skydiver70

Oh, yes, I remember when Mama had a wringer type washer and she used the wash tubs to rinse the clothes in. Mama told how when she was young, she had to do a lot of the family wash. She said she had been doing it for a long time (she used a scrub board back then) when Grandma told her one day not to starch her underwear or her brother's overalls. Mama said it made her so mad that Grandma would tell her this, so she made some extra thick starch (flour and water) and dipped Grandma's underwear and Mama's brother's overalls in the starch and hung them out to dry. When Grandma went to get her underwear off the line, they were so stiff they would stand alone. Mama said she was never told again how to wash clothes.

Mama also said she had to do a lot of the cooking and sometimes there would be a brother and his wife and kids living there with Grandma and Grandpa. She said she got tired of having to do so much cooking that she made some cornbread one day and put castor oil in it. she didn't tell anyone, and also she didn't eat any. She said, "guess who spent a lot of time in the outhouse that day"..everyone but her.

And speaking of outhouses and snakes. We were "uptown with our outhouse"....we had a two seater. One large one and one small one. I was in the outhouse one day when I was little and using the large one, when up came a snakes head out of the small hole. Talk about "skeedaddling", I did.

Also, Remember the black berry pickings, fishing and dog paddling in the creek that ran through our property.

Remember the Saturday night baths in the big ole wash tub in the kitchen.

I hd better shut up....rambled on enough. This has been fun to reminisce (spelling??)

Oh, the good ole days!!!

patricej

that was worth saying twice. i remember all those same things ... except it was 50 cents for the movies.

you have no idea how often i wish to this very day that i could "camp" out in my back yard.

Tussymussy

Monday was wash day. Mother had a boiler in which the whites went first, then the safe colours ( the temperature had gone down a bit by now) and then one by one the colours might run.

A dolly was used to push the washing round the boiler. Mothers was three pronged and it would be bounced up and down, usually by me!

Then the rinsing would begin. Each load would be put in the sink and swished around in cold water, transferred to a bowl and rushed into the garden, no matter what the weather, and I then put the wet washing through the mangle. This procedure took place three times, before the item/s were hung on the line.

The mangle had rubber rollers and was a beast if you got a finger or thumb caught. But I was caught picking at the rubber as it had perished..... Oh what a hiding I got.

You can't even think of kids going through that nowadays can you?

My gran would put a blue bag in the whites. I can remember her have a gas fridge - one of the first made. It was wonderful after using a marble shelf in the pantry to keep things cold.

Another childhood memory is mother making a jelly one Christmas and she wanted it to set in a hurry as company was arriving soon. So, she put it outside on the kitchen windowsill - it had been very frosty, and it froze. I am sure you will know what happened next........ us kids weren't impressed with our dessert that day.

Honey

I remember my mother doing MOUNDS of laundry (there were 11 of us) with her wringer washer. All of the whites got done on Monday and the colors done on Tuesday then the things that needed it got starched and rolled up. Then Wednesday was for ironing all of it. She had a soda bottle with a saltshaker lid for "sprinkling" so that every wrinkle came out. It was my job to iron the hankies, pillow cases and doilies. Then before bed we would all play kick the can and watch the fireflies come out. On hot summer nights you could see the northern lights and hear a coyote howling in the hills. How I miss those days. We worked, but we also played and every day there was time set aside for reading. We had a tv, but it was mainly for my dad to watch the news and the Friday night fights (boxing). It was rarely turned on during the day. There was just to much else to do. In the spring and summer we played baseball and in the fall it was football and basketball. We roamed the hills and swam and skated on the pond. We attended a 3 room school and got a great education. I didn't know how good it was until I got older.

Ramona Byrd

Oh, those were the good old days, except I'm afraid of what Grandma might have called them.
I remember reading by kerosene lamps that made the room so cozy, picking that special load of small kindling for the fire place, being proud to get that special size for the wood stove in the kitchen.
The horrid nights I stood at the kitchen window with a quilt around my shoulders, wondering if I wanted to run through the rain or else use that embarrassing thunder mug under the bed, because I was the one who would have to carry it out to the outhouse next day. and a certain visiting aunt (I never did like her and still don't) would be sure to tease me about what I had done in it.
I remember washing my hair with lye soap, and I was in my teens before I found out there was other stuff to buy just for washing hair. We couldn't afford it then, but we all had long and shiny hair. Pictures confirm that, our hair shined in the sunlight.
I remember struggling back from the barn with a pail of milk I'd just gotten from the cow, with rain or snow slashing at me and milk wetting my ankle socks..no pants on little girls at that time.
I remember sitting at the table with homework, with the wind slashing at the steamed over windows and feeling so comfy and pleased at having all the dishes done and put back in the cabinets, and no more work to be done after homework. I could read in the front room where Grandma sewed by the light of the fire and lanterns, or go to bed and listen to the rain on the roof.

lauriejo

How many remember the first time they saw Wizard of Oz on a color TV? It was so remarkable when it went from black & white to color.

Caroltee

I remember when I was raising my children hearing my mother say " Am so thankful that am not having to raise kids in this day and age with the way the world is"….. I think I have become my mother…. Every day I do or say something just like my MOM…… I guess its true what goes around comes around….. Like mother like daughter. :lol: :roll:

mzsooz

we were poor so we only got the dime to get in. I didn't actually eat popcorn and drinks at the movies until I was in high school!

luvTooQuilt

Come to my house- We still have all that!! lol Although your on your own watching bugs, Ill be inside quilting...

mzsooz

yep... I remember that too.

Today I became nostaligic when I left the house in shorts and tank top only to find it freezing cold and windy outside. I had to put gas in the car and suddenly found myself wishing for a full service gas station. Remember those nice young men that would "fill er up" for you? I hate this self service world. I refuse to use those self service registers at the stores. I say very loudly "I won't use those on principle. It takes jobs away from people". My kids always look like they want to crawl into a hole! :lol: