things we dont do anymore

[Headwrench]

seems like a dumb thing to remember but, mom always had the covered butter on the table. never was in the fridge. you could spread butter on your bread & not tear the slice to peices. these days even what they call soft butter isnt. like i said, a dumb thing to remember from my youth , was just part of the good old days. any little thing you look back on from your youth ?

[Bob Denman]

Putting a cotton swab soaked in Brandy over a painful tooth always seemed effective...
They don't do that anymore; do they?
(I also remember the butter on the table...)

[rmag]

Hide and seek, we used to swarm the neighborhood in the summertime from dusk until well after dark. Always at least 15 to 25 playing nightly. Never had any problems or complaints.

[PrairieSpyder]

We always left our back door unlocked. The front door was locked but no one, even guests, ever used it. We also left our car doors unlocked when we went downtown to shop. Oh, yeah . . . we used to go downtown to shop, park on the main drag, walk a couple blocks north on one side, cross the street, walk back south, load up all your packages in your unlocked car and go home. Now our small city's downtown is mostly law offices, and no "goes shopping" there much any more.

[oldguyinTX]

A "Hot Tottie" for a cold. When I was a kid - albeit a very long time ago - my grandmother "BigMomma" would make them for her sick grandchildren with lemon juice, water, honey, and a wee dram of bourbon that I think was kept under the sink in her kitchen. (We didn't really know about the stash). Buy boy it sure worked. "Prairie Medicine", as she called it.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

" Johnny rides the Pony " that one caused lots of sore bones ......but it was fun ....... Mike

[ruralgirl]

.... just part of the good old days. any little thing you look back on from your youth ?

Three generations of women - my mother, her mother, and me - washing and drying dishes by hand together in our wonderful old farmhouse with a big window at the sink so we could gaze up the hill at our vineyard and barn, and out the picture window past the table to our right at the incredible view across Canandaigua Lake (upstate NY).

Grandma checked out at age 99, and Mom (avid motorcyclist for many years) is barely hanging on at 96, so those sweet memories are solely mine now.

[PrairieSpyder]

Three generations of women - my mother, her mother, and me - washing and drying dishes by hand together in our wonderful old farmhouse with a big window at the sink so we could gaze up the hill at our vineyard and barn, and out the picture window past the table to our right at the incredible view across Canandaigua Lake (upstate NY).

Grandma checked out at age 99, and Mom (avid motorcyclist for many years) is barely hanging on at 96, so those sweet memories are solely mine now.

I helped my mom do the wash with a ringer washing machine. I kept getting my hand caught in the ringer. Then we'd hang them on a clothes line to dry.

[SPYD3R]

I REMEMBER BACK IN THE 1950's WHEN I WAS IN GRADE SCHOOL,
1. WE ALL SALUTED THE FLAG AND NOBODY WAS INSULTED.
2. WE PLAYED BASEBALL, BASKETBALL, FOOTBALL, etc AND DIDN'T GET A TROPHY JUST FOR ATTENDING, NOR CRIED WHEN WE LOST.
3. WE ALL SAID "SIR" AND "MADAM", AND RESPECTED THE FACT THAT THEY WERE OUR ELDERS.
DAN P
SPYD3R

[ruralgirl]

I helped my mom do the wash with a ringer washing machine. I kept getting my hand caught in the ringer. Then we'd hang them on a clothes line to dry.

And did your mom have one of those monster ironing machines? It seemed huge to me then, but it was basically a hinged rectangle with an ironing board built into its bottom jaw and, when you lifted its upper jaw, it had a matching surface which was perforated to let you steam the clothes. My mom would lay out a garment, reach up for the handle to lower the upper jaw, and activate the steam with a foot pedal. So, with a loud whoooosh, the monster ironed for a moment before Mom opened 'er up in a swirl of steam, realigned the garment, and pressed the upper jaw down again. She felt quite the lucky housewife to have such a state of the art appliance!

[cuznjohn]

vix balls, when we had sore throats, our grandmother would take some vix vapor rub, put a little in sugar and make a small ball out of it, then give it to us to eat.

[ruralgirl]

3. WE ALL SAID "SIR" AND "MADAM", AND RESPECTED THE FACT THAT THEY WERE OUR ELDERS.
DAN P
SPYD3R

And we addressed all of our elders with Miss, Mrs, or Mr. If we ever called an adult by his or her first name, the way kids are allowed to do now, we'd be ripped a new one.

[Chupaca]

So much to remember...the butter we still have on the table. Remember having to turn on and off change channels and adjust your TV at the set...dial your phone and speak on it where it was, tethered to the cable...getting cleaned up and dressed up to go to the movies...and oh so much more...

https://youtu.be/puGQsQux80k

[lou49]

Had to go to the nearest river to take a bath! By the time i got back home, i was all sweaty! !

[kngfsh27]

Racing at night from the river bridge to the four corners (five miles) with our headlights off.
Jumping off the roof of the gymnasium into snowdrifts.
Walking uptown and speaking to everyone I met.
Playing marbles (still have mine).

[Deanna777]

I can remember when we had quality time( family time), we do not have that anymore. Also, we respected our elders.

We have cell phones, computers, etc. The world is so fast paced we go, go, go, go, go, go. There is not enough hours in the day to do things that we want to do! Deanna

[Peter Aawen]

Given that a fair few of us here are 'retired' (for whatever reason) or 'of a certain age', then yeah, amongst those of us frequenting the place, it's pretty likely that are scads of really great memories to be found, if only we can actually recall them (maybe someone should gather them together & publish them? Any takers?) Buuut, just as certainly there are also quite a few memories of things that weren't 'quite so nice'. I'm not referring to those things that were (& likely still are) distressing or upsetting, but rather those things that highlight how far we've come in living memory, & looking back on them, might be just a little amusing.

