“Discovery is seeing what everybody else has seen, and thinking what nobody else has thought.” Dr. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
Some people are like a bag Pampers, self-absorbed and full of shit. And good morning to all. This fall Iowa weather has been FANTASTIC. As Jim Zabel, Iowa Hawkeye Radio Announcer, would say: I Love it, I Love it, I Love it!!!!
WAS THIS US?
A little house with three bedrooms, one bathroom (indoor) and one car on the street or maybe an old farm house slightly worse for wear. A mower that you had to push to make the grass look neat. In the kitchen on the wall was our one phone on a party line, no need for recording things as someone was always home. We had a living room where we would congregate, unless it was at mealtime then we were in the kitchen where we ate. There was no need for family rooms, dens or extra rooms to dine. When meeting as a family those two rooms worked out just fine. We had one TV with maybe two channels, but there always was one of them with something worth watching. For snacks we had popcorn with salt and butter; maybe an apple. Store-bought snacks were rare because my mother liked to cook. Nothing compared to snacks in Betty Crocker's book.
Weekends were a time of leisure. Shopping usually on Saturday topped off with an ice cream cone for the ride home. Sunday was a day of rest with church, a picnic perhaps, staying home to play, and a nap of course. Sunday at dusk was a time to pile in the car to look at how the crops were doing. Sunday was a family day. On Sunday all the businesses were closed anyway. Sometimes we would get a baseball game together with family and friends you know, real action – no video games. Oh there were times we would separate to do things on our own, but we always knew where the others were even without a cell phone.
Then there were the movies with our favorite movie star. Nothing compares to watching movies from our car at a drive-in theater. Oh, wait, there was the skating rink on Wednesday and Friday. In our town this was a must. Being a farming family, we had a picnic lunch many days in the field. Sitting in the dirt in the shade of a tractor tire. How good does it have to be?
I remember when the doctor used to be a family friend, we didn't need insurance or a lawyer? You could trust the way he took care of you, because he took an oath and strived to do the best for you. This included your dentist and eye doctor. There were few specialist to deal with. Usually illnesses, scraps, cuts and etc. were tended to by our in-house nurse – mom. As long as she had a band aid and iodine, you would recover. Yes, mom would always say, “It won't hurt.” It always did though. The methods and tools used back then were very rudimentary by today's standards.
I remember going shopping when you used money to pay for the items. Yes, good old hard cash, nothing that you had to swipe, and remember when the cashier had to really count to make change? There just wasn't any identity theft back then either unless you lost your wallet or something. Several businesses came to your door selling their wares. The milkman would go from door to door. It cost just a few cents more than going to the store. We would have a Fuller Brush man, the Watkins person and a shop tools guy. I liked the Fuller Brush guy since he always had a free gift. Yes, he sold brushes and etc. The Watkins products were great especially their vanilla. There was a time when letters were delivered right to your door, the postman delivered mail that didn't have a lot of junk mail. The mailman knew each house by name; there wasn't anyone named “Present Occupant." in those days.
Oh sure, we had our problems, just like we do today. We were always striving to find a better way. Oh, the simple life we lived still seems like so much fun. Boys would put baseball cards between bicycle spokes. Feed a nickel into red machines and get a glass bottle Coke. Put a bag of Planter Peanuts in it and heaven was right there. This life seemed so much easier and slower in some ways. I love the new technology but I sure do miss those days. So time moves on and so do we and nothing stays the same, but I sure love to reminisce with a walk down memory lane. It's fun to look way back and say, hey look, guys, THAT WAS US!
I don't like them, have never liked them and will never like them, however, fry them, poach them, boil or bake them – any way you crack them, eggs are delicious. I get harassed all the time at our Men's Breakfast meetings. I have always felt eggs should only be used as ingredients in desserts and etc. As much as we rely on them for breakfast, lunch and dinner (and dessert, of course!), there are many interesting facts about eggs that aren’t common knowledge. Enjoy a few of these lesser known tidbits:
It takes a hen between 24 and 26 hours to develop an egg. Once she lays an egg, the development of a new egg normally starts within 30 minutes.
Chickens don’t produce one egg at a time. Instead, producing hens normally has several eggs in various stages of development.
Most of today’s egg-laying hens are White Leghorns (white eggs) or Rhode Island Reds and Barred Plymouth Rocks (brown eggs).
When it comes to the number of eggs laid each year, Iowa leads the nation with more than 14.8 billion eggs produced annually. Ohio is the next state in line, producing 7.9 billion eggs each year.
Cloudy egg whites mean that the eggs are extremely fresh, while clear egg whites are an indicator of older eggs. Cloudiness of raw white is due to the natural presence of carbon dioxide that has not had time to escape through the shell and is an indication of a very fresh egg. As an egg ages, the carbon dioxide escapes and the white becomes more transparent. Other colors in the egg white may be a sign of spoilage, so if it’s not cloudy-white or clear, don’t eat it!
Mother: "Why are you home from school so early?"
Son: "I was the only one who could answer a question."
Mother: "Oh, really? What was the question?"
Son: "Who threw the eraser at the principal?"
Stay well, "OLD FRIEND!" If I can make at least one person smile, or laugh till they leak, then my day was not wasted. We who have seen war never stop seeing it. TA!
No comments:
Post a Comment