that splits words any way it wants to when the word won't fit in the allotted 32-character space? The only words that didn't get split up were "a" and "I". A buddy in the next office over had some cash to spend so he sprung for the first "portable", an Osborne: http://oldcomputers.net/osborne.html. Since it had a 52-character screen, and Wordstar, which was more complex than the 4k wordprocessor that I bought for my Acorn Atom, I finished my thesis on that.

There's another one for the stack: computers that were "fully loaded" if they had 64k of RAM.


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

I remember watching live broadcasts of Soupy Sales across the river from Detroit in glorious B&W. Believe it or not, I just found the original rabbit ears antennae for that TV set in my mum's old house. They never threw anything away.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Do any of you still play your guitar through those old style amps that have tubes?

cheers


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## Chubba (Aug 23, 2009)

I got 9, but some are vague memories (I'm 35, whatever that means)...like milk delivered to my grandfather's house when I was pretty young, the party line at my great-grandfather's house (and answering the wrong call and arguing with my uncle, 'but it was the ring you said!' lol) 
i bought a black and white tv with my first paper route money (it was the 80s, but it was the tv i could afford and i loved it!...lol), and i remember the cable tv "remote" that was itself connected to the tv with a cable, and had the slidey triangle thing where the channels were marked to #13, then switched to A-W (or something like that)...and the big deal it was getting our first vcr which also had a 'remote' you plugged in...good times


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

shoretyus said:


> Any remember the chocolate ones .. that had papers and blew a little puff of smoke?


Yes.

I mentioned the bubblegum ones in an earlier post as well.
The chocolate ones tended to be bad chocolay=te--the bubblegum ones were hard to chew & lsot their flavour real quickly--but as kids--whatever--it was candy...


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

greco said:


> Do any of you still play your guitar through those old style amps that have tubes?
> 
> cheers



I read that and laughed, several times now since you first posted it. But just now I also remembered how the Christmas tree lights were painted. Brown, and green and yellow and had ridges and textures to the glass ... time to google that!










Vintage Ornaments

yup, those. The bubblers and the flames an the larger mogul based ones as well as these small ones 

Oh and these, I remember these too 1950's Atomic Ranch House: Wonderful Mid-Century Christmas Lights!


How many people have either danced the Charleston or Lindy Hop (these styles began in the '20s and extended into the '50s I found it fun to watch my son and daughter a couple years ago learning to Tango and to Lindy LOL go school athletic programs!!) or had family with parlor rooms where the older folks would get together and dance? Up north, I remember my cousins, they had the parlor room and in there the wind up gramaphone and in that room they would kick up their heals and dance 

Oh and my best friend growing up. His father loved Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Benny Goodman et al. Every night, after dinner, it was his fathers "quiet time" and he would have "quiet" to put on records and for an hour listen to music and these musicians.

Gosh, in that time even, I remember Hockey Cards had both meaning and value. Value to trade with your buddies not to sell for 1000's at trade shows!


YouTube - 1920's The Charleston
[video=youtube;ZJC21zzkwoE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJC21zzkwoE[/video]


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

Oh the crappy candy of our youth. 

Hey Mark .. did you see where they sold a NOS first run Apple computer this week at Christies auction house for $215,000


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

zontar said:


> Yes.
> 
> I mentioned the bubblegum ones in an earlier post as well.
> The chocolate ones tended to be bad chocolay=te--the bubblegum ones were hard to chew & lsot their flavour real quickly--but as kids--whatever--it was candy...


Yes not to mention the very politically incorrect candy we used to get and of course an also politically incorrect doll that was dress like Aunt Jemima. Honestly I can not believe the things we had as kids!


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

Yup, older than dirt. I remember "gold bond" stamps though, from the grocery store. When it was safe to bite into that candy apple you got from the neighbour on Halloween. Playing in the woods all day with my buddies. My mom would say she had to set traps for me somedays to get me home. My dad complaining about the price of gas at 25 cents/gallon and my mom complaining bread was 4 for $1. Drinking water from the hose, and from the creeks in the woods. NOT seeing McD's and Timmies litter all over.


