The "Good old Days"
My Mom's parents had no running water until I was in Jr High, and for a few years an ice box instead of a fridge. "Grandad" used to have a tub and canvas bag, and "ice tongs" in the trunk of the car to carry ice home.
Their two sisters, ( my Aunt and my Mom ) and Dad, bought them their first 'lectric fridge
When we were kids, even after we had the deep well, water was a priority. You did NOT take long showers with the water running.
Before we got a "hot water tank," The kitchen range had a side attachment called a "trash burner."
Sort of like this, except all one piece
Now this had hot water coils in the wood burner, which heated water in a tank for kitchen dishes.
Now the BATHROOM hot water was a real "thing of beauty." This was a system built by my Grandpa when he owned the house. This was a small pot bellied stove in the basement, again with water coils, and a tank in the bathroom closet. But Gramps had built a convection plenum around the stove, ducted up to the bathroom, so the heat ALSO heated the bathroom, a very necessary "deal" on cold winter nights!!!!!
Back then the house was heated by wood heater in the living room, and only on the coldest of winter nights did we light up the "upstairs" pot belly stove.
When I was in Jr hi, my Dad installed a (used!!!) coal furnace stoker, after I joined the Navy he went oil for a few years, and finally, could get hooked up to the high pressure nat. gas line "out front" sometime in the '70's
I'm old enough to remember Dad owning a couple of different model A Fords, and I've told some of you about getting into trouble.........investigating "that little man with the lantern" who was "in the headlamps." If you look carefully, you can see I'm REAL unhappy, and one headlamp is broken!!!!
Our family tractor for years and YEARS. This is a MAN'S tractor. I used to clamp my legs around the steering wheel to keep from losing the thing. This was a sad day......when I DROVE it onto this trailer to be sold.
"Making hay" ........loose, not baled
Riding a dump rake...........First few years before Dad got an old "side delivery" I was so small and young I didn't have enough strength to hold the lock pedal down on the rake. It had a "D" shaped pedal, and I used to jam a stick of wood in there and put my foot on that to get more leverage!!!
The way these work is, you had one pedal to lock down the tines, and another which "tripped" the mechanism......engaged mechanical dogs in the wheels which rotated the rake up and "dumped." You rode around the field, and dumped periodically, then rod around inside that first circle, and dumped each succeeding load "in line" with the previous, making a "windrow"
Before we got the hated "hay loader" .......which worked you to death......
You would after making "windrows" then run down the line of windrow, "bunching" the hay into large piles. This was tough, as the "dump" mechanism wanted to "kick" up. I used to stand on the hold down pedal with both feed
Not ours, doesn't THIS look silly, LOL
This looks a lot like our old side delivery, originally horse drawn.....the steel wheels had dogs in the hubs which drove the rake mechanism
Buzzing wood. Dad had a nice buzzsaw on the front of the tractor, but NO GUARD. I used to "throw away" into the trailer/ pickup.
similar to this........
hand milking cows.........
chopping/ splitting / carrying wood...........
fussing with the old Farmall to plow snow in the winter............
re-priming the well pump because someone got careless with water use...........
so many blankets on the bed they weigh as much as you, LOL
the wind WHINING through the twisted TV feedline coming down the side of the house.........
Coyotes and cats SCREAMING in the night air
Mowing the lawn...........a push mower, and a smoky old 2 stroke "Clinton" engine......
Real similar to this, .........now........take a GOOD look at that spark plug. Many times, you push "that thing" under a bush or shrub, and the circuit path becomes like a'so..........
From the spark plug to the bush.............to the ground...........to your feet.........through your body........to your hands..........to the METAL handlebar.........to the engine block.!!!!!!!
Still remember "Gramps" first welder, bought by my Uncle and Dad for Gramps for Christmas when I was about 4 or 5. This was a Lincoln 180A buzzbox, looked just like the newer "tombstone" welders except instead of a switch, it had jacks and plugs to select the heat. I've never found a photo of it.
