Answer the quiz at the bottom to see if you are also older than dirt. This isn’t my personal experience but it could be.
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 & if I didn’t like what was 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.
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, wore Levis , set foot on a golf course, traveled out of the country or had a credit card.
- My parents never drove me to school. 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 10. It was, of course, black and white, and the station went off the air at 11, 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 never had a telephone in my room. The only phone was on a party line. Before you could dial, you had to listen to 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. He had to get up at 5AM every morning.
- 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.
Growing up isn’t what it used to be, is it?
MEMORIES:
How many do you remember?
- Pop bottles with bottle tops & stoppers with lots of holes in the top (for sprinkling laundry with before steam irons)
- Head lights dimmer switches on the floor.
- Ignition switches on the dashboard.
- 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 you remember, NOT the ones you were told about !! Ratings at the bottom.
1. Candy cigarettes
2. Coffee shops with tableside juke boxes
3. Home milk delivery in glass bottles
4. Party lines on the telephones
5. Newsreels before the movie
6. TV test patterns came on at night after the last show & were there until TV shows started again in the morning. (there were only 3 channels !! [if you were fortunate]
7. Peashooters
8. Howdy Doody
9. 45 RPM records
10.Hi-fi’s records
11. Metal ice trays with lever
12. Blue flashbulb
13. Cork popguns
14. Studebakers
15. Wash tub wringers
If you remembered 0-3 = You’re still young
If you remembered 3-6 = You are getting older
If you remembered 7-10 = Don’t tell your age, &
If you remembered 11-15 =
You’re older than dirt !!! THAT’S ME !!!
I might be older than dirt but those memories are some of the best parts of my life.
photosfromtheloonybin
May 23, 2013 @ 05:08:25
Hey, I’m not doing too bad – got a 6. LOL!! I also remember the mailman coming right to our door, and he was hot! 🙂 I also remember having to do homework without the help of a computer – walking to the library to do research in encyclopedias, actually handwriting everything, cutting pictures out of magazines and tracing maps for projects. I always tell my kids they don’t know how lucky they are!! I also remember NOT remembering to use my pant clips when biking and what a bad thing that was when one was wearing bell bottoms :).
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benzeknees
May 23, 2013 @ 13:50:12
After my horrible fall from my bike, I never rode it unless I was wearing shorts because I didn’t have a pants clip. People now have no idea what it was like when we were growing up. There were party lines in the country, but we had our own line in the city.
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photosfromtheloonybin
May 23, 2013 @ 18:29:17
We had our own line in the city too. In fact, I had never heard of party lines until I started dating my hubby because he lived in the country where there were party lines everywhere and nosy neighbours to listen in on conversations LOL!
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writerwannabe763
May 23, 2013 @ 05:22:28
Of course I’m in the last category and you did bring back memories……..Diane
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benzeknees
May 23, 2013 @ 13:50:47
I know it was more relaxed back then wasn’t it?
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Kayjai
May 23, 2013 @ 05:28:53
I remember the pant clips for bikes and the milk home delivery…and the 45s. Not much of the other stuff. The candy cigarettes had Popeye on the front…they were tasty! Good post!
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benzeknees
May 23, 2013 @ 13:51:41
Both my parents were smokers when I was growing up, so I had Popeye candy cigarettes very early on!
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Life With The Top Down
May 23, 2013 @ 05:39:58
I’m getting older and now I am craving candy cigarettes!
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benzeknees
May 23, 2013 @ 13:52:19
They were pure sugar, it almost makes my teeth ache to think of them!
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Elyse
May 23, 2013 @ 05:46:50
I already knew I was old, but you’ve confirmed that I too am older than dirt. But perhaps because I scored a 12, I can just use that as my age and start counting from there.
This was a fun trip, Benze! Thanks.
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benzeknees
May 23, 2013 @ 13:53:45
You can choose to be 12 again if you life, but I would not go through the teen years again for all the money in the world. I wouldn’t mind starting again at 21 though.
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Mark Petruska
May 23, 2013 @ 10:12:06
Well, I’m getting older (scored a 5). I can live with that.
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benzeknees
May 23, 2013 @ 13:54:32
What did you remember Mark? You spring chicken!
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Mark Petruska
May 23, 2013 @ 14:11:51
Well, ironically, yesterday Tara and I ate at a coffee shop with a tableside juke box. And I remember candy cigarettes, TV test patterns, 45s and hi-fi records (duh), and MAYBE blue flashbulbs. Not quite sure about those, though.
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pouringmyartout
May 23, 2013 @ 10:39:33
I am not older than dirt, but I am covered with dust… sigh…
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benzeknees
May 23, 2013 @ 13:55:00
Be careful no one gets near you with a Swiffer!
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pouringmyartout
May 23, 2013 @ 14:28:09
Or a dust buster…
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behindthemaskofabuse
May 23, 2013 @ 14:28:18
You are too older than dirt..lol
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pouringmyartout
May 23, 2013 @ 14:33:06
nah aah
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behindthemaskofabuse
May 23, 2013 @ 14:34:22
uh huh
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pouringmyartout
May 23, 2013 @ 14:36:02
Shut up… I have farts older than you.
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behindthemaskofabuse
May 23, 2013 @ 15:08:42
aged like yourself.
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pouringmyartout
May 23, 2013 @ 17:01:52
Like a fine, stinky cheese…
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behindthemaskofabuse
May 23, 2013 @ 18:01:46
limburger?
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pouringmyartout
May 23, 2013 @ 20:34:43
perhaps
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El Guapo
May 23, 2013 @ 11:04:05
I knew 8.
Every year, there’s a list of what the new crop of graduates have never lived without in their lifetimes.