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

mhammer said:


> Do I get any cred if I say that I once played with the original Figgy Duff?
> 
> They played at our house party in St. John's, when I was there for grad school in '76, and once you're in the kitchen.....well, you just gahts te join in, bye, duzn't yuz?
> 
> ...


You forgot to mention the IBM cards, the magnetic tapes, paper tapes, 256k disk drives bigger than refrigerators, apart from having the computer room in freezing temperatures.  I started writing assembler and cobol programs also in '76. 

I got 21 in the questionaire so I guess I'm old as dirt.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

There is a particular nightmare that only people of a certain age have ever had or will ever have.

You've finally finished punching all that data on the 80-column cards. The stack is probably a few hundred cards high. You are marching across campus to the computing centre to process them when you trip or a gust of wind comes along and all the cards go scattering.

When my sister was in grade 10, we had rotating teacher strikes in our school board, and my sister spent about 3 days out of every 5 sitting on the curb. My mother decided she needed a backup plan so she enrolled my sister in a trainng program so that she would at least have a trade to fall back on. My sister became a....wait for it......keypunch operator. That career last about 18 months until the entire technology changed and the training became useless. She would have had better luck learning to repair 8-tracks or Betamax or Elcaset recorders.


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## Beatles (Feb 7, 2006)

Took the poll. Looks like dirt's younger than me. Any bonus points for a perfect score?? 

Had to be home when the street lights went on. EVERYTHING was closed on Sunday. My complete set of Beatles and Rat Patrol cards. Heckle and Jeckle, Sky King, the Lone Ranger, Pauncho and Cisco, all in glorious B&W. Delivering fish and chips on my bike (my first job....I was 11). Much simpler times.


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

Fish and Chips // wrapped in newspaper..... .. feel like a dirt farmer now


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

shoretyus said:


> Fish and Chips // wrapped in newspaper..... .. feel like a dirt farmer now


There was a place right near where we lived in Victoria that served 'em that way as recently as 1990 (when we moved). They might still do it like that.

But yes, that is exactly how fish and chips SHOULD be eaten.


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## auger-1 (Aug 12, 2010)

For sure I'm older than dirt....score of 25....
and I remember the esso power players albums
Lincoln continentals with suicide doors
black balls
barbats sherbet
pure spring pop-in ice chest coolers where you had to slide the bottle along the path to the mechanism, which if you paid ,allowed the bottle to come out.
mopeds
softball/fastball
hank snow
hot cinnamon tooth picks
barber shops
what it was like to catch real trophy fish
building models
chemistry sets
turkish taffy
I'd better stop now.....lol memory overload

Auger


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## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

Tarbender said:


> Black Jack Gum - my mouth is watering just thinking about it! Talk about bringing back memories... One of my 'chores' was to stick the S & H Greenstamps into the books. On payday, Dad would take us to the local drug store for icecream floats. How did I get so old so fast??? One of my favorite quotes by the Hawk, "I'm so old I remember when the Dead Sea was only sick." - Thats how I feel after this little test! Some great memories!


Wasn't S&H American? I remember doing the ritual with Loblaws greenstamps I think.........


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## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

rhh7 said:


> My first pack of cigarettes cost me 16 cents...the little old Italian lady who owned the grocery store could not see well enough to determine that I was underage. My neighborhood tavern did not check id either. I drank draft beer for 15 cents, can of beer for 25 cents. Highballs were 50 cents. I quit smoking about 20 years later, I think my last pack of cigarettes cost me $1.75.


Ordering a tray of draft on the "Men's" side .... as opposed to the "Ladies and Escorts" side. Those big old jars on the bar filled with pickled eggs, Kielbassa, onions .... yuck!!!!!!


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## puckhead (Sep 8, 2008)

shoretyus said:


> How's about the FIRST Ipod.... well those small am/fm pocket radios, you know the ones in the leather cases..... I had that thing apart a million times...


this was my first radio.