My Mom's parents had no running water until I was in Jr High, and for a few years an ice box instead of a fridge. "Grandad" used to have a tub and canvas bag, and "ice tongs" in the trunk of the car to carry ice home.
Their two sisters, ( my Aunt and my Mom ) and Dad, bought them their first 'lectric fridge
When we were kids, even after we had the deep well, water was a priority. You did NOT take long showers with the water running.
Before we got a "hot water tank," The kitchen range had a side attachment called a "trash burner."
Sort of like this, except all one piece
Now this had hot water coils in the wood burner, which heated water in a tank for kitchen dishes.
Now the BATHROOM hot water was a real "thing of beauty." This was a system built by my Grandpa when he owned the house. This was a small pot bellied stove in the basement, again with water coils, and a tank in the bathroom closet. But Gramps had built a convection plenum around the stove, ducted up to the bathroom, so the heat ALSO heated the bathroom, a very necessary "deal" on cold winter nights!!!!!
Back then the house was heated by wood heater in the living room, and only on the coldest of winter nights did we light up the "upstairs" pot belly stove.
When I was in Jr hi, my Dad installed a (used!!!) coal furnace stoker, after I joined the Navy he went oil for a few years, and finally, could get hooked up to the high pressure nat. gas line "out front" sometime in the '70's
I'm old enough to remember Dad owning a couple of different model A Fords, and I've told some of you about getting into trouble.........investigating "that little man with the lantern" who was "in the headlamps." If you look carefully, you can see I'm REAL unhappy, and one headlamp is broken!!!!
Our family tractor for years and YEARS. This is a MAN'S tractor. I used to clamp my legs around the steering wheel to keep from losing the thing. This was a sad day......when I DROVE it onto this trailer to be sold.
"Making hay" ........loose, not baled
Riding a dump rake...........First few years before Dad got an old "side delivery" I was so small and young I didn't have enough strength to hold the lock pedal down on the rake. It had a "D" shaped pedal, and I used to jam a stick of wood in there and put my foot on that to get more leverage!!!
The way these work is, you had one pedal to lock down the tines, and another which "tripped" the mechanism......engaged mechanical dogs in the wheels which rotated the rake up and "dumped." You rode around the field, and dumped periodically, then rod around inside that first circle, and dumped each succeeding load "in line" with the previous, making a "windrow"
Before we got the hated "hay loader" .......which worked you to death......
You would after making "windrows" then run down the line of windrow, "bunching" the hay into large piles. This was tough, as the "dump" mechanism wanted to "kick" up. I used to stand on the hold down pedal with both feed
Not ours, doesn't THIS look silly, LOL
This looks a lot like our old side delivery, originally horse drawn.....the steel wheels had dogs in the hubs which drove the rake mechanism
Buzzing wood. Dad had a nice buzzsaw on the front of the tractor, but NO GUARD. I used to "throw away" into the trailer/ pickup.
similar to this........
hand milking cows.........
chopping/ splitting / carrying wood...........
fussing with the old Farmall to plow snow in the winter............
re-priming the well pump because someone got careless with water use...........
so many blankets on the bed they weigh as much as you, LOL
the wind WHINING through the twisted TV feedline coming down the side of the house.........
Coyotes and cats SCREAMING in the night air
Mowing the lawn...........a push mower, and a smoky old 2 stroke "Clinton" engine......
Real similar to this, .........now........take a GOOD look at that spark plug. Many times, you push "that thing" under a bush or shrub, and the circuit path becomes like a'so..........
From the spark plug to the bush.............to the ground...........to your feet.........through your body........to your hands..........to the METAL handlebar.........to the engine block.!!!!!!!
Still remember "Gramps" first welder, bought by my Uncle and Dad for Gramps for Christmas when I was about 4 or 5. This was a Lincoln 180A buzzbox, looked just like the newer "tombstone" welders except instead of a switch, it had jacks and plugs to select the heat. I've never found a photo of it.