I stopped reading it because it started to make me ffel even older.
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Red
May 23, 2013 @ 13:46:32
Eight? Pft. I aced it. Eight?
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benzeknees
May 23, 2013 @ 14:07:35
You’re just a baby Red! Thanks for stopping by!
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benzeknees
May 23, 2013 @ 13:55:48
I’ve read that list too & it’s so depressing! How are you enjoying your break from blogging?
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El Guapo
May 23, 2013 @ 14:29:33
Getting to spend more time reading!
And wondering why the hell I’m picking up two or three new follows a day. Seriously, it’s mind boggling.
I’ll probably start up again next week. I even have two posts mostly written!
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becomingcliche
May 23, 2013 @ 12:17:14
I LOVE this post! I scored a 5 because I remember my great-grandma having some of that stuff. The ice trays were confusing, honestly.
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benzeknees
May 23, 2013 @ 13:57:00
I remember those old metal trays & how they would stick to your hands & pull the skin off if your hands were in the list bit damp.
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becomingcliche
May 23, 2013 @ 15:37:48
YES!
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behindthemaskofabuse
May 23, 2013 @ 14:26:39
I remember 4 phew i’m still young lol What about when kids used to play outside all day and only get called in for bedtime? tapes, walkmans, ghetto blasters,
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benzeknees
May 25, 2013 @ 23:07:13
I never heard of rollerskating checkers before. Was it fun?
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behindthemaskofabuse
May 26, 2013 @ 12:15:39
it was at first but then people would drop stuff on the floor and we’re rolling skating along at a fast pace for a price check, hit whatever is on the floor and our skates stopped dead and we would go flying. It’s why it didn’t last long.
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behindthemaskofabuse
May 23, 2013 @ 14:29:23
Oh and writing letters, or actually writing at all..A&W Drive through with roller skating waitresses, drive in movies..
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benzeknees
May 25, 2013 @ 00:22:47
My very first job was at an A & W, but I started the year after they discontinued the roller skates – we were called car hops! I remember in the summer playing outside until it got dark. I semi-argued with my mother one time by saying it was too early to come in & she countered with “it’s 10 o’clock & you’re going to bed!” We could be gone all day as long as we were within hearing of them yelling our names! Drive in movies – my mother & sister sat in the back because they always fell asleep & my father & I would sit in the front & watch the double feature to the end!
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behindthemaskofabuse
May 25, 2013 @ 11:17:48
Ha I remember those things so well. In the 90’s I was a roller skater/price checker at a grocery store for a short time…lol
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Enchanted Seashells, Confessions of a Tugboat Captain's Wife
May 23, 2013 @ 18:47:10
I got 8 of them. I agree, penpals too. This was great, another way to make me feel old!
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benzeknees
May 25, 2013 @ 00:23:20
You’re not old Princess Rosebud, just nicely seasoned!
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Edward Hotspur
May 23, 2013 @ 19:06:39
I remembered some of them, but we had grocery stores. There were 4 channels if you counted PBS, and we had a remote, though a mechanical one (still infrared, but it clunk-clunk-clunked the channels to change them physically). I am thinking you lived more in the country. We had washers all the time, but early on the washer was in the pumphouse and the dryer was The Sun and The Wind on The Line.
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benzeknees
May 25, 2013 @ 00:25:46
I lived in the City of Winnipeg growing up, but in a very underdeveloped part of the city (outskirts). We had the old wringer washer & one of my aunts had a permanent white streak in the front of her hair because it got caught in the wringer. We also had a clothes line where our clothes dried.
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Edward Hotspur
May 25, 2013 @ 09:39:27
I remember mimeographs.
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benzeknees
May 25, 2013 @ 23:05:23
Really? Me too! You have an old soul Hotspur!
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Edward Hotspur
May 26, 2013 @ 12:44:10
To match my old body.
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John Erickson
May 24, 2013 @ 14:20:45
I never saw Howdy-Doody in first-run episodes. Other than that, and the gas-heated soldering iron (my dad’s were all electric), every last one! My folks never had the milk delivery, but I knew folks who did. I loved the pop-bottle laundy-sprinkler – my mom had a dedicated bottle for her rig! (Dad’s rootbeer, if memory serves.) How about push-button transmissions? My dad had a ’63 Dodge Dart with the buttons on the console, right next to the gauges (again, if memory serves). 78RPM records, in shellac? Had ’em, AND a recording head to cut them on the phonograph. 8-track players AND a recorder! Our B&W TV used vacuum tubes, as did a “compact” AM/FM radio the size of a loaf of bread. My dad even built a small tube tester, so we didn’t have to drive all the way (about 1.7 miles) to the Walgreens, with the tester right at the front of the store!
Good memories. Thanks!
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benzeknees
May 25, 2013 @ 00:29:42
I have never seen Howdy Doody ever – we did not have the channels to see that show. In the early 1960’s I won a transistor radio from a local radio station & it was about the size of half a loaf of bread!
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Archon's Den
May 27, 2013 @ 00:56:37
I remember all the ones on your list, all the ones your commenters have added, and about four besides. I remember when dinosaur poop turned into dirt. 😀
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benzeknees
May 27, 2013 @ 01:44:59
Really? I though dinosaur poop turned into oil or something, hahahahaha
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DiatribesAndOvations.com
May 28, 2013 @ 09:34:44
I, too, am old as dirt but wouldn’t trade any of those memories (except for those blasted ice cube trays! Argh!) for anything!
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benzeknees
May 28, 2013 @ 14:46:43
Those ice cube trays were dangerous! They were handy for making some of my recipes though (where you have to partially freeze evaporated milk).
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