Robert1950 said:


> There is only one question in that stack that if you answer yes to, will confirm that you are old as dirt. Do you remember party lines. Yes, I do. I am old as dirt.


that came in pretty gradually across the country. I had never seen party lines until I visited my relatives in Manitoba as a 7 year old (1977). I don't know when the change-over started / ended.



keeperofthegood said:


> I think my first colour TV was when I was 9!! In 1978/9!! First VCR was 1981. First microwave oven was 1980. We were not "rich" and so many things took us a few years longer than what they took many others around us, but the result was we lived "older" than the people around us too.


My dad splurged on a JVC VCR in the early 80's. big colourful buttons, and it even had a remote control. Only the person sitting closest to the TV could use it though, as the cord on the remote was only about 10 feet long. It cost $850.

I remember getting pretty darned pissed when the price of hockey cards increased to more pennies per pack than there were cards in the pack (ie. $0.25 per pack, and you got 23 cards + the stick of concrete gum).


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Starbuck said:


> I knew 7. In Cape Breton the house I lived in until I was 7 had an outhouse and a pump for water in the kitchen. We had one of those big old Cast iron kitchen stoves (LOL not a HOMELAND appliance) and bathing was in a wash tube in the kitchen once per week. Those old wringer washers were a fright weren't they?
> 
> KFC was a twice per year treat on Mothers Day and Fathers Day. When I was a little older it was Napoli pizza on Sat nights! Anyone remember The Saturday night Movie? Hockey was the Habs on CTV or the Frech Channel if it was a home game.
> 
> ...


Starbuck: I lived very similarly growing up. We did get (cold) running water in our house and a two piece washroom when I was 15. We were happy and secure, though nonetheless.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

mhammer said:


> There is a particular nightmare that only people of a certain age have ever had or will ever have.
> 
> You've finally finished punching all that data on the 80-column cards. The stack is probably a few hundred cards high. You are marching across campus to the computing centre to process them when you trip or a gust of wind comes along and all the cards go scattering.
> 
> When my sister was in grade 10, we had rotating teacher strikes in our school board, and my sister spent about 3 days out of every 5 sitting on the curb. My mother decided she needed a backup plan so she enrolled my sister in a trainng program so that she would at least have a trade to fall back on. My sister became a....wait for it......keypunch operator. That career last about 18 months until the entire technology changed and the training became useless. She would have had better luck learning to repair 8-tracks or Betamax or Elcaset recorders.


My father-in-law used to work for IBM and sold those punch card machines. Computers are still based on that numerical system according to him.


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

FlipFlopFly said:


> Starbuck: I lived very similarly growing up. We did get (cold) running water in our house and a two piece washroom when I was 15. We were happy and secure, though nonetheless.


You know I have an old (instamatic) shot of me in the tin wash tub out the the front yard when I was about 3 on my fridge. This morning my 5 year old daughter asked me why I was in the bath in the front yard. I had to explain to her about NOT having a bathroom or running water in the house... Good Old memories. I'm not even that old!


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Hockey cards and transistor radios! 

There was a time when "transistor radios" (and you had to call them that) would list the number of transistors as a spec. The way folks would now say "a 100 watt amp", we would say "a 7-transistor radio". Best Dallas Rangemaster clone I ever built was using a 2SB172 germanium transistor pulled from the first such radio I ever bought, in 1965. Hung onto those parts for 40 years.

Hockey and football cards were a nickel a pack when I started out buying them, though they soon went up to a dime. And yes, the gum it came with was appalling. And anyone from that era will be familiar with the phrase "need'm, need'm, got'm, got'm, got'm, need'm".

Before sports cards became a financial investment, they were effectively poker chips. Recess was spent playing "closies" and "knockdowns" against the school wall. If you were skilled and lucky, you'd come home with more cards than you went to school with that day. And if you weren't so skilled or lucky, and not possessed of impulse control, you'd come home with less.