Things like having to leave the home paddock entirely one day a month or so (a big family & a few stock & farm hands helped) while the 'Honey Pot' toilets were burnt off!! To explain just a little for those not familiar with this concept - we lived in the bush & so, along with fairly restricted water supplies, power only when the generator was running, and still using horses for some of the work around the place, we had outhouse toilets with long drop holes underneath & lids that squirted a little Phenyle on top of the leavings every time you closed the lid (that vaguely kept the flies down a bit & helped keep the odour barely bearable.... aaand...you'll see) but with thirty or so people working on it, the long drops tended to fill fairly quickly! Sooo, once every month or so & a week or so ahead of time (depending on the weather, how hot & smelly things were, & how quickly they were filling) Dad would declare a 'Honey Pot Day' & we'd all plan to work as far away from home & as far upwind as we could!!

On the dreaded morning, we'd open all the outhouse doors & one shed at a time, we'd harness up a horse or two (usually the Clydesdale); & with a little encouragement, they'd drag the outhouses back & away from the pit about twenty feet or so (boy did the flies swarm then!); only then could we dump any used sump oil & some gas down the holes. That all got left to soak in for a bit while we finished pulling together all the necessary gear for our day away from home, ably helped by all 'smart' horses & dogs on the property swarming around us almost as thickly as the flies - just to make sure they wouldn't get left behind!! Once all was ready, & always the very last thing to do as as we left, we'd drop a burning rag into each hole & run!! The Phenyle helped make everything in there pretty damn flammable, but with the addition of some sump oil & gas as well as all the methane that 'self-generated' in the holes, it'd invariably go up pretty well - and boy, did that smoke stink!!

Sooo, we'd head off a ways & spend the day working on one of the back blocks, grubbing thistles or stumps, fixing fences, or some other essential & exciting task. We could keep an eye on how things were progressing back home by watching how thick the plumes of smoke from the burning holes were, & once they started to turn white & whispy, it was safe to head on back!! On our way back, we always had to stop at the fire dam & fill up a tank on skids kept there specifically for the purpose, cos when we dragged that back, we'd be faced with the task of dumping some of the water into each of the holes (to make sure the fires were out & hopefully cool things down a bit) before harnessing up a horse or two for the return of the outhouses!! It was a sure sign you knew how to handle a draught horse when you could re-position the outhouses in one go!!

Once back in place, they were ready for the next month's deposits, but the first visitor to each was always a bit nervous. Occasionally (well, not all that often, but certainly once that I can vividly & personally remember well; altho my Parents often told hilarious stories of various other 'incidents') the fire wouldn't burn down far enough &/or a pocket of gas would be encased in a 'crusty bit', so that when the first new 'deposit' hit the top of the remains, it could break thru the top crust and a small explosion would result!! Nothing to do much harm, but sure as heck, no-one would sit near you for a few days... not that you wanted to sit all that much, cos certain parts were just a little tender!!

Then there's the time we played a joke that 'back-fired' on one of the old & pretty near blind hands by dumping some 'well used & ripely off' rabbit guts in the very spot that he always relieved himself at as we left the home paddock.... errr no, maybe another time!

[kngfsh27]

My Mom made us dress up when we went to see relatives. Then we couldn't go out and play. We had to sit in chairs and keep quiet. We didn't even dream of moving or making any noise. My wardrobe today all blue jeans, motorcycle t-shirts and boots.

[motoswami]

I helped my mom do the wash with a ringer washing machine. I kept getting my hand caught in the ringer. Then we'd hang them on a clothes line to dry.

How long did it take for your hands to dry?


Pete

[JerryB]

Hi Peter,

Re: Given that a fair few of us here are . . .

Just grumpy old people.

Re: things we dont do anymore

Great story about rejuvenating the outhouses. My grandmother had an outhouse for many years. However, it never got rejuvenated, all my uncles & my dad converted her house to indoor plumbing and that ended those cold walks.

Personally, I'm glad that we don't do a lot of those things anymore. I remember when margarine could only be bought in white & you had to knead the coloring in.

Time to join the 21st century, folks.

Jerry Baumchen

[soaring hawk]

Go to neighborhood grocery store for penny candy

At the lake catch a frog and put a firecracker in its mouth light it and watch the the show

Go to grandma and grampas on Sunday, Oh I guess we are Grandpa and Grandma now

[Peter Aawen]

Put a cracker in a frog's mouth?!? You've got your frogs the wrong way round!!

Stick a cracker up their arse & it'd really make a mess?!?
What's that you say about 'rectum'??

Rect-um!! Damn near Killed them!!



Sorry, but I hadta do it!

[garb55]

So much to remember...the butter we still have on the table. Remember having to turn on and off change channels and adjust your TV at the set...dial your phone and speak on it where it was, tethered to the cable...getting cleaned up and dressed up to go to the movies...and oh so much more...

https://youtu.be/puGQsQux80k

Yes
I remember all of them
Wouldnt be great if we could have all the good things from back them and all the lugsury of today
Those were the days my friend we thought they'ed never end *** and so on

[Empty Pockets]

Dialing a number on a rotory telephone.

Being the original remote control and rabbit ear antenna adjuster for the TV so Dad didnt have to get out of his chair. Of course we only had 4 channels.

Having your mouth washed out with soap

Getting a spanking for acting up and not having the police come to arrest your parents for child abuse.

[SPECTACUALR SPIDERMAN]

trick or treating without worry of poison or razor blades & shaving creaming each others instead of shooting each other