Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Changes



I've written a lot about the older folks over the years because there’s so may things to write about. How they lived their lives, and the things they seen. It’s priceless and pure gold to my heart. I've always loved to listen to their stories and watch their eyes light up when they’re talking. They take me along with them and put me in a place that I long to be . I've traveled to a lot of places and seen a lot of things through their eyes and to this day I can still see it all in my mind.

 And to think how things have changed so much and come such a long ways, they wouldn't even recognize it today. I hardly recognize it myself. All the modern day technology and gadgets, they wouldn't know what to do with em. Some got to sample a few and others never had the opportunity.
I can just see the look on their faces to see so many things we take for granted everyday like an automatic washing machine or an electric stove, maybe something small like an electric coffee pot. A far cry from an old wringer washing machine or rub board. Instead of building a fire in the old cook stove and trying to cook, all they’d have to do is turn a knob on an electric cook stove.
My grandma on my mama’s side had one for a long time before she passed away. Some of her kids bought it fer her. It sit in the corner of the kitchen and I never knew of her ever turning it on let alone cook on it. She used her old woodstove come winter or summer. It didn't matter how hot it got she’d build up a fire in that old woodstove and start cooking or canning. The sweat would drip off of her nose she’d be so hot and she’d wipe it with her apron tail.

 I remember my mama getting up in the mornings and pouring water  in an old coffee pot that sit on the back of the stove and adding coffee straight to the pot. Most folks didn't even have or know what an electric percolater was. They all had the kind ya sit on the stove. They’d take the guts out of it and just boil the coffee, and keep on boiling. My mama and daddy loved their coffee so black and strong it’d float a fifty cent piece on top. I guess that’s why I’m not a coffee drinker today.  They still used the old coffee pots without the guts in em as long as they lived. In later years mama got an automatic drip coffee maker and she only used it when company came or around the holidays when everybody gathered in. She said it didn't even taste like coffee and it was to weak.

My mama got a food processor one Christmas. Everyone told her that it’d be sooo much faster to chop her cabbage when it came time to make her sour kraut. Yeah right, she used it one time and threw it back in the cabinet. She said all that thing is fit fer is to make a mess all over the kitchen. She went back to using her very sharp cream cans to chop with.

I can just see my other little grandma grabbing that little pocketbook and slinging it on her arm and walking these paved roads with so many cars flying past her, not being able to have free rein of the roads and not being able to smell the flowers or pick a few along the way. I can just hear her now, “I’ll Be Rotten Take, Ya Can’t Get Out On The Roads Anymore Or Somebody’ll Try To Kill Ya., What‘s The World Comin To.”
I’ll be rotten take was her by words, as the older folks called it. I hate to think what kind of spell she’d have right there on the side of the road when one flew passed her. She’d probably pick up rocks and throw at em and stomp her feet.

There were only a few vehicles that passed through back then and we knew every person that passed by. Daddy would hitch hike to town but he never walked far before someone he knew picked him up.
Someone else would bring him home and set him out at the door.
Today it’d take him all day to walk there and back. All the ones he knew is dead and gone and everybody’s afraid to pick up a hitchhiker and vis versa. As my daddy would say, “They Just As Soon To Knock Ya In The Head As Look At Ya.”

 We never had a TV till I was half grown and the first one we got was a black and white. We wasn't allowed to turn it on till dark thirty came. On Saturday night we got to watch Hee Haw. The whole family gathered around the TV. We loved to watch Gun Smoke and Bonanza on Sunday night. That’d be after mama watched her Lawrence Welk show. Gosh, we hated that show. I can still hear it now, “And A One, And A Two”. We’d go outside and play, all the time counting down the minutes till it was over. Then we’d all try to get through the door at the same time and there’d sit daddy with his legs crossed watching it too.
Every Thursday night we all had to watch The Waltons. They kinda reminded us of ourselves. The only thing missing was all of the goodnights said at bedtime. We fell asleep the minute we said our prayers and hit the pillow.
Of course that all happened after our little grandma passed away. All she ever knew was an old radio and listening to the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday night. She’d probably kick her foot through a TV today with all the filth as mama called it.

And back when we were younguns we could hear a plane go over and we’d run outside and watch it go clear out of sight and marvel at the white tails it left behind. We didn't miss anything that went on outside. We loved to play marbles, jump rope, jacks, or in the woods where we built many a playhouse.
And the kids today have got me plum bum fuzzled with so many electronics to play with. They got I Pads, computers, smart phones, etc. They never see the outside. We never seen inside the house till it came suppertime. We’d all cram around the big eatin table daddy made, fighting over the back bench and mama always had to break it up. But when it came time to eat we were quiet as a mouse. We knew to watch our manners at the table and keep our mouths shut. We eat three square meals a day and there was no junk food on hand. Our junk food was a big piece of leftover cornbread and a little green onion out of the garden, especially for an after school snack.