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## puckhead (Sep 8, 2008)

mhammer said:


> Hockey and football cards were a nickel a pack when I started out buying them, though they soon went up to a dime. And yes, the gum it came with was appalling. And anyone from that era will be familiar with the phrase "need'm, need'm, got'm, got'm, got'm, need'm".
> 
> Before sports cards became a financial investment, they were effectively poker chips. Recess was spent playing "closies" and "knockdowns" against the school wall. If you were skilled and lucky, you'd come home with more cards than you went to school with that day. And if you weren't so skilled or lucky, and not possessed of impulse control, you'd come home with less.


*lol* I must say I got pretty damned talented at all the hockey card games. also 'topsies' and 'farsies', which was either outdoors or in the longest hallway in school. I remember the scandal when a kid was caught gluing two cards together to create a 'farsies' advantage.
My father would buy me 10 packs of cards when the season began, and after that it was up to me to trade or play for the rest of the series. i usually came pretty damned close to completing by the year end.
And then of course there were the kids who at the end of the year would climb on top of the monkey bars with their collections and yell SCRAMBLE!!!! and toss them out to the grabbing, fighting, kicking, gouging masses below. Some of those cards were in pretty rough shape, but the thrill of victory made it all worth while


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Somewhere in our house, in a box of stuff hastily packed, is a 1980 Gretsky card I found on the ground when we were living in Edmonton.

Incidentally, "need'm, need'm, got'm, got'm, got'm, need'm" was a phrase that came about because you got a lot of cards for your money but you also got a lot of repeats or "traders".

One series of cards I never really understood was "Civil War" cards that came out in 1962 ( Civil War News 1962 Trading Card Set ). These were drawings depicting scenarios from the American Civil War. the ones my colleagues tended to value the most were the "gross" ones, usually depicting one soldier skewering one or more others with a bayonet. The more disemboweling, the more we liked it.

Jell-o hockey wheels, car wheels and airplane wheels were another thing we collected. Mike's Jell-O coin collection I actually had an Avro Arrow airplane wheel for a while. Sorry I lost it.

Television shows unfamiliar to many here:

Crusader Rabbit ( Crusader Rabbit )
Hopalong Cassidy (Official Hopalong Cassidy Website)
Cisco Kid
Rin-Tin-Tin
Lassie
Sky Pilot
Razzle Dazzle (with Al Hamel, Michelle Finney, and Howard the Turtle)
Time Out for Adventure (CBC kids show featuring primarily British children's series)
Thierry la Fronde (French Robin Hood like series)
Robin Hood (w/Richard Greene)
Zorro
Danger Man (w/Patrick McGoohan and one of the greatest intro themes ever YouTube - Danger Man Theme - Edwin Astley Orchestra - 1965 45rpm )
Mr. Fixit, w/Peter Whitall ( TVarchive.ca - Episode Guide for Mr. Fix-it )

Not a show, but TV anyway: Murray Westgate, the Esso service man, a frequent sight on Hockey Night in Canada.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

mhammer said:


> Somewhere in our house, in a box of stuff hastily packed, is a 1980 Gretsky card I found on the ground when we were living in Edmonton.
> 
> Incidentally, "need'm, need'm, got'm, got'm, got'm, need'm" was a phrase that came about because you got a lot of cards for your money but you also got a lot of repeats or "traders".
> 
> ...


I remember only some of those shows; not because of memory loss or that I'm not old enough, but I'm from N.B. and we just didn't get a lot of those shows in the Maritimes. I think that's also the reason I only scored 20 of the 25 out of my original list.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Try to explain to the kids and grand-kids that Hockey Night in Canada was one night a week. Saturday. 5:00 to 5:30 was Bugs Bunny, 5:30 'til usually about 7:00 was hockey. The little thing on my desk that says Tandy is a computer....32Kb rom and 32Kb ram. And the little rocketship is a radio....no batteries, you clip it to a long wire that provides power and acts as the antenna. My two brothers and my self used to listen to am radio stations from all over the world at 2 in the morning.....radios clipped to a 1/4 mile of fence.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Electraglide said:


> Try to explain to the kids and grand-kids that Hockey Night in Canada was one night a week. Saturday. 5:00 to 5:30 was Bugs Bunny, 5:30 'til usually about 7:00 was hockey. The little thing on my desk that says Tandy is a computer....32Kb rom and 32Kb ram. And the little rocketship is a radio....no batteries, you clip it to a long wire that provides power and acts as the antenna. My two brothers and my self used to listen to am radio stations from all over the world at 2 in the morning.....radios clipped to a 1/4 mile of fence.


Sunday schedule? Disney at 6:00, Mitch Miller at 7:00, Sullivan at 8:00 (Beatles at 8:10 and 8:54), Bonanza at 9:00, bedtime before it ended.

The wonders of AM radio and crystal radios.....

In 64-66, the real thrill for me was catching the top 100 New Year's countdown from WABC New York, with Cousin Brucie, for all those great R&B and Brill Building hits. WBZ Boston and WCAU Philadelphia were also catchable from my Montreal location late at night, though reception would drift in and out.

Around 68 or so , I used to listen to a station from Rochester, WHAM 1180, and a jazz show late Sunday night that was hosted by what seemed to be the only guy left in the building. It'd be "And now the news with Hal Abrahams", "Next, the weather with Hal Abrahams", "Hi folks, Hal Abrahams here for Joe Blow Ford-Mercury", "And now, 'The Best of All Possible Worlds', with Hal Abrahams". He'd play wads of wonderful jazz, and especially trios and combos based on Hammond B3, whether Jimmy McGriff, Jimmy Smith, or Richard Groove Holmes. But the best part was that the station was wedged in between WWVA 1170, one off THE major country stations on the continent, and some other station at 1190. Both of them played the Billy Graham "Hour of Decision" that time of night, except about 30 seconds out of sync (probably because the weather at the top of the hour took longer in one place than the other). Of course, being AM, and being far away (I was in Montreal, remember), the stations would fade in and out. So it would go from Billy Graham ranting "Verily I say unto YOU!", fizzling out and fading into somebody blowing their brains out hard on a tenor, back to Billy Graham repeating himself, to the tenor, and so on. Of course, these days WHAM is a Clear Channel, so they have a different sort of blowhard - Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh. At least Billy Graham knew he was reciting the Bible; he didn't think he wrote it.

Tandy...

My basement is a computer museum. Z80, 8086, 286, 386, 486, 486DX, early Mac later Mac, Sinclairs, Acorn, early and later edition CoCo. No Commodores, unfortunately, but somebody had an Atari 1040ST for $40 today, and boy am I tempted. Got some lovely 80k single-sided 5-1/4" floppy drives in the garage. Great for putting in the trunk if you need extra traction during icy weather,


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

I actually had a 1956 Mickey Mantle baseball card - not in very good shape from what I can remember. I wonder what ever happened to it?


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

mhammer said:


> .......Around 68 or so , I used to listen to a station from Rochester, WHAM 1180, and a jazz show late Sunday night that was hosted by what seemed to be the only guy left in the building. It'd be "And now the news with Hal Abrahams", "Next, the weather with Hal Abrahams", "Hi folks, Hal Abrahams here for Joe Blow Ford-Mercury", "And now, 'The Best of All Possible Worlds', with Hal Abrahams". He'd play wads of wonderful jazz, and especially trios and combos based on Hammond B3, whether Jimmy McGriff, Jimmy Smith, or Richard Groove Holmes. But the best part was that the station was wedged in between WWVA 1170, one off THE major country stations on the continent, and some other station at 1190. Both of them played the Billy Graham "Hour of Decision" that time of night, except about 30 seconds out of sync (probably because the weather at the top of the hour took longer in one place than the other). Of course, being AM, and being far away (I was in Montreal, remember), the stations would fade in and out. So it would go from Billy Graham ranting "Verily I say unto YOU!", fizzling out and fading into somebody blowing their brains out hard on a tenor, back to Billy Graham repeating himself, to the tenor, and so on. Of course, these days WHAM is a Clear Channel, so they have a different sort of blowhard - Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh. At least Billy Graham knew he was reciting the Bible; he didn't think he wrote it. ...........