I can just see that table spread with all of those garden fresh veggies topped off with a big glass of cold, sweet milk or buttermilk that we’d kept in the spring. We even placed our watermelons that we grew in the spring till time to eat em.
We didn't have a frigerator till I was half grown. Shucks we didn't have electricity till I was 12 years old. You talk about being in hog heaven, we were when we got the first frigerator. It was so small it wouldn't hold much but we sure did stand with the door open. Mama jumped onto us all the time. She’d say, “Shut That Frigerator Door And Get Outside Before I Get My Limb. Uns Can’t Be Hungry, Ya Just Eat A Bushel”. We were mesmerized by it.
It even came with ice trays in the top. They used to sell koolaid in big packs that already had the sugar in em. We’d mix that koolaid up and pour it in those ice trays and the trick was to let it freeze. That was a sure, fine treat on a hot day. Don't knock it till ya tried it. It’s no wonders mama jumped our humps fer standing with the door open. We’d check every time we passed through the kitchen.

Now we've not only got big frigerators with ice makers but we got freezers to put our food in. We managed to get a small deep freezer later on in life but mama still canned and put everything she could in jars. She still canned the sausage that we’d grind up from the fresh hog meat. She said it just tasted better out of a can. One day daddy asked her, “How Do You Know How It Tastes Out Of The Freezer, Ya Ain't Never Tried It”. That didn't go over to well and I’ll leave it at that.

There’s been a lot of changes over the years. Some fer the better and some fer the worse but one thing’s fer certain, if the older folks were still here a lot of things would stay the same and they’d see to that. If it works don’t fix it, that was their motto. And I can still hear it today, these modern day gadgets and changes are gonna be the death of us yet.

                                                      © Susie Swanson, 2014

18 comments:

  1. Wonderful! Just wonderful, Susie! Many of these things I remember since I'm older than you. We didn't have electricity until I was in my teens and no indoor bathroom until we moved to town when I was 17; no TV until I married. I doubt that many kids today would know how to play the old games we played, but, I can't play their games now. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Charlotte. I can't play their games either. LOL.

      Delete
  2. Susie,
    I always love hearing stories from your childhood. My dad used to watch the Lawrence Welk show, and like you, I never cared for it much. But I love the Waltons, and still watch it to this day. How funny about your mom and the food processor she got one Christmas. Yes, there has been a lot of changes over the years, but I still love to hear and appreciate all the things that our mothers and fathers did and how they lived. I had many of the same things as you did growing up, and it's so nice to remember what a special time in our lives this was. Thank you for sharing your heart with us, Susie.

    love,
    ~Sheri

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Sheri. I still watch the Waltons as well.

      Delete
  3. Great post, Susie... I think that the older I get, the more I am interested in my childhood --and my family's life BACK then!!!!! Things have changed so much --and you are right.. Some are better and some are NOT....

    I am older than you ---but we didn't get a TV in our small town in the Virginia mountains -til I was in high school... Our area got HORRIBLE reception back then, so mostly, we just got SNOW... ha.... When cable finally came to our town, TV became more interesting. I remember my Daddy in his later years enjoyed watching TV... Mama didn't watch it much preferring to read, but did love Lawrence Welk for many years!

    I didn't watch TV much as a teen --but later we did get a TV... I remember all of the shows you mention ---and many of them we watched after getting married and having kids... My kids loved Captain Kangaroo and Romper Room....

    Thanks for the great memories.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Betsy. I remember the antenna.That's all we had too. Good memories. Hugs to you.

      Delete
  4. Susie, That washing machine looks like one mommy had. We ate a lot of frozen kool aid if we could...mom never let us mess around with the fridge. I would watch captain Kangaroo now if it was on. I loved that show. I still watch the Waltons when I can. Yes we were like them in ways. I do not want to live that hard ever again, but I could go back a few years...things go too fast now and too much disconnect while be connected...Gaaa. Xoxo, Susie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Susie. I loved Captain Kangaroo. I'd still watch it too.

      Delete
  5. There certainly have been a lot of changes over the years. So many in just the last five years or so! Wonderful memories, Susie. I hope you have a great week ahead. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They sure have Daisy. Hope you have a nice week as well.

      Delete
  6. As you said in olden days they lived a very simple life. Peoples of this modern world is difficult to think how they lived on those days. The people in olden days when they come across new things they can learn about it, but they still say it is not needed. We would make it other ways.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I think people in olden days were kept busy and the way they made their food must have been very tasty as it was not made in a hurry, for example coffee and tea were made from the water boiled on the stove and tea and or coffee added to the water instead of being strained through a filter. When I moved to America, it was hard for me to understand how tea would brew through the paper of the tea bag and now
    I am used to making with tea bags LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are so right Munir. It takes time to get use to new ways. Thank you.

      Delete
  8. Hi,
    I hope that all is well. I have been away from Blogger from time to time. I am still getting adjusted with my heart medication.. I feel tired but I like to read as well. I shall catch up soon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Awe, Praying all goes well for you and take care.

      Delete
  9. Oh, thank you for those memories, Susie! We had a wringer washer a lot like that, and Mama would wheel it over to the sink to fill it. And no, we never came inside much until dark. There was too much to do outside!

    ReplyDelete