Mark...PLEASE write that book I've been pleading with you to undertake. I could read your posts for hours. 
This portion was hilarious. You write so exceptionally well !! 

Many thanks for the hours of enjoyment you have provided through your talented writing.

My stepdaughter will be graduating from Carleton with her PhD soon. I will be going to Ottawa for a few days at that time (FOR SURE). Maybe I could repay you with a beverage of your choice, if that could be arranged.

Cheers


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## ajcoholic (Feb 5, 2006)

mhammer said:


> Jell-o hockey wheels, car wheels and airplane wheels were another thing we collected. Mike's Jell-O coin collection I actually had an Avro Arrow airplane wheel for a while. Sorry I lost it.


I have a Lancaster Bomber wheel. I dont even remember where I got it from - what year were those out?

AJC


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## fraser (Feb 24, 2007)

ajcoholic said:


> I have a Lancaster Bomber wheel. I dont even remember where I got it from - what year were those out?
> 
> AJC


1941 at the oldest - unless it was left over from the manchester- then a year older


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

Eh? What's that sonny? Don't give me any lip! What? Speak up you little $%#%! Eh?


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Electraglide said:


> Try to explain to the kids and grand-kids that Hockey Night in Canada was one night a week. Saturday. 5:00 to 5:30 was Bugs Bunny, 5:30 'til usually about 7:00 was hockey. The little thing on my desk that says Tandy is a computer....32Kb rom and 32Kb ram. And the little rocketship is a radio....no batteries, you clip it to a long wire that provides power and acts as the antenna. My two brothers and my self used to listen to am radio stations from all over the world at 2 in the morning.....radios clipped to a 1/4 mile of fence.


Yep, I used to listen to the rock radio station that was in NY city when I was in my teens about 40 years ago (wow! that long ago eh?) I lived about 30 miles from Fredericton at the time and it came in clear after midnight.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

ajcoholic said:


> I have a Lancaster Bomber wheel. I dont even remember where I got it from - what year were those out?
> 
> AJC


Working backwards, and considering the grade I was in when they were popular, I'm going to say around 1962 or so.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

When I was a kid we got into the movies on Saturday for $0.25. A bag of chips cost $0.05 (or $0.10 for a big bag) and a two scoop ice-cream cone cost $0.10.


We had two TV channels. One was French and the other Henglish. Cars had carbuerators, seat belts were just starting to be used. There were no front wheel drive cars except for one GM model I can't recall, that nobody liked.

They landed on the moon when I was nine.


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

Milkman said:


> There were no front wheel drive cars except for one GM model I can't recall, that nobody liked.


The Corvair?


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## Alex Csank (Jul 22, 2010)

shoretyus said:


> The Corvair?


No, the Corvair had a rear engine and rear wheel drive. The Oldsmbile Toronado and the Cadillac Eldorado both came out with Front Wheel Drive in the late '60s, and were actually pretty popular. But there WERE lots of other front-wheel drive cars being sold in Canada back then. The Austin mini, the Austin America, the Citroen DS-19 and DS-21, Saabs and many other imports used front-wheel drive. The Corvair, the entire VW line of cars and microbus derivatives, Porsches and some older Renaults and Simcas used a rear-engine, rear wheel drive configuration.

In Montreal, where I grew up, there were almost as many imported cars as there were American cars. We had lots of VWs, Volvos, Saabs, Datsuns, Toyotas, Mazdas, Renaults, FIATs, Alfa Romeos, Austins, Morris', MGs, Triumphs, Peugeots, Citroens, Rovers, Jaguars, Porsches, BMWs and others. The British cars were all made of a special metal called 'Britishinium', which is the only metal known to man which can rust even when immersed in oil!!!


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

We lived in Victoria for 5 years, and as any resident there can attest, those cars don't actually rust as much as you'd thik. The city is awash in Vauxhall Vivas, Hillman Minxes, Austin Cambridges, Morris Minors, and all manner of other Brit cars from the 50's. I'm not saying they don't require a bit of work now and then, but they are in pretty damn fine shape, and you can find mechanics for them pretty easily because of their sheer volume. One of the highest per capita Studebaker counts I've ever seen, too. Avanti....mmmmm, now THERE was a terrific-looking car.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Nope. I didn't think the Corvair was front wheen drive. It WAS Rear engine though.


I think it may have been a Buick Riviera or csomething similar.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Alex Csank said:


> No, the Corvair had a rear engine and rear wheel drive. The Oldsmbile Toronado and the Cadillac Eldorado both came out with Front Wheel Drive in the late '60s, and were actually pretty popular. But there WERE lots of other front-wheel drive cars being sold in Canada back then. The Austin mini, the Austin America, the Citroen DS-19 and DS-21, Saabs and many other imports used front-wheel drive. The Corvair, the entire VW line of cars and microbus derivatives, Porsches and some older Renaults and Simcas used a rear-engine, rear wheel drive configuration.
> 
> In Montreal, where I grew up, there were almost as many imported cars as there were American cars. We had lots of VWs, Volvos, Saabs, Datsuns, Toyotas, Mazdas, Renaults, FIATs, Alfa Romeos, Austins, Morris', MGs, Triumphs, Peugeots, Citroens, Rovers, Jaguars, Porsches, BMWs and others. The British cars were all made of a special metal called 'Britishinium', which is the only metal known to man which can rust even when immersed in oil!!!


That's it. The Olds Toronado.

Thanks


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## Alex Csank (Jul 22, 2010)

mhammer said:


> We lived in Victoria for 5 years, and as any resident there can attest, those cars don't actually rust as much as you'd thik. The city is awash in Vauxhall Vivas, Hillman Minxes, Austin Cambridges, Morris Minors, and all manner of other Brit cars from the 50's. I'm not saying they don't require a bit of work now and then, but they are in pretty damn fine shape, and you can find mechanics for them pretty easily because of their sheer volume. One of the highest per capita Studebaker counts I've ever seen, too. Avanti....mmmmm, now THERE was a terrific-looking car.


Uhhh, Victoria you say? Of course there are still lots of Brit cars there! They don't have WINTER! In the Prairies and most of Southern BC, road salt wasn't a primary tool against slippery roads. But in the rest of Canada, ALL cars rusted away very quickly when driven in the Winter...the British cars were particularly prone to rust because of their lack of rust-proofing treatments, the type of steel they used and the primer and paint techniques used in British auto factories. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE old British cars and used to ice-race Mini-Coopers and Morris Minors back in the mid-70s. But sometimes we would have to saw two cars in half and use the front of one with the rear from another because of rust and these cars were only a couple of years old!

Winter in Victoria?!?!? I lived there for a year...and never felt the need to wear a parka! Raincoats, umbrellas and rubber boots maybe, but no parka, mukluks or snowshoes!


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Growing up in central and southern B.C. I remember very large piles of salt and sand. My '52 GMC was "airconditioned" by the stuff. Does anybody remember chain drive Honda Cars? 'bout 1964 or so. And what ever happened to butterfly windows and suicide doors? As far as winter on the lower coast.....once every few years it decides to snow.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Electraglide said:


> Growing up in central and southern B.C. I remember very large piles of salt and sand. My '52 GMC was "airconditioned" by the stuff. Does anybody remember chain drive Honda Cars? 'bout 1964 or so. And what ever happened to butterfly windows and suicide doors? As far as winter on the lower coast.....once every few years it decides to snow.


You've got me on all of those things. I know about suicide doors but have only seen them in pictures or movies.


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## Morkolo (Dec 9, 2010)

I can say 0-5 only because I can remember reaching the taps in the bathroom for the first time when I was 4 besides that all I remember for the next five years after is Hulk Hogan and Ninja Turtles.